100 Heirloom Tomatoes for the American GardenTomatoes have always been far and away the most popular plant in the vegetable garden, and today the class act among tomatoes is the heirloom varieties--those vegetables with a past that go back generations, their seeds preserved and passed down among families, friends, and dedicated farmers. And no one knows heirloom tomatoes like Carolyn Male, a biologist who's grown more than a thousand varieties in the last 14 years. Following the lush and practical format of "100 English Roses for the American Garden "(with 57,000 copies in print), "100 Heirloom Tomatoes" is a thorough how-to and a stunningly photographed field guide. It covers every facet of growing heirlooms, from selecting the right varieties for your zone and type of garden to timing and planting of seeds, transplanting, hardening off, staking vs. caging, fertilizing, and more. There's a section on how to become a seed saver and even how to do crosses that will lead to creating your own heirlooms. Then comes the tasty part: Aunt Ginny's Purple and Amish Paste, Redfield Beauty, Green Zebra, Georgia Streak and the Santa Clara Canner. Fluted, scalloped, flattened, or lobed--white, pink, red, orange, gold, or chocolate brown--sweet to tart, mild to strong, perfumed and fruity to dark and smoky--now these are tomatoes with real character. |
Common terms and phrases
1-pound range Amish available commercially bicolors blemish free blossom end rot Box Car Willie Brandywine Bulgarian Cherokee Purple cherry tomatoes clusters of three color concentric cracking cover of potato-leaf cover of regular cover of regular-leaf Craig LeHoullier early blight eties Eva Purple Ball family ORIGIN five YIELD Flammée flavor flesh foliage cover foliage diseases fruits fusarium wilt Golden Queen Green Gage Green Zebra growing in clusters grown habit with heavy habit with medium habit with sparse heart-shaped heavy cover heirloom tomatoes heirloom varieties Hellimer high PLANT/FOLIAGE hybrid indeterminate habit late COLOR/SHAPE late midseason COLOR/SHAPE Marizol Gold medium cover moderate PLANT/FOLIAGE moderate to high Mortgage Lifter mutation oblate SIZE/ARRANGEMENT ounces paste tomatoes pink beefsteaks SIZE/ARRANGEMENT plant pollination regular-leaf foliage TASTE saved seed Seed Company Seed Savers Exchange strain sunscald sweet SEEDS three YIELD tolerant of foliage toma tomato varieties TYPE Ukrainian United States MATURITY Unknown USDA usually vine zone 5 garden