Tomatoes
(Lycopersicon esculentum)
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Cultivars
These are, without doubt, the most-discussed home-garden vegetable of all. We suspect that one big reason for the tidal wave of interest in tomatoes is the
virtually total disappearance from grocery stores of edible tomatoes. We once lived in a town where a tomato-processing plant was the main industry. It was almost literally nauseating to
see truck after truck full of deep-green tomatoes pull up to the plant (or should we say "factory"?) and then truck after truck pull away loaded up with bright red tomatoes made that
color by the ever-popular cyanogen gas. Mmmmm, love them rock-hard, tasteless, unripened 'maters!
But whether the interest wave is a response to a lack or whether people just love tomatoes, period, the result is the same: lots and lots--too much, almost--of information on
varieties. One can even find taste-test results (many) and long threads on discussion boards with lengthy opinions on various types. But slogging through all that brings one point into
sharp clarity: there are at least two very different schools of thought on tomato taste.
It is extraordinarily common, these days, to see a cherry tomato variety named Sungold (there are O.P. and hybrid versions that, by report, taste much alike) called "the greatest
tomato in the world of all time!" and similar modest cognomens. "My wife/daughter/husband/mom/dad won't eat any other kind of tomato!" is another common claim. But, if we sift the
literature more carefully, we discover the hard-core fact beneath all those panegyrics: the bleeding thing is terrifically sweet. We will repeat here something
we say in our discussion of corn types:
Americans are literally spoon-fed sugar from--again literally--the crib onward. Some noted chef once remarked that each country's cooking has its characteristic
taste: in France, butter; in Italy, tomatoes; and in America, tin. He would have been more nearly accurate to say "in America, sugar." There is sugar in virtually
everything Americans are sold at the grocery store. So, it is hardly surprising that with that artificial, force-fed taste so widespread there is now lots of
sugar in even home-garden vegetables . . . . For pity's sake, just bite into a sugar cube and spare yourself the effort of planting
out . . . seeds.
With tomatoes as with corn, there remains a core--apparently smaller with every passing year--of fanciers who want the taste of the vegetable as opposed to that of sugar. What
is the point of putting out a saucerful of sugar, dribbling some red food coloring over it, and calling it a tomato? (Or use yellow and call it corn, and so on.)
Any form of store-bought prepared tomato product--sauce, paste, and so on, or even pizzas--is today nearly useless to those already weaned from baby tastes. It's all sugar, sugar,
sugar. So if you have sympathy with our point of view, then beware many--most--of those anecdotal reports and "taste-test" results. Only when you can read a sober and detailed discussion
of the flavor qualities of a given cultivar, and find "tomato" used more often than "sweet" in the flavor description, can you assign any shred of credibility to the report. You
have been warned!
Our own interest in tomatoes is most sharply focussed on tomatoes for cooking--for paste, for suaces, forstews, and the like--with a secondary focus on tomatoes for salads and a
tertiary focus on tomatoes for sandwiches and like uses.
Tomatoes grown for cooking use have traditionally been what are commonly called "plum" or "paste" (or sometimes, from one well-known cultivar, "Roma") tomatoes. That sort is well
suited because it is very dense, with little excess water, and has few seeds and little gel, and so cooks down to a thick sauce or paste. But, as Dr. Carolyn Male--one of the world's
leading tomato experts--points out in her justly famous book 100 Heirloom Tomatoes for the American Garden, the sad truth is that most paste tomatoes don't have much flavor; moreover, she goes on, there
are many "ordinary" tomatoes that are dense and suited for cooking. Our "cooking tomatoes" choices, derived both from reading her cultivar descriptions and from extensive internet
research, include two traditional paste types that happen to also have a lot of rich flavor and three "ordinary" tomatoes especially well suited for cooking (and also, of course, reputed
to have first-class taste).
For salads, our preference is for cherry tomatoes; but because we have salads year round and like to have tomatoes in them, we grow some in containers under glass (more or less). The
problem is that cherry tomatoes are virtually all indeterminate types, which means that they will climb and climb and climb, and take over the world if you let them--not well
suited for indoor growth.
Fortunately, we can satisfy our craving for salad tomatoes, and also sandwich tomatoes, year round (we hope) with one satisfactory type, the Glacier. The Glacier is a
"very early" tomato, meaning it crops well in less than full summer heat ("very cold tolerant")--but can withstand high heat. It is determinate, typically growing as a bush about 30 to 36
inches high. It is reputedly prolific ("continues to bear the entire season"; "yields of [up to] 3/4 bushel per plant"). And, what really matters, it is said to have excellent, rich true
tomato taste. The tomatoes are small, which is ok for salads, if not ideal for sandwiches. But it sounds like a no-brainer.
For main-crop tomatoes meant for cooking down into sauce (but equally good for any use, including fresh eating), here are our trial choices:
Opalka - a true plum type reputedly tasty enough to eat off the vine
Heidi - an excellent, unusually flavorsome paste tomato out of Africa
Akers West Virginia - a maincrop tomato, taste "deep, robust, well-balanced"
Andrew Rahart's Jumbo Red - another deeply rich-flavored maincrop tomato
Russian #117 - a maincrop, "very robust yet balanced"
If some types seem to produce or taste better, or be especially "saucy", we will narrow the range next year; but it is wise when possible (meaning all types are pretty good) to grow a
mix, so no one kind can let you down in a given season.
We will also, one more time, try outdoors a few of the so-called "drying" type Principe Borghese (good--if successful--for sun-dried tomato use).
We well know that there are numerous other varieties, each with fanatic supporters. But, to turn an old saying slightly, "So Many Tomatoes, So Little Time". (The interested ought to
consult Dr. Male's book).
Planting
Do not plant tomatoes or any of their garden cousins--potatoes, peppers, eggplants, tomatoes--in the same soil two years running, and a four-year rotation is much better, or you risk
certain pests (eel worms, for example) becoming both severe and ineradicable.
The first thing you need to know about any tomato cultivar you are considering planting is whether it is a "determinate" or an "indeterminate" type: determinate types--mostly modern
developments for commercial growers--form bushes that grow to a certain height and stop, and bring all their fruit ripe at about the same time; indeterminate types will grow and grow,
sometimes to astounding lengths or heights, and will bear fruit all season long--they can be picked and picked. Almost all heirloom tomatoes are indeterminate (and all the ones we have
selected are, except the Principe Borghese). Indeterminate types must be provided with large, sturdy supports to grow on: most people, including us, seem to favor circular cages
made from heavy-duty large-mesh wire (some use "range fence" and some use the sort of reinforcing mesh normally placed in concrete--the latter has the advantage that one can make tall
cages, five or six feet, without splicing sections). What makes a good cage diameter is debated, but Dr. Male suggests 22 to 24 inches, which works well for us. Be sure the cage mesh is
large, say 6 inches, so you can easily reach through it to pick.
Timing
Around here, a good date for setting out tomato transplants would be June 1st. One might get away with trying a little earlier, but why risk your whole season for a couple of "stolen"
weeks? But whatever your inclinations, wait for the soil temperature to reliably be 65° or more.
Starting Seedlings
Sow your seed indoors 6 to 8 weeks before your expected transplanting date, which around here will be April 1st or so. Use a good starting mix, not hardware-store "potting
mix": you want a soil-free medium, to be sure there are no fungal problems (Dr. Male cites "Jiffy Mix" and "Pro-Mix" as representative examples of the sort of thing wanted, and many
mail-order garden-supply houses have proprietary types). Sow seeds in well-moistened mix; if you're using a seed tray (the recommended approach, mix the water in before or while setting
the mix into the pan. Set the seeds about 1/8 inch deep, and afterward gently tamp the mix down so the seeds are well placed in the mix. (If you are using a pan or something like, sow
the seeds in rows about an inch apart, and at about 1/8 of an inch apart within the rows.)
If at all possible, provide heat beneath the seed tray, because the optimum temperature for tomato-seed germination is 86° F. If you haven't got heating pads or something of the
like, meant for the purpose, set your trays or whatevers over something warm, like a light or a refrigerator top--but it's best to do the job right with things meant for the purpose.
Be sure the mix remains moist, but not soggy; a true mister is a handy thing for this. At the first signs of seedling emergence, put the tomatoes where they will receive plenty of
light; the best technique is to place them directly under purpose-made fluorescent fixtures fitted with fluorescent tubes intended for plant growing (be sure to keep the lights not over a
couple of inches above the plants's tops); give them a good 16 hours a day of light. You can stop providing direct heat when seedlings emerge, but continue to keep them in a warm
area.
When the second, or "true" set of leaves arrives (at emergence, there is a small set of "false" leaves that are not really leaves--the true ones show up when the plant is perhaps a
couple of inches tall) and show two true leaves, it's time to transplant--not outdoors yet, but into roomier quarters, such as 2-inch cells. Wait a couple of weeks, then apply a mild,
dilute liquid fertilizer (too strong and it'll almost literally "burn" your tender seedlings). If at any time you see any plants whose lower leaves are deveoping a distinctly brown
edge, just pull off those leaves.
When your seedlings reach perhaps 9 inches to a foot in height, it's time for them to go outdoors--exactly when being in good part dependent on the weather. "Going outdoors" doesn't
mean being transplanted yet, it means being "hardened off"--gradually acclimated to being outdoors. Set your trays outside in a shaded area for a few days (bringing them in at
night), then move them to a partly sunny and eventually, over time, a full-sun area. Take a week or so for this process, and during that time, reduce their water supply; but about half a
day to a day before the actual transplanting, give them a good dose of water. Also, if you see any blossoms forming at this time, remove them: it's too early for fruiting.
The Bed
The outdoors tomato bed should be prepared by deep digging, addition of organic material, and--as tests may show necessary--amendment with organic fertilizers. Tomatoes do best in a
rich, loamy soil, though they're reasonably tolerant. A standard garden-soil pH of 6.5 to 6.8 works fine, but they can do well enough in anything from 6.0 to 7.0. It is wise to use
plastic mulch, and to set that mulch out a couple of weeks before transplant time to get the soil warmed. Plastic mulch also suggests drip irrigation, which is always a good thing; and
row cover is advantageous as well in our climate.
Transplanting Out
Transplanting out can be done in several ways. Some simply plant in the usual manner; with tomatoes, that means setting them deep, as deep as possible, so that the lowest leaves are
just barely above the soil surface. Another technique is trenching: make a shallow trench, say 4 to 6 inches deep, then lay the seedling (which is, recall, 9 to 12 inches tall) on its
side in the trench, gently bending the stem so that only the plant's top is above the soil surface (there are some illustrative photos on one of the sites linked below, well down that page). The virtue of this technique is that tomatoes will send down roots from any
part of their stem that is in contact with soil, so this way one gets a lot of root, with much of it near the surface, where warmth and water access are better. But (there's always a
"but"), on the other hand, the root system isn't as deep as with conventional planting. Dr. Male's recommendation is to trench only for those seedlings that look spindly or "leggy" and
are scarcely able to stand upright on their own; the good doctor grows an immense number of tomato plants annually, but we who grow less than immense numbers can afford to overplant and be
picky by culling leggy seedlings at transplant time. Still, both methods bear consideration. As you see, peat pots are not felt by experts to be the best approach; but if you're using
them, be sure to bury their rims a good inch below the soil level, lest they wick out moisture from the soil to the air.
Growing
Keep your tomatoes regulary and evenly watered: an irregular water supply is at the bottom of many of the common problems seen in garden tomatoes.
Warmth-preserving devices such as the well-known "Wall o'Water" get a mixed reception. Some feel that tomato plants requiring WoWs have been set out too early and will end up not being
as productive over the season as a whole as plants grown well as indoor seedlings and set out at the right time. We concur with that sentiment, but also realize--from exceedingly bitter
experience--that killing freezes can occur around here even after June 1st; we thus feel that WoWs have a place in tomato growing, and that place is as insurance for the first
week or two for healthy transplants set out at the right time. When the first week or two of June have gone by, then remove the WoWs and put the cages in place. (Some gardeners use a
variant technique: they set their cages in place at once, but wrap the cages with transparent or translucent plastic sheeting: that makes a sort of "mini-greenhouse", though it doesn't
quite duplicate the heat-retaining qualities of the water cells in WoWs, it's cheaper and a deal simpler--WoWs are a colossal pain in the, ah, elbow to fill and to prop up.)
Do not over-fertilize, else your plants will send their energies into vegetative growth rather than fruit-setting. If you have prepared the soil well, that should suffice. If you
like, you can add a little balanced, mild, liquid supplementation about two weeks after transplanting out, then again when you see fruit actually starting to set.
Though one can get arguments on the subject of pruning tomato plants, we'll go with Dr. Male's advice: don't. Do, though, try to gently assist your plants to make best use
of their cages by training vines as appropriate.
As tomatoes come ready, pick them. With indeterminate plants, the more you pick, the more you get--like that bunny, they just keep on going, and going, and going.
When the weather gets cold enough that you fear for the continued life of your tomato plants, go ahead and pick any green tomatoes remaining on the vine; those can be ripened indoors.
More
Relevant Links
Besides any links presented above on this page, the following ought to be especially helpful.
Odds and Ends
Biology
Tomatoes are of the wonderful Solanaceae (or nightshade) family, as are peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, and eggplants, among others. There are nine species in the
Lycopersicon genus, but only one other than L. esculentum is edible: L. pimpinellifolium, which is the so-called "currant" tomatoes (pea-sized tomato-ey
things having chiefly novelty value).
All non-"currant" tomatoes are L. esculentum, but there is this distinction: the "standard" tomato is L. esculentum esculentum, while the cherry-tomato types are
classed L. esculentum cerasiforme--which is closer to the ancestral tomato type.
History
There is a somewhat garrulous but decent tomato history on line from the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens; it at least makes plain the nonsensicality of the commonly accepted myth that no one ate tomatoes till some brave soul in the 19th century ate
a bunch in a public display. It does somewhat slight the prehistoric American usage of the plant, but that is probably because that story is not yet well known.
Envoi
"The neighbor would plant whole tomatoes that were just starting to turn at the first frost. He put them 12 inches deep and he had mobs of plants come up in the early spring. With big
long roots."
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