Tomato Selections for My Southern Organic Garden

Steps toward spring's garden.

 For the first weekend in the past three, it was dry enough and warm enough to work a little outside.  The three inches of rain that fell between Christmas and New Year's have soaked the soil and the path to my compost barrel has become too mushy to navigate without my daisy-splotched Wellies.  To make the trek to the bin safer and more convenient, the Resident Dragon helped me lay out a path and standing pad from salvaged concrete block and brick.  We'll be on the lookout for more concrete block to make the path wider but, in the meantime, it will help me be more conscientious about composting kitchen waste.

Days of rain left large puddles in the yard.

The main agenda item for the day--outfitting the "greenhouse" was side-tracked by another area in need of organization, so the greenhouse will have to wait for another day.

Since, according to Claree in Steel Magnolias, I, as a middle-aged Southern woman, am supposed to grow tomatoes, I've been busily planning next year's garden.  

I have two tomato goals this year:

• Can enough tomatoes (and sauce and salsa) so that I do not have to buy any until next season, and
• Have enough excess to sell at the farmer's market.

I've tried a number of varieties but have not achieved Tomato Nirvana yet, so I'm giving a few varieties a second chance, and trying a number of others.  I pored over the seed catalogs and made my selections.  Since then, my mailbox has brimmed with next year's bounty.

Today, the postman brought another envelope of seeds--this time from TomatoFest.

Several varieties are returning from last year:

Creole:  Developed by LSU in 1956, this variety is supposed to tolerate hot, humid climates, especially warm nights.  It did not do all that well last year, but I want to give it one more chance.

The Italian Tree Tomato vine was so heavy it mangled its tomato cage.

Italian Tree Tomato:  Likely the old Trip-L-Crop variety, this tall plant, really a vine, is recommended as a market variety.  The vines grew well last and produced some large tomatoes, but will need to be more prolific this year.  This one must, must, must be trellised.

Cherokee Purple:  a Tennessee variety cultivated by Cherokees.  A recommended market variety.  Enough success last year for a second try.

Last year's Hawaiian Currant tomatoes were prolific!

Hawaiian Currant:  This tiny tomato packs intense flavor and tolerates poor soil and extreme heat, although it produces better when the evening lows drop below 80 degrees..  Great for salads and snacking!

New to the garden this year:

Good Old Fashioned Red:  Intensely flavored tomato suitable for sandwiches, salads, or sauce.

Mexico:  A dark pink beefsteak with intense flavors.

Ox Heart:  A mildly flavored 1925 variety with few seeds.

Bloody Butcher:  since it prefers cooler temps, this will be an early tomato for me.  A good canning tomato.

Argentina:  A mid-season pink with a balanced flavor.

Santiago:  A prolific producer on a large vine, suitable for hot, humid climates.

I also order tomato seeds from Totally Tomatoes (which is also a great source for pepper seeds!) and will plant:

Mountain Fresh:  I don't actually grow this hybrid, but will start plants for my father-in-law.  He had good success with Mountain Spring last year, and this is supposed to be even better.

Eva Purple Ball:  A cooler-region variety, this prolific producer will be part of the early garden.

A new supplier for me this year is Southern Exposure Seed Exchange.  I ordered two new varieties from them:

Rutgers:  Supposed to be one of the best-flavored heirlooms, this is the original, pre-1943 strain suitable for canning.

San Marzano:  Long, Italian-style, few seeds, great canning variety.  Recommended by our friends over at The Chubby Vegetarian.

And, finally, the last variety, from the venerable W. Atlee Burpee & Co.:

Black Truffle tomatoes produced well last year despite the hot nights.

Black Truffle:  After Hawaiian Currant, my most successful tomato last year.  It tolerated the hot, muggy July nights and continued to produce while others waited for cooler evenings.