Posted on 04/03/2012 6:58:11 PM PDT by Former MSM Viewer
Are heirlooms really as good and tasty as good old hybrids like Better Boy or BeefMaster?
I am growing Old German, Cherokee Purple, Boxcar Willie and several yellows...
I've dedicated the majority of my small garden to heirlooms.
Hope they are all they are cracked up to be.
A few yrs ago, I shared a garden and we had 52 plants. I would bring home 20-30 ripe tomatoes a week.
I made the best spaghetti sauce using fresh homegrown tomatoes...better than the $7/qt sauce from Whole Foods...
Thanks for the good wishes...
If you can find it, use turkey manure to make them pop.
Chicken sh!t is what the libs use.
Besides buying into commodities, such as guns, ammo, long term food storage, extra durable clothes, etc., growing a garden is an excellent idea. All seeds should be heirloom as they can produce seeds that can be replanted. Neighbors have laughed at my garden, but it gets a little bigger each year. Have had some failures but that is part of the learning experience for the area and skills building.
I bought some Cherokee Purples last season and was disappointed. They are supposed to be low acid, which would be easier on a lot of people’s stomachs, but the ones I had seemed low on taste also... It was late in the season, and I may have just gotten some poor ones, though. The market guy said his customers are crazy about them (and they were pricey).
“Celebrity” tomatoes seem to grow real well around here (East TN). I usually grow a variety of hybrids. German Queen is my old favorite for eating plain, and Celebrity or Better Boy for sandwiches and canning.
Good luck!
bfl
I’ve had great success with Celebrity & Better Boy. Just thought I would try the heirlooms. Hoping for something special...
Where do you guys get your hybrid seeds?
I like Pruden’s Purple - it tastes like Cherokee Purple but it’s 10-12 days earlier.
Aunt Ruby’s German Green - rich and spicy, sweet slicer, gets a golden blush when ripe.
Kellogg’s Orange Breakfast - creamy, smooth, loads of tomato flavor without any harshness
Black Krim - complex, spicy, but not the same as Aunt Ruby. Seems disease prone.
Yellow Pear - feh. Most prolific tomato I have ever grown, nasty, waxy, tasteless things.
Principe Borghese - for sun-dried tomatoes.
This year, it’s Kellogg’s, Black Krim (one more chance - if it’s sickly, I’m done with it), and Polbig - very early, sets fruit in cool weather.
There is a whole world of tomatoes out there, but I believe I’d be happy with Pruden’s, Aunt Ruby, Kellogg’s, Pr. Borg., and Sungold. And a disease-resistant black.
I have Mortgage Lifter seeds. My growing season is too short for them it seems. Here at 8,500 ft in the Colorado Rockies we only have about 90 days between frosts. I have to start indoors several months early for many things. Potatoes do very well however.
Mr. Stripeys are the best for sandwiches and salads- huge, beautiful with orange, red, pink and salmon coloring throughout and they taste heavenly.
Also, don’t try to can the yellow tomatoes. They have too much water to turn out right.
My favorites:
St. Pierre
Wapsipinicon Peach
Alicante
Rose
Black Russian
Amish Paste
Great White
I love Cherokee Purples, but haven’t had much luck with getting a high yield of them.
One of the best ever is Black Cherry (cherry size). They just keep coming and coming and have the richest, smokiest flavor you’ll ever find. I ate bowls and bowls of them. Trickle a little Italian dressing on them and you have heaven.
As far as I’m concerned, Brandywine tomatoes are hard to beat in the flavor department.
IMO a heirloom tomato is essential to the making of a good BLT, they just seem to be so much juicier and full of flavor than the others. I loves my BLTs.
My wife and I grow only heirloom tomatoes, mortgage lifters are one of our favorites, excellent taste and one slice hangs over the edge of a sandwich
I love heirlooms. They offer such a wide variety of flavor and texture. Hope yours are as satisfying as the ones I grow and eat
Try Black Krim. Once you’ve grown it, you’ll never stop.
Yes they are and they have a wide variety of taste. Do a wide variety of indeterminate tomatoes. Only grow determinate tomatoes if you’re caning them or making sauce. Determinate tomatoes come ripe about the same time where indeterminate tomatoes come ripe over a long period of time. Pick several different types and then plant at same time, then in about 3-4 weeks plant more of the same varieties. You’ll have a longer period where you have ripe tomatoes that way. The days on the tags tell you how long from planting until first fruit. I usually pick some 60 day 70-80 day and 90 day varieties to plant at same time.
The varieties you can use depend on where you live. I’m in the San Fernando Valley which is very hot and dry. The varieties for Dallas/Houston or New England are very different from what grow really well here. Contact Tomato Mania.
One tomato that I always grow isn’t a heirloom is Sun Gold which is a hybrid cherry. They are just delicious. Considering it’s just my wife and I we usually have 3 plants and they don’t go to waste. I think they have a very wide growing range and they grow great here. The Yellow Pears are good too (cherry pear) I’m not fond of the various black tomatoes. Mortgage Lifter, Green Zebra, German Johnson, Arkansas Traveler (doesn’t grow that well here but they are tasty), and Stupice, are good varieties and taste great. I didn’t like the Juane Flamme was highly recommended but I didn’t like it (lack of flavor), but I think it wasn’t right for the area and I might have made a mistake with watering and fertilizer.
One tip I learned about planting tomatoes. Remove all leaves except the top 2 and all stems other than the main one. Then plant the plant deep enough that only the two leaves are above the ground. The entire stem will sprout roots. That will give you a stronger plant earlier and really accelerate the growth.
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