Growing Heirloom Tomatoes: With a Mediterranean Summer Salad Recipe

Growing heirloom tomatoes in your home garden is one of the easiest and tastiest projects imaginable. The tomatoes that you can buy in the grocery store have been bred specifically for their ability to be shipped without damage all over the world. They are frequently picked green then sprayed with ethylene gas to finish the appearance of ripening. Home-grown tomatoes, however, especially heirloom varieties that have been grown in back yards for hundreds of years, can be picked at the absolute pinnacle of ripeness and enjoyed immediately. Although tomatoes need lots of heat and sun to grow, they can be grown in almost any climate, as long as they can get 80-90 frost-free days. Heirloom tomatoes can even be grown in planters on the patio and moved throughout the day to follow the sun.

Choose the tomato variety you would like to grow based on your climate and your preferences. In a colder climate, choose an early-ripening tomato such as Early Girl, or Sub-Arctic Plenty. These varieties take a shorter amount of time to reach maturity and will do better in climates when only the summer months can be counted on to be frost free. If you want a large harvest of tomatoes at the same time, either to can or to dry, choose a determinate variety, like Roma. Determinates all ripen at approximately the same time whereas indeterminates set fruit and grow continually right up until frost. The determinate/indeterminate designation can be found in the description of the seeds. For one of the most sublime tomato experiences, grow Brandywine. This red-purple heirloom tomato has been in existence for over a hundred years and repeatedly wins taste competitions.