Don't Throw Tomatoes At Me

It's a hot topic. Whatever you prefer in tomato varieties, know that I am not a pro-heirloom or pro-hybrid gardener. I just tell you what I read and what I do in my garden.
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A recent article in the Wall Street Journal was about tomatoes: heirlooms versus hybrids. I am not going to stir up the old discussion on this subject. There are pros and cons about either type. I, personally, plant them both. I just want to pick some facts from the article which can be useful for amatuer gardeners such as myself.

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The following are the varieties of tomatoes which have been identified as being resistant to late blight by research at the department of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology at Cornell University:
Excellent resistance:
Black Plum
Matt's Wild Cherry

Mountain Magic (hybrid)
Plum Regal (hybrid)
Yellow Currant
Yellow Pear
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Good resistance:
Aunt Cinny's Purple
Big Rainbow
Red Currant
Tigerella (Mr. Stripey)
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Moderate resistance:
Aunt Ruby's German Green
Black Krim
Brandywine
Plum Cluster
Pruden's Purple
Red Pearl
Slava (glory)
Stupice

Seeds of hybrids mentioned above will be available in 2011.

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Black Krim, Russian Heirloom

There were some other hybrids mentioned in the article:

Tye-Dye - a red-and-yellow marbled tomato that W. Atlee Burpee & Co. (Warminster, Pennsylvania) describes as "delivering all the heirloom flavor of Big Rainbow, Pineapple and Georgia Streak, with bigger yields, consistent form and better disease resistance";

Country Taste'- a ribbed tomato promoted by Park Seed Co. (Greenwood, South Carolina) as having "the meaty, flavorful, tangy bite of yesteryear's tomatoes without the poor disease resistance and small yields that plague so many heirlooms";

Golden San Marzano- a yellow version of San Marzano, classic heirloom plum tomato, offered by Territorial Seed Co. (Cottage Grove, Oregon);

Brandymaster, yellow and red versions, - that has a Brandywine flavor, but more uniformly shaped fruit and better resistance to diseases.

Patty' s Yellow Striped Beefsteak - looks like the heirloom Big Rainbow, but with more intense flavor, uniform shape and bigger yields (Seeds by Design, Maxwell, California).
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Ann M. Chaker, the author of the article, stresses the basics on growing tomatoes:
- starting seeds indoors four to six weeks before the last expected frost day;
- gradual "hardening"of seedlings by bringing them outdoors for a few hours a day;
- transplanting into the ground in spring once soil has warmed;
- spacing them a few feet apart and watering down into the roots, avoiding leaves.

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The article includes some suggestions for heirlooms' lovers from Ms. Goldman, author of "The Heirloom Tomato: From Garden To Table":
Choosing particularly hardy varieties and planting them in succession:
For very early maturity, either Ceylon (a ribbed red variety) or Black Cherry ( a maroon cherry tomato).
They might be followed by either Flamme (a tangerine-colored globe tomato); Yellow Peach (a peach-textured yellow) or Red Rose (a pink globe).
For late season, Gold Medal (a bicolor beefsteak), followed by Opalka (a blood-red paste tomato. Ms. Goldman also underscores the importance of spacing tomatoes far enough apart (five feet in her garden), infrequent but deep watering (at least an inch a week), aiming water directly at the roots, not on the leaves, providing tomato plants with at least eight hours of sun a day.
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This advice goes along with my own experience of growing tomatoes. In my garden, they grow on the Terrace Garden which gets full-day sun. The sprinkler system is turned off for good there. I remember to never wet the leaves while watering. I also control the suckers and try not to plant tomatoes in the same spots for several years in a row. The last rule is not easy to follow when the space is limited. If I can't find a new spot for them, I try at least to move them where the "in-between-tomato plants" space was the previous year and improve the soil using a well-composted manure or any type of compost. In 2005, I added too much horse/chicken manure mix. Too much nitrogen! As a result, I had a "tropical forest" with bushy, tall, healthy plants and few fruit.

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This year, I hope to get some heirloom tomato plants from the seeds I got from the Blotanical seed exchange. An aquaintance kindly agreed to start the seeds for me in her greenhouse. They are: Ukranian Heart, Turk's Mutts, Big German Pink, Gajo de Melon (bicolor cherry).
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Credit: "You Say Tomato. They say Phony". By Anne Marie Chaker. WSJ. April 21, 2010.

My other posts about tomatoes: Vegetable Garden: Post-Seasonal Notes , Better Than Growing Vegetables , Black Krim. My Picture Of The Day

Copyright 2010 TatyanaS