RE: first tomato of the season- yay!!!

Hello all,

I agree with Ann's response, but also it's important to note that tomatoes
come in thousands of varieties and each one has distinctive characteristics.
One important characteristic to most home gardeners is taste. Taste is not a
characteristic that growers and shippers value anywhere near as  high as
they do shippability (is that a word?) and shelf-life.

Many of the heirloom varieties, such as Brandywine, Riesentraube, etc., were
treasured for decades by farmers and home gardeners for their terrific
taste, but the only way you or I can enjoy them nowadays is if we start them
ourselves from seed. Most of the reliable seed companies understand the
increasing public awareness of the importance of heirloom varieties and now
include several varieties in their catalogues.

There are several excellent books extolling the virtues and characteristics
of heirloom varieties. One of my favorites is Heirloom Vegetable Gardening;
A Master Gardener's Guide to Planting, Seed Saving, and Cultural History, by
William Woys Weaver - read, learn, and reap the rewards!!

Happy gardening to all,
James Ellis
Ocean County (NJ) Master Gardener Volunteer

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Anne Davidson [p*@easley.net]
Sent:	Saturday, August 05, 2000 11:45 AM
To:	veggie-list@eskimo.com
Subject:	Re: first tomato of the season- yay!!!


Christi wrote:

> I planted 6 tomato plants this year.. and I don't even eat tomatoes!!!!
> but I did give a bunch away.. and everyone said.. "this is definately
> better than store bought" can anyone tell me why?? do farmers do
> something different than home growers??

I think it's because, for the stores, the tomatoes are picked before
fully ripe, so they won't be rotten by the time they're shipped to
the store, put out for sale, and bought.  Also, the commercial
growers probably use varieties known for high yield rather than
taste.

--Anne
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index