By Michael Nolan

As much as I adore tomatoes of all shapes and sizes, there are certain heirloom tomato varieties that simply do not do well in the hot Alabama summer sun.

As I have received quite a few questions about this topic recently, I decided to give you a short list of a few heirloom tomato varieties that tend to have better results in certain climates. I am intentionally calling attention to varieties that I have not yet covered on Tomato Casual:

Heirloom Tomatoes for Hot Weather Climates

• Aunt Ruby’s Green – a long time favorite that originated in Tennessee, these beauties are light green, often with yellow stripes. They are flatter than they are round, and an excellent choice for fried green tomatoes.

• Cosoluto Genovese – originally from Italy Read the rest of this entry »
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By Vanessa Richins

Many people aim to grow the world’s largest tomato.

Have some fun and go for the opposite route - harvest some tiny tomatoes the size of peas.

Currant tomatoes (Lycopersicon pimpinellifolium) are closely related to our standard garden tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) and are very similar to the wild tomatoes of Central America.

Other common names include wild tomato, Wild Florida Everglades Tomato and spoon tomato.

These little heirlooms are bursting with flavor. They produce hundreds of sugar packed fruits on indeterminate vines. Health benefits abound as they have forty times as much Read the rest of this entry »

By Vanessa Richins

There’s a magical time in late winter when the new seed catalogs arrive.

As you peruse the glossy pages looking for tomatoes to grow, you may notice some abbreviations throughout the descriptions.

Just what are they trying to tell you?

The most common abbreviation you will see is VFN, or a combination of those letters. A plant with these designations has been shown to be resistant to some very common tomato problems.

V stands for Read the rest of this entry »

By Michael Nolan

You know you’ve accomplished something when you have a tomato named after you.

Okay, so maybe that wouldn’t be such a big deal to anyone other than the tomato centric, but the Abraham Lincoln heirloom tomato would be just as impressive by any name.

The original variety was first introduced in 1923 by W.H. Buckbee who is responsible for naming it after Illinois’ favorite son, good ol’ Honest Abe.

This hearty heirloom plant produces tremendous crops of extra large fruit that is ideal for organic gardeners thanks to its natural disease resistant properties.

Here are a few more interesting facts about the Abraham Lincoln original heirloom tomato, most based on my own experience with it: Read the rest of this entry »

Part One: Heirlooms For Everyone! A Guide to Choosing Tomato Seeds

By Kira Hamman

As much as we all love seed catalogs, they can be a touch overwhelming at times.

Seventy-four varieties of heirloom tomatoes? Really? How can anyone ever choose?

Here’s help, in the form of an annotated guide to six fantastic varieties. Grow one, grow them all, ignore this list completely – the choice is up to you. But place your seed order quick, because it’s time to get started!

1. Brandywine: The Platonic ideal of tomato. Read the rest of this entry »

By Michelle Fabio

In Santorini, Greece, among the volcanic ash and dramatic white villages overlooking the deep blue Aegean Sea, you will also find one of the most revered tomatoes on the planet—the Santorini cherry tomato.

Aside from tasting wonderful, these tomatoes have been found to have more Vitamin C than an average tomato and more lycopene than any fruit or vegetable.

Rather appropriately, this tiny tasty tomato Read the rest of this entry »