Heirloom Tomatoes

Spring has barely sprung. There is still a late snow on the ground from last night - now nearly melted. Lettuce, Spinach, potatoes, leeks, snowpea's all planted. The beds for early crops have all been sheet mulched and new beds laid out and worked - thanks to the uncommonly warm spring.

The Windows Sills are overflowing with Tomato's. I have cut back on my addiction and have only 120 transplants this year. Potato leaf, fir leaf, determinate, indeterminate, all open pollinated heirloom seeds I have hoarded since last summer, along with others passed along by friends and even some strangers who know me as the "Tomato Lady" and send me anything odd. The huddle under the grow light's 12 to a flat - their leaves arching. They have seemed to especially thrive this year with the addition of Worm Castings to the seed starting mix. With only a few exceptions (and since they were hybrids I do not think they count) I have never met a tomato I did not like. I have been practicing smiling and nodding gently when people say "Early Girl" so as not to offend.

All winter I dream of fresh tomatoes fresh off the vine. Though we can, freeze and dry hundreds of quarts of tomatoes in various forms (diced, whole, sauce, chutney, jelly, crushed, salsa) usually, no matter how many we have "put up", we are out by Mid-March. Luckily this is when the Seed Catalogs arrive.

All of those packets people have passed on to me with only names scrawled across the top now have descriptions - some even have photos - some of the mystery is lifted as I read in Seed Savers that the strange Juanne Flamme seed passed to me by a friend is actually an apricot shaped French Heirloom known for retaining its color and flavor when dried. The Tomato fest website comments on the Red Zebras "HUGE" amounts of 2inch red and Yellow striped fruits. Double Rich has as twice as much vitamin C as an orange.

Turns out that odd envelope made of an old girly magazine and marked "Deep Sea Diver" given to me by a Harley Rider last fall is most likely "Black Sea Man" . Offered by Seed Savers Exchange this small determinate Russian Heirloom is a Mahogany colored with olive green shoulders. The 12 - 16 oz tomatos are said to turn oddly skeletal when blanched. When offered an envelope marked "persimmon" last year I was thought it contained seeds for a tree - when opened however it obviously contained tomato seeds. A short jog on the internet reveals that Persimmon is one of the most flavorful orange tomatoes with fruits up to 2#'s.

Also on the window sills: Sweetgold, sungold, sweetness - 4 varieties of romas, Silver Fir, Amish Paste, Green Zebra, Marvel Stripe, Black Krim, Grandma Olivers Green, Cherokee Purple, Suddeths Brandwine, Arkansas Traveler, Hillbilly, Box Car Willie.

Lovingly tending to 30 plants (to share with others) from seed which I found in an envelope taped to the front door several years ago. The envelope was marked in a shakey victorianesque script from before the days of ball and stick writing.

"My grandfathers girlfriend "Consuletta" an Italian Heirloom. - grown by my family since the begining of time. my great grandfather smuggled in his shoe into the states. Deep red and lobed - great for stuffing and freezing whole. Unbeatable for flavor in canned or fresh sauces. Mom said they called her his girlfriend because he spent so much time in the garden. Enjoy and Share."

Somehow it seems the varieties with stories taste sweeter.