Most of the tomato transplants were started from seed but I did purchase a few seedlings to add to my home grown tomato plants. So I don’t know if the imports were the source of the contamination or if the blight found its way into my plot from neighboring gardens.

Looking Back at the Summer’s Heirloom Tomato Harvest

In total, there were about a dozen heirloom tomato varieties growing in the garden last summer, and they were all trained on a new trellising system designed to handle anything the vines could pile on. The plants looked pretty promising at first, and then slowly declined as signs of tomato blight began to appear and spread.

I allowed the disease to run its course and didn’t make any futile attempts to control or eliminate it. Some plants suffered more than others, but all of them yielded fruit regardless of how sad and pathetic their vines looked.

A number of the tomato plants seemed to rebound slightly as the summer progressed, and others like Matt’s Wild Cherry barely seemed to notice that the blight had come calling. Overall, I’m sure the production was reduced but I was still handing out plenty of tomatoes to grateful coworkers.

Looks can be Deliciously Deceiving with Heirloom Tomatoes

It didn’t take family and friends long to realize that the saying about beauty being skin deep applies quite nicely to heirloom tomatoes. Those very strange looking, dark-colored tomatoes with the rough green shoulders were passed over initially in favor of the normal looking bright red fruits.

But those “ugly” tomatoes that looked like they weren’t even fully ripened quickly became the most sought after of all the varieties that I grew last summer. I’ve always liked the dark heirlooms such as Black Krim and Carbon, but the Amazon Chocolate tomato has just moved towards the top of my personal favorite’s list.

Matt’s Wild Cherry was the small fruited tomato variety that I raised in the garden this summer, it was extremely productive, and stood up well to the tomato blight, but I’m still searching for a cherry tomato variety that compares favorably to Sungold!

Those New “Cage-Free” Tomatoes were a Huge Success

The tomato trellising system was a big success and I’ll definitely be setting it up again next summer. The only improvement that I may toy with is using a slightly lighter gauge wire that is a bit easier to stretch tightly from one end to the other.

If you missed the details about this trellis and the video that I created about its simple set up, you can catch up by visiting the post titled; “New Tomato Trellising and Training System.” If you’re tired of the cages, towers, and other support devices, this trellising system comes highly recommended.

It hasn’t been that long since I picked the last juicy, vine-ripened, heirloom tomato, but I’m already looking forward to next season and making plans to grow an even better crop. I’ll be fine tuning the list of varieties and searching for new tomatoes to trial in the garden.

And hopefully the next time around that tomato blight will be nowhere to be found!

I’m trying a brand new tomato staking system in my garden this summer and here’s a video to help show how simple, easy, and inexpensive it can be to trellis tomatoes in your backyard garden:

Start with the tallest metal fence posts you can find, add a spool of 16 gauge wire, something to tie the tomato vines onto the wire, and there you have everything needed to train and trellis your heirloom tomatoes.

I’m using the tomato trellis clips from Johnny’s Seeds and while they are made of non-biodegradable plastic, they are reusable and can be used from one season to the next. There are also other applications such as training cucumber vines that will put these clips to good use.

Pruning your tomato vines and removing the sucker growth is an important part of the trellising process, but it takes very little effort if you are consistent about it. I have to thank and credit Leslie Zuck of Common Ground Farm for sharing this trellising system at last winter’s annual PASA Conference.

As with any growing method, you should plant your tomato transplants very deeply when setting them out in order to encourage strong root systems. Leslie also emphasized using a mulch around the tomato plants as part of this trellising system. That’s something I normally don’t do with my tomatoes but I’m following her advice and applied a straw mulch after transplanting.

I’ve just strung my third strand of wire along the row and this tomato trellis system is working out better than the cages ever did for me. Plus the wire can be reused over and over, and the t-posts will take up much less space in storage during the off-season.

I don’t think that I’ll be going back to using cages anytime soon! In fact, if anyone local is looking for a couple dozen used tomato cages, I know where you can find some.

Marc over at the Garden Desk announced his starting tomato lineup way back in February, and Hanna of This Garden is Illegal just recently reported on the mysterious tomatoes making their way into her garden, so here’s my opportunity to share the tomato varieties that I will hopefully be harvesting this summer.

Every year I toy around with the idea of scaling back on the number of tomato varieties that I grow in the garden. Not because I don’t like tomatoes, but rather because there are so many other heirloom veggies and fruits competing over the limited space in the raised beds. No matter, I always seem to wind up with more tomato plants than anticipated.

It’s So Difficult to Turn Down a Good Tomato

Despite my intentions, this growing season finds me once again struggling to fit over a dozen tomato plants into the garden. This time around the losers are the fingerling potatoes which were scratched from this season’s rotation. The spuds aren’t going down without a fight though, as several volunteer plants have appeared from tubers that were missed during last summers harvest.

I would never admit to a bit of envy towards gardeners like Hanna and Marc who find a way to grow and trial dozens of different heirloom tomato varieties each and every year. Surprisingly there is only one tomato variety (Black Krim) that is duplicated from their gardens to mine. That will give you a hint at just how many heirloom tomatoes are out there for you to try.

Veggie Gardening Tips 2008 Heirloom Tomato Listing

Well here’s the list of the unique heirloom tomatoes that you will find growing if you drop in on my organic garden this summer:

• Black Krim – One of my favorites, I never go a season without planting at least one seedling of this small fruited, dark-colored tomato with a rich, juicy, and delicious flavor.

• Green Tomatillo – I’ve struggled to grow a harvest of these husk type tomatoes in the past, but I’m really anxious for a successful harvest so that I can enjoy a taste of authentic home made salsa this summer.

• Dutchman – Purple-pink colored tomatoes that can reach up to three pounds in size… so they said when they sold this one, well we’ll just have to see how large they will grow in my garden.

• Pineapple – A regular and another of my favorite tomatoes that’s so beautiful that you almost hate to eat them… almost! Large fruits infused with streaks of red and gold and a delicious sweet flavor that will really attract attention!

• Big Rainbow – This large, bi-colored tomato is very similar to the Pineapple heirloom variety in appearance with its eye-catching alternating patterns of red and gold marbling.

• Camp Joy – This one is a red heirloom cherry tomato that’s replacing Sungold in the tomato line-up this year. But make no mistake about it, Sungold my all-time favorite cherry tomato (even if it is a hybrid) will return next summer!

• Tess’s Land Race Currant – An interesting and intensely flavored tomato that’s has the remarkable ability to produce tiny fruits that range in shades from red to rose, or even gold and yellow hues.

• Thessaloniki – This is a Greek heirloom that I’m growing for the first time. Thess is an early tomato variety that’s reputed to offer excellent flavor, disease resistance, and large yields of medium sized fruits.

• Cherokee Chocolate – Derived from a purple variety, this tomato is an unusual brownish or chocolate color, unlike most of the dark fruited types that are actually closer to a shade of purple.

• Box Car Willie – A red, disease resistant heirloom sporting good old-fashioned tomato taste on fruits averaging around 10 ounces. I’m afraid I can’t shed any sordid details regarding how it got its name but I’m sure that they are out there somewhere.

• Delicious – This is a popular tomato with a famous pedigree, but it’s a variety that I’ve neglected in the past. Not as flashy as the others, but hopefully I’ll reap consistency with this large beefsteak style tomato.

• Moonglow – Now I know good and well that I didn’t choose a tomato called Moonglow! And where is the Mortgage Lifter seedling that I purchased at the Herb Fair? Well that’s what I get for not paying closer attention when grabbing my tomato plants… I’ll have to report back once I figure out how a tomato could wind up with a name like Moonglow!

It’s not too late to jump on board the heirloom tomato bandwagon. If you didn’t start your own pampered tomato seedlings this spring then it’s time to search the local greenhouse in hopes of finding a heirloom variety or two. Otherwise you can contact the Tasteful Garden to see what interesting heirloom tomato choices they may still have in supply.

This unusual plant is rare in the home garden, but the fruits are popular in salsas and many other ethnic recipes.

Tomatillos are also known as Toma Verde or husk tomatoes. The name husk tomato refers to the papery shell that covers the small cherry tomato sized fruit and splits open as the tomatillos mature and ripen.

With a quick glance a tomatillo plant could easily be mistaken for a tomato vine. There are several different varieties including; Purple de Milpa, Green Husk Tomatillo, Dr. Wych’s Yellow, Verde, and the Purple Tomatillo. The purple tomatillo fruits are ornamental and slightly sweeter in flavor.

Growing Tomatillos in the Garden

Tomatillos are raised in the same manner as you would grow tomatoes. At least I think they are… my one attempt at growing tomatillos a couple of years ago was not exactly a success. The plants grew well and looked healthy but for some reason failed to produce a single fruit.

The strange thing was that the plants did have flowers and small papery husks, but no tomatillos. If I had to speculate on a reason for the failure to bear fruit I would assume that the soil was too high in nitrogen; encouraging vegetative growth rather than fruit production.

A gardener in St. Catherine’s, which I believe is in Canada, commented as follows on her own interest in growing this plant: “Has anyone had any luck with the tomatillos variety this far north? Salsa is big in my family and we would like to have a crack at this authentic Mexicasa treat.”

Her question was proposed to subscribers of the Gardening Secrets Newsletter and several readers weighed in with their own experiences on the matter of growing tomatillos:

Gardener’s Tomatillo Growing Successes

“I live in Montana, I planted Tomatillos about 4 years ago and they have come up every year since voluntarily. I gave away bags full last year. So the answer from me is yes, they grow in the North. Keep Growing!” – Lola Friedhoff

“Ground Cherry, Husk Tomato, or Tomatillo plants should do well anywhere tomatoes grow. I’ve had luck with all of the species with the exception of one year when nothing seemed to grow. Good luck and keep trying.” – Jeanne

“I grew Tomatillos several years ago, green (variety), without any problems. Planted them just like regular tomatoes. They went wild and I ended up with more tomatillos then I knew what to do with. I used a hand posthole digger to dig my holes, then filled the hole with leaf mold compost, then planted the tomatillo plants.” – Jim Davis

Tomatillos are Worth a Try

For Northern gardeners it appears that if you can raise tomatoes in your garden, you should also be able to grow and harvest a crop of tomatillos. Start the seed indoors and transplant them out into the garden using the same techniques and timing as with your tomato transplants.

You can also use a layer of plastic mulch to raise soil temperatures in the tomatillo bed throughout the growing season. If your season is extremely short select a variety such as the Purple Tomatillo that has a shorter time to maturity and is listed at 60 – 90 days.

So for those of us that have yet to harvest a ripe tomatillo, it sounds like there’s still hope and that it would be worth the effort. It’s probably too late for me to plant tomatillo seeds this season, but I think they will be on my list of additions to next year’s garden.

This post has been submitted as part of the Weekend Herb Blogging Project for the week of June 10, 2007. If there are other tomatillo experiences, recipe ideas, or tips for growing tomatillos in the home garden, feel free to chime in.

Following are some terrific homegrown ideas for growing tomatoes picked from your very own gardens!

Tomato Volunteers

Evelyn, who grows her tomatoes in the state of Alabama, shared the following tip regarding an easy way to obtain free tomato plants without planting a single seed:

“I enjoyed reading your article (newsletter) on tomatoes. I live in Alabama, we had a mild winter and my husband and I got an early start on our spring garden. The tomatoes from last year reseeded in the garden; so we had enough plants to transplant and give some away early in the spring. My tomatoes are doing very well.”

Evelyn, it’s great to hear that your tomatoes are growing well. I have volunteer tomato plants sprouting up from seed depositd by last year’s tomato plants also. Typically it’s only the cherry tomato varieties that readily reseed themselves in my garden beds and they do grow like weeds.

Epsom Salts and Tomato Plants?

No, these salts aren’t for seasoning your tomatoes, but rather to provide nutrients to the plants. John Martens was looking for confirmation and an explanation regarding the usefulness of adding Epsom Salts to the soil when planting tomatoes in the garden.

“I live in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario – Zone 4 so we’re not transplanting tomatoes yet – maybe next week. I read where adding a teaspoon of Epsom salts to each hole where you transplant a tomato will help. Is this true and why will it help?”

John, I don’t use Epsom Salts on my tomatoes but know of gardeners that apply it as a source of additional magnesium. There’s some debate over the effectiveness and whether it can create an imbalance if your soil already contains adequate levels of magnesium. Applying a little Epsom Salts probably won’t hurt but I prefer to use compost and earthworm castings to give my transplants an extra boost.

Growing Tomatoes in Containers

Tom Sawyer sent in the following tips that he uses to grow tomatoes and other vegetables in slightly modified trash containers:

“Kenny, I live in the Atlanta area and plant all my garden plants in thirty gallon trash cans with 4 quarter inch holes drilled in the bottom for drainage. I fill them with Mircle-Gro Potting soil and water in. I have been doing this for several years and get bumper crops.”

“I have averaged about a bushel of tomatoes from each plant. I use the Bush variety plant. I get no weeds, very few insects, and make all my neighbors and co-workers happy and tomato filled all season. I was even picking them at Christmas time last year. I also grow green bell peppers and eggplant the same way except they are in smaller containers.”

“I do use cages over the tomatoes. Large spreading plants such as squash do not seem to fair well in containers so I gave them up. I have two large wooden pallets in my back yard that everything is on. The plants get full sun from around ten in the morning until almost sundown.”

This just goes to show that you don’t need a huge backyard in order to have a terrific garden. Yep, even a fancy gourmet tomato will be perfectly happy and content sprawling out of a “trashy” container.

Great Tomato Companion

An Australian gardener offered up a good companion to grow alongside of your tomato plants:

“Hi, thank you for your gardening tips. As I am in Australia, I guess we have different climatic conditions to apply to. I have recently planted a few tomatoes and it is the start of winter but we do not get a real cold winter season here and consequently no frosts.”

“But I will try your (red) plastic method. Also I don’t know if your members know of this tip… plant basil next to your tomato plants to keep the bugs away. Cheers!” – Bev Hobson

That’s an interesting match… tomatoes and basil make a great twosome not only in the kitchen, but also in the garden!

Tomato Growing Secrets from France

It appears the U.S. isn’t the only country where the tomato is popular, here’s another tomato tip from overseas, this one’s imported from France:

“Thanks so much for your great gardening secrets emails and I’m very impressed with the web page. Thought you might like to know about some ideas that the French use for growing tomatoes.”

“When planting outside, put some nettle leaves in the bottom of the hole. When fruit starts to set, fertilize with comfrey tea. This is made by cutting the tops off comfrey plants and soaking in rain water for a week. Strain and use diluted by 10 per cent. Regards, Gill Howl.”

I allow Comfrey and Stinging Nettles to grow nearby as beneficial garden companions, but I’ll have to try Gill’s suggestion for using them as an amendment and tea to enhance the growth of tomato plants.

Calling All Homegrown Tomato Tips 

Thank you for all the great tomato tips that were sent in. I know there are other unique and useful tomato cultivation ideas out there so take a second to add your own special gardening tip for growing tomatoes in the comments section below and don’t forget to include your location. Thanks!!!

So I thought I’d post a brief summary here of some of the tips for growing tomatoes that were covered in the newsletter:

• Starting Tomato Seedlings Indoors – Growing tomatoes from seed will enable you to get a jump on the growing season and also choose from the hundreds of unique tomato varieties that are available to the home gardener.
• Transplanting Tomato Plants – Don’t rush your seedlings into the garden before the weather warms up. Also, plant tomato transplants deeply or slightly horizontally placing more of the stem underground to promote root development.
• Fertilizing Tomatoes – Go easy on the nitrogen-rich fertilizer sources; instead provide extra phosphorous and potassium which will encourage the production and ripening fruit, rather than the development of overly lush vines with few tomatoes.
• Tomato Mulches – Plastic mulches, while not biodegradable, will help to raise soil temperatures. If you use organic mulches such as straw or shredded leaves, don’t apply them until after the soil has thoroughly warmed up.
• Train Up a Tomato – Tomatoes are like kids in that they just love to climb. So give them a tall support in the form of cages, trellises, stakes, Florida Tomato Weave, or your own improvised support system that will enable the plants to stretch towards the sky.
• Pruning Tomato Vines – Pinch out some of the sucker and side shoot growth to help keep the plant size manageable and to open the tomato plants up to more sunlight and air flow which will improve both plant health and fruit production.
• Watering Tomato Plants – Provide consistent moisture to help reduce tomato blossom end rot, but try to avoid saturating the tomato foliage at night, and limit the amount of handling or harvesting of the plants when they are wet.
• Favorite Tomato Varieties – I’m a big fan of heirloom tomatoes, the varieties that our great grandparents raised. You may sacrifice some productivity and disease resistance but you’ll be rewarded with incredible flavor and amazingly attractive fruits.
• Container Tomatoes – No room for a garden? Well that won’t stop you from growing all the tomatoes you can eat. Tomatoes can be raised in containers or even in those upside down planters that can be suspended above a deck of patio.
• Harvesting Tomatoes – There’s no secret here, just allow the fruits to fully ripen on the vine, then pick and enjoy them at their best. Grow a cherry tomato plant and there will always be a delicious sun-baked snack waiting for you in the midst of the garden.

If you enjoyed these tips for growing tomatoes you won’t want to miss the next entry where I’ll share an assortment of tomato gardening ideas that have been provided by other gardeners that visit this site or subscribe to my Gardening Newsletter.

The biggest surprise was that many of the heirlooms purchased were varieties that I had never even heard of.

Tomato Growing Entrepreneurs

Most of the new tomato additions were obtained courtesy of the Manheim Central High School Agriculture Education Program. These enterprising youngsters raise hundreds of healthy heirloom tomato transplants each spring and sell them at the Garden Faire.

I’m always happy to see the interest in heirlooms and appreciative of the opportunity to discover and enjoy another rare tomato. Here are the six tomato varieties that I purchased from the Manheim Central Agriculture Education Program:

• Copia – A cross between Green Zebra and Marvel Stripe, produces large striped gold and red skinned tomatoes with a swirled red and yellow interior.
• The Dutchman – Another tomato that I had never heard of, this is an extremely old variety reputed to produce fruits up to three pounds.
• German Johnson Pink – I actually grew a beefsteak style German Johnson tomato of my own but decided to see if there was any variation between the plants.
• Giant Belgium – Get ready to contact the Guinness Book of World Records; this variety produces two to five pound dark pink beefsteak tomatoes.
• Japanese Black Trifele – I’m still not clear whether this one has Russian or Japanese origins. The shape and size of a Bartlett pear, purplish-red color, and richly flavored, maybe I should have grabbed two.
• Riesentraube – This extremely productive cherry tomato brings me up to a total of four cherry-sized tomato varieties that will be growing in my garden this summer.

Here’s the entire listing of heirloom tomato varieties offered by Manheim Central along with full descriptions.

Mystery Heirloom Tomato

One other heirloom tomato to note was purchased from Happy Cat Organics. This one was described as an old heirloom that was handed down from a gardener in Ohio. I’m not positive of the official name for this one and the label was marked simply “Yellow and Red In” and the vendor may have referred to it as an Inside Out Tomato.

Regardless of the name, the grower seemed pretty excited about this mysterious heirloom tomato and indicated that it produces fruits that are yellow on the outside with a completely red interior. Well that was just the kind of strange and unusual combination needed to raise my curiosity enough to add yet another heirloom tomato to the collection!

I’m now down to twelve strong and healthy tomato plants that have earned their spots out in the garden.

Heirloom and Gourmet Tomato Varieties

I selected a dozen interesting tomato varieties, most of them heirlooms, to grow from seed this season. It wasn’t easy to choose among the candidates as there are hundreds of unique heirlooms to select from.

Here are the twelve tomato varieties that I grew from seed this year:

• Black Krim – Dark, medium sized, flavorful fruits.
• Caspian Pink – A large pink Russian heirloom.
• Sungold – One of my favorite cherry tomatoes.
• Pineapple – Beautiful, large, bi-colored tomato.
• Brandywine – An extremely popular heirloom tomato.
• Mortgage Lifter – Heirloom with a “rich” history.
• Big Rainbow – Name says it all for this Bi-colored.
• Hillbilly – One of the largest, can reach two pounds.
• Howard German – Popular in Penn Dutch country.
• Black Cherry – Dark colored sweet cherry tomato.
• Costuluto Fiorentino – Large red Italian heirloom.
• Blondkopchfen – A productive yellow cherry tomato.

Initially two cells of a twenty-four cell seedling tray were sown with two or three seeds of each variety. If you start with fresh seed you can chance sowing a single tomato seed in each cell, but if the seed is older it’s best to plant multiple seeds in each cell to ensure adequate germination.

Survival of the Healthiest Tomato

Once the tomato seeds have germinated and start forming their first set of true leaves I begin the merciless task of judging and culling the contenders. Any seedling that is weak, lanky, slow growing, odd looking, pale colored, diseased, or displays any unfavorable characteristic has to go.

As unpleasant as it may be to destroy a helpless seedling, it’s a job that has to be carried out. I use a small pair of scissors to snip out the weaker looking seedlings until only the strongest remains in each cell. That will leave twenty-four tomato seedlings to continue growing.

I could have transplanted the weaker seedlings to another container, but separating the plants can be tedious and I don’t like handling them too much when they are just starting out. Using scissors to thin the tomatoes will also help to limit the chances of damaging the surviving plant or disturbing its delicate root system.

Rewards for the Best Tomato Plants

A couple of weeks after the first elimination the seedlings are judged once again. Since the obvious castoffs have already been removed the final selection is tougher and based on subtle differences in appearance, gardener’s intuition, or a quick coin flip to decide which plant deserves to move on.

The best tomato plant of each variety is transplanted into a larger container to give it a little more room to grow and develop a fuller root system. The tomato seedlings respond well to being carefully transplanted into their new growing quarters and should be set a little deeper in the soil.

The victorious tomato plants also receive special pampering in the form of the choicest locations under the lights, a daily plant massage, and first priority when it comes to feeding, watering, and hardening off. All the finest care to ensure they will be vigorous and healthy when transplanted outside.

After all, the garden is where the challenge will really begin and my home grown tomato seedlings will receive more competition from a few additional heirloom tomato transplants that I purchase at the Landis Valley Museum’s Herb & Garden Faire that is just around the corner.