There is nothing better than the taste of a fresh from the vine tomato sandwich.
This year I added two new (for me) tomato plants to my garden. I tried growing heirloom tomatoes. I purchased a Purple Cherokee and a Black Kril, both heirloom varieties.
In the past, I have grown Celebrity tomatoes with varying degrees of success. The less than satisfactory success rate might be due to the drought we experienced here on the East Coast the past two years. I found the tomatoes I grew last summer to be pithy and lacking flavor.
The Purple Cherokee and the Black Kril tomato seedlings grew to become tremendous plants. I planted both plants inside tall tomato cages and inserted additional stakes into the ground to keep the heavy plants standing upright. Both plants produced large fruits, which ripened to a different color of red than the familiar traditional tomatoes. The Black Kril's fruit was a dark red, almost black on the edges while the Purple Cherokee's fruit was not as dark. Both tomatoes tasted fresh with strong tomato taste.
To prepare the soil, I used a posthole digger to dig deep enough to bury the plant six inches in the ground. I removed the bottom leaves before inserting into the hole filled with organic compost, a handful each of lime, Epson salts, and 10-10-10 fertilizer. My secret ingredient is to add one book of matches minus the cover. After tamping down the soil around the newly planted tomato plant, I water well with rainwater collected in my rain barrels.
Each plant produced 15-20 large fruits, which made it to the table. Unfortunately, a thunderstorm with strong winds and heavy rain flattened both heavily fruited plants to the ground, breaking the main stems in the process. I up- righted the plants after the storm, but the plants suffered too much and slowly succumbed. The largest fruits ripened which I brought into the house. I removed the dying plants to make room for late season additions to the garden.
I did not find any advantages or disadvantages in growing heirloom tomatoes over the newer varieties of tomatoes. Tomato plant variety selection should be based on the ultimate purpose for growing. I grow tomatoes to eat; therefore, I want flavorful, fresh tomatoes. Both of the heirloom tomatoes I grew this summer, the Purple Cherokee and the Black Kril, met my requirements for candidates in next year's garden.
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