About the tomatoes however......I have been collecting seed from my favorite tomatoes, Rose, and Federle for several years. This year I wanted to try other varieties as well, so I ordered more seeds from Fedco, Baker's Creek, Seed Savers, and I got a lot of free seeds from Wintersown.org. Now that I have compiled everything I ordered I see I must have been nuts. Have you ever gone grocery shopping while you were hungry? You know what happens. You buy too much! That is what has happened to me.
I have 27 different heirloom tomato varieties. Now 27 plants is more than most even think to plant in their garden, so having that many varieties is pretty crazy. But we love tomatoes and I usually put in at least 40-60 plants in a normal year. Because we have 7 mouths to feed we need more than an average amount of food to get us through the winter, but this year I am trying to grow almost ALL our food. So with tomatoes that means enough for spaghetti sauce, tomato soup, chili, beef stew, ketchup, juice, and more for an entire year. I will probably plant 100 plants. I guess if I end up with too much the kids can sell the extras at the local farmer's market near us.
Here are the varieties besides the Rose and Federle that I am going to plant.
From Baker's Creek:
- Rev. Morrow's Long Keeper (plant in June and harvest later - keeps through December)
- Aunt Ruby's German Cherry
- Dad's Sunset
- Ananas Noire
- German Red Strawberry
- Millionaire
- Paul Robeson (very excited about this one)
- Hawaiian Pineapple
- Riesentraube
- Carbon (excited about this one too)
- Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge (can't wait to see and taste this!)
From Seed Savers Exchange:
- Black Sea Man (PL)
- Wisconsin 55
From Fedco:
- Cherokee Purple
- PineappleAunt Ruby's German Green
From Wintersown:
- Green Sausage
- Chocolate Cherry
- Speckled Siberian
- Black Cherry
- Tumbling Tom
- Tennessee Britches
From P and P Seed Co:
- Phil's Fantastic (supposed to be very large!!!)
Heirlooms from the local feed store:
- Red Cherry Large
- Red Oxheart
- Brandywine Pink (PL)
Out of all these seeds, the only plants I need to really worry about cross pollinating are the Brandywine Pink, Black Sea Man, and the Rose. Each of those plants is a potato leaf (PL) variety which means that the stigma sticks out of the anther cone. In regular leaf tomato plants the stigma does not stick out of the anther cone so cross pollinating does not readily happen. There is a lot of conflicting information regarding tomatoes and cross pollinating, but one article that I like can be found here.
Based on my own experience growing tomatoes for over 20 years I really haven't encountered any crossing between regular leaf varieties, only potato leaf varieties. So I will follow the seed saving idea of bagging with tulle that I have on hand for the seed I plan to save. I will probably bag the regular leaf varieties that I deem desirable enough to replant again next year just to make sure the seed is pure, but I don't really think it is necessary.
Okay, now you know I'm nuts about gardening, nuts about tomatoes, and just plain nuts. But I'm excited to try these tomatoes!
Wow - I wish you lived close enough so I could just come by to look at all those tomatoes! Please do post pictures of your garden this year. Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge sounds really fun! I'd love to see a slice of that one.
ReplyDeletePenny