Heirloom Tomatoes and Tomato Growing Tips

A Green Zebra heirloom tomato planted 11-29-2008

After failing at my first attempt at seed starting last year (I'm sure it was me) and doing the Home Depot tomato plants this past summer (which actually did quite well), I decided to go for organic heirloom tomato plants this year and I ordered them from Laurel's Heirloom Tomato Plants in California. I've been looking at her site for a while and decided to go for it. What the heck. If I can get some interesting, really tasty tomatoes out of them, they'll be worth the money (and it really wasn't that much a difference in price between her and Home Depot). So I ordered 10 plants, among them Green Zebra, San Marzano, Azoychka, Yellow Submarine, Brandywine OTV, Anna Russian, and Martina's Roma (because she was running low on the San Marzano).

I was lucky enough to get to place the order with Laurel directly and it was immediately obvious that this woman is a tomato mama. She told me she expected to ship by November 17th, but if the plants weren't big enough for shipping she would hold them up a few days. Some people might get miffed at this, but I found it endearing. It told me how much she cares about her tomatoes and whether or not they will make it through the shipping process. And she was basically right on -- I got the email on the 18th that they would ship that day and they arrived by the 20th unscathed with nary a leaf bent. I was amazed as I've never received shipped plants before.

Laurel has some great tomato growing tips on her website, some of which I'll summarize here:

• Do be sure to give the tomato plants plenty of space - they need air circulation.
• Do be sure to plant in fluffy organic soil and composting material. I try my best to use homemade compost from veggie scraps in my UCT9 garden composter from Urban Garden Center. If I don't have enough, I purchase organic compost.
• Do plant the tomatoes quite deep. This year I pulled off the tiny lower leaves and planted right up to the biggest set of bottom leaves. Tomatoes will shoot roots out of their stems and it will make for a much sturdier, productive plant.
• Do use tomato cages or some sort of support system for the tender tomato leaves and fruits. It keeps the plants off the ground, reduces insects and increases production. I got my tomato cages a few years ago at Gardener's Supply Company and actually have to order more this year.
• Don't overwater or underwater. Get yourself a moisture meter to be certain when the tomato plants need watering (I picked one up at Home Depot for $14.95 in the orchid section). Tomatoes should actually hit the dry stage before you water them.
• Don't get the leaves wet. Make sure to water at the base of the plant.
• Do mist the leaves with liquid kelp/fish emulsion fertilizer once a month. It promotes flower and fruit growth.

My intention is to eventually plant enough tomatoes year-round to keep us in tomato sauce, tomatoes for stews and soups and, of course, fresh eatin' maters. Is there anything better than a freshly sliced tomato just out of the garden with just a few sprinkles of kosher salt? I'm not sure how many plants I'll need to keep going to keep the 3 of us (my husband Mickey, my dad and me) in tomatoes year-round, but 10 is the most I've ever planted, so let's see where that gets us.