Heirloom Tomatoes – What Are Heirloom Tomatoes and Why Grow Them?
It's not uncommon to hear references to heirloom tomatoes. It's easy to see that they are prized by many gardeners, but for the novice gardener the term may be confusing. Here's a look at what makes a particular variety an heirloom tomato, and some varieties that you may want to try in your tomato garden, or even on the patio in a hanging tomato planter.
Heirloom Tomatoes – How to Know If Your Tomatoes Are Heirloom
By Stacey McCloskey
Do you know what an heirloom tomato is? A particularly large number of heirloom tomato varieties are available today, mainly because tomatoes normally do not cross-pollinate. An heirloom tomato is a variety that has been around for 50 plus years.
Seed saved from heirloom fruits, non-hybrid varieties, produce plants fairly identical to the parent plant. Many of the odder colors and types that have resurfaced lately have their origins in these older, self-saved varieties. The plant type is usually large, sprawling and late compared to current commercial varieties.
Disease resistance may also be expected, which is a great benefit. If the gardener wants to try a few truly weird or tasty types of heirloom tomatoes, these usually mature some fruits almost anywhere except in the shortest-season areas in Northern states. Specialty seed houses and exchanges are a source of the widest variety of heirloom tomatoes imaginable. I also have seeds of many heirloom varieties mentioned below.
Heirloom varieties can include Green Zebra, Beefsteak, Mortgage Lifter, Arkansas Traveler, Brandywine, Bloody Butcher, Amish Paste, Stupice, Marglobes and Rutgers to name a few. These tomatoes made this list because they perform well under a wide range of conditions and delivering the flavor people want from homegrown tomatoes.
If you like them enough to start saving seeds, which is the first step toward cultivating varieties that are especially well-suited to your garden, you can save the seeds in a cool dry place for next year. This is a great way to save money and you will never have to wait for your seeds to arrive.
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