By Michael Nolan

When the summer started I moved to a home on the other side of town away from all of my precious seed-started vegetable plants that included thirteen heirloom tomato plants.

It took a while to adjust to my new surroundings that were veggie-free when on a last-minute trip to a local nursery I realized my summer gardening season may not be a complete loss.

A very sweet lady who works there recognized my sadness when I explained my situation to her as I perused row after row of azaleas.

She took me by the hand and led me to Read the rest of this entry »

By Kira Hamman

There has been considerable buzz this summer (admittedly in some pretty esoteric circles) about the Black Prince tomato, a Siberian heirloom originally from Irkutsk.

Since I’m in favor of anything that allows me to use the word “Irkutsk” in casual conversation, I decided to look into it.

A number of garden bloggers, including RKayne at GardenGuides and Kathy at Skippy’s Vegetable Garden, not to mention Tomato Casual’s own Michael Nolan, have raved about Black Prince.

They all say its striking beauty and intense flavor make it a favorite. Well, that’s enough to pique my interest.

Plenty of chefs are smitten with Black Prince too. Read the rest of this entry »

By Vanessa Richins

I guess I’m just a big kid.

I love to place tomatoes in my mouth and squeeze until the seeds pop out.

There’s just something so amusing about doing this.

However, I wouldn’t be able to do that with one of Burpee’s new tomatoes for the 2009 season. Dubbed “Sweet Seedless,” it is the first tasty seedless tomato.

It took them 6 years to perfect the Sweet Seedless. In previous experiments, plant breeders had been able to produce tomatoes that were seedless, but they didn’t taste good, or have a good texture.

In addition to being tasty and seedless with a good texture, the Sweet Seedless is resistant to diseases and hardy.

This may bring a question to your mind. If the Read the rest of this entry »

By Kira Hamman

Springfield, Illinois

There is a story, no doubt apocryphal, that Abraham Lincoln’s cooks tried to poison him using a dish made of tomatoes.

They failed, of course, and tomatoes not only became one of Lincoln’s favorite foods but became wildly popular with the American public as well.

There’s justice for you.

But the real story of Abraham Lincoln and tomatoes is, of course, the Abraham Lincoln tomato. Introduced in 1923 by the H.W. Buckbee seed company of Rockford, Illinois, Abe Lincoln soon became an R.H. Shumway variety. It was billed as “the largest tomato ever grown,” appropriate given its namesake’s famous height. Shumway claimed Read the rest of this entry »

By Vanessa Richins

On the first night of my Master Gardener course, we had a tomato sampling feast. (Lucky me!)

We went out to the experimental tomato patch and were able to try many different varieties of tomatoes.

The one that I was most impressed with was a heirloom named ‘Old German.’

The fruits were huge and the flesh very sweet. I felt like stealing the plate so I wouldn’t have to be polite and leave the rest for everyone else.

We have Old German thanks to a 19th century Mennonite (a religious sect that is somewhat like the Amish) group in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia.

Actually, several of the heirlooms Read the rest of this entry »

By Michael Nolan

I’m as proud as can be!

I am the now the proud parents of two new tomato children – the fun and colorful Mr. Stripey and the Russian Black – both heirloom tomato plants that have me in a tizzy.

Having started my seeds so late in the growing season, I thought I would hedge my bets and purchase a couple of tomato plants so I would have access to fresh tomatoes a few weeks earlier than I would have otherwise. Imagine my utter giddiness when I found not one but two heirloom tomatoes that I have never grown before!

I know, right? SCORE!

Mr. Stripey Heirloom Tomato

Just the Facts:
• Maturity – 56 days
• Indeterminate Read the rest of this entry »