Many of you may not know that by trade I am a Holistic Nutritional Consultant. In our nutrition course we read a book called The End of Food by Thomas F. Pawlick. That book literally changed my life. It got me thinking about a lot of foods and growing foods in a completely new way. The one food it made me think about most of all…. tomatoes. Did you know that most of our tomatoes come from California, loaded on a truck green and sprayed with a gas that turns them red by the time they reach market? Me either. The year I read that book I started to grow tomatoes. Tons and tons of heirloom tomatoes. I grow every color, shape and size, slicer, paste and cherry tomato I can and let me tell you, there is nothing better than a sun ripened, garden grown heirloom tomato.

Now, last year was the most epic fail ever in the land of tomatoes. I started over 150 tomato plants. I started them too early, got lazy and watered them from my tap 2 days before moving them outside to harden off and then we got hailed out right after I planted them. BAD, BAD, BAD. I was able to replace some of them at the local nursery but we were pretty late into a wet, cold season. At the end of the summer last year I had amazing tomato plants, loads of green tomatoes and a dark, cool garage. I stored the green tomatoes on newspaper in the garage hoping they would ripen. They never did. We did use a bunch of them to make green tomato salsa, but overall it was a truly disappointing year.

This year I am starting my tomatoes later and planning a little better. I have been saving crushed egg shells from our hens to plant in each hole when I move them to the garden for added Calcium as well. I will be melting snow to water instead of using tap water. I recently read somewhere that you shouldn’t plant a $10 vegetable in a $1 hole. Wish I could remember where I read it for you.

Anyways, here is the list of the 27 types of tomatoes we have grown and the new ones we will grow…. If you have a favorite then PLEASE share it in the comments! I LOVE tomatoes and love to hear about other varieties we should try!

• Red Robin (WC)- these plants typically only grow to be a foot tall and are seriously LOADED with awesomeness. The smallest tomato plant I have ever grown with probably the most tomatoes. You do not need many of these compact warriors in your garden. They are small enough that they are perfect for containers too.
• Blueberry Cherry Tomato (BC)- I bought my first plant at a nursery in BC and saved seeds from my tomatoes. I have located the seeds online for you though as well. These blue and red skinned cherry tomatoes carry an anthocyanin punch and are super yummy!
• Blue Cream cherry tomato (BC)- I think we got this tomato by total accident. We had it marked as a Wagner Blue Green but this plant grew different than all the others. These tiny tomatoes are the sweetest tomatoes we have grown. The seed we grow now comes from that first accidental plant.
• Cosmic Eclipse tomato (BC)- these tomatoes are not a super producer but they are tasty and a good conversation tomato. They have a mottled color and a bright taste.
• Black Beauty (BC)- Black beauty’s are my favorite tomatoes. They have a deep rich black/ blue color with hints of deep red. The inside is a dark red and they are the best tomato I have ever eaten to this point. They are great slicers and perfect for salsa.
• Paul Robeson (BC)- this tomato is said to have a sweet smokey flavor. We did plant this variety last year but did not have an opportunity to try it ripened.
• Black Krim (HHS)- one of the most popular tomato breeds. Produces large great tasting fruit.
• Purple Russian (BC)- is a purple plum tomato that I can no longer seem to find seed for. I received this seed for free in a previous Bakers Creek order. I will have to be conscious of the fact that we need to save seeds from this variety if it successfully grows. Keep an eye out in the fall. If we harvest a lot of seed we are always open to sharing!
• Costoluto Genovese (BC)- A deeply ribbed Italian type tomato. This tomato is a slicer as well as a preserving tomato. The plants provided lots of green fruit last year. Hopefully this year they will have the time and weather to ripen.
• Lucid Gem (BC)- these tomatoes first ripen yellow and then turn a deeper orange as they ripen further. They are said to have great shelf storage after picking. Heat tolerant. Not that we have a huge concern with that here.
• Roma (WC)- Roma tomatoes are the paste tomatoes. They have a thicker wall and fewer seeds. They cook up thicker for sauces and make a perfect bruschetta! A must in any tomato garden! If you had to choose just one tomato to grow, which would be a total devastation to me, I would recommend the Roma.
• German Pink (BC)- this tomato grows huge pink fruit. 1-2 pounds! Super versatile and can be used for slicing, juicing, sauces and canning.
• Abe Lincoln Original (BC)- these tomatoes have such an intriguing story and we cannot wait to ripen one and try it ourselves. Check out the story behind them at Diann Dirks- The Garden Lady of Georgia’s blog.
• Wagner Blue Green (BC)- this tomato is so much fun! It is a deep navy blue color with green inside flesh. The navy fades into green and as the tomato ripens the green turns to yellow. Super sweet flavor.
• Cherokee Purple (HHS)- this Cherokee tomato dates back pre 1890’s. Now, how is that for heirloom! Huge fruits!
• Red Rosso Sicilian (BC)- these deeply ribbed tomatoes are used mostly for sauces or stuffing.
• Costoluto Fiorentino (BC)- I just really LOVE the ribbed tomatoes. They just seem more “heirloom” know what I mean? This tomato is an early producer and great for slicing and sauces.
• Martino’s Roma (BC)- an early variety Roma on a compact plant.
• Bonny Best (BC)- famous old canning tomato. This variety is new to me this year. I realized I did not have a plain jane red, round tomato in my seeds so we chose this one in hopes we can have stewed tomatoes.
• Pink Jazz (BC)- I’m a sucker for pink….
• Dark Galaxy (BC)- these are not a super producer but they have good flavour. Bakers Creek does not seem to carry them anymore though so we will continue to grow and save seeds.
• Green Vernissage (BC)- a green skinned and fleshed plum size tomato. Great for salsa Verde.
• Black Vernissage (BC)- a watermelon looking striped plum tomato. These little tomatoes are great paste tomatoes.
• Sunrise Bumblebee (BC)- oddly enough, these are my least favorite tomato. They are super tangy, almost sour. My son LOVES them most!
• Amana Orange (BC)- I wish these tomatoes were better producers and had more seeds inside I could save. They are huge and oh so good sliced with salt and pepper! YUM!
• Taxi Tomato (WC)- High producing medium sized sunny yellow tomato. They brighten up all of my salsas!
• Amish Paste (WC)- great reliable paste tomato. I also seem to be drawn to anything Amish. Possibly because I love their values and traditions!

How many tomato plants should you grow? Well, that is a really good question. In my research over the years, I have learned that there are about 3 pounds of tomatoes in a quart jar. Depending on how many jars of tomato product your family goes through you would have to do the math on how many plants to grow. I typically make at least 78 pint size jars of salsa for my family alone and another 24 quarts of spaghetti sauce. That is 189 pounds of tomatoes just to make the bare minimum. We would like to be able to can more sauce, stewed tomatoes, ketchup and BBQ sauce eventually as well. Following a year like last year, we will be hoping to make at least an extra 6 month supply of canned tomato products this year if yields allow. If each normal producing tomato plant can produce 10-15 pounds of tomatoes in a season I would need to grow 19 (using the 10lb average) plants just to make my spaghetti sauce and salsa. Because I grow a wider variety of plants, the weather is so unpredictable and I hope to be able to sell my tomatoes, I hope to have at least 100 producing plants this year. I will be weighing all my harvests this year and share the results with you at the end of summer. For now, do some simple math for what you think you would actually need for your family and go from there.

(BC) Bakers Creek Heirloom Seeds (HHS) Heritage Harvest Seeds (WC) West Coast Seeds