Plant Local: 15 Tomato Varieties for a Southern Landrace Garden

Beautiful, but lonely

The nights are long here on the farm, but, fortunately, I have a stack of seed catalogs to entertain me.  This year I'm trying to zero in on varieties that can stand the heat, humidity, and, surprisingly, drought of this area.  So, I'm looking for heirloom varieties that were found or developed around the 35th parallel, and east of 97W.

With those open-pollinated varieties, I'm hoping to develop landrace adaptivars, specifically suited to my microclimate, by saving seeds of the varieties that thrive.  As I understand it, one key to developing landrace adaptivars is to, instead of isolating a pure strain, encourage genetic diversity by continually introducing new varieties into the landrace alongside the saved seed.  The resulting varieties should produce more reliably under marginal conditions--which certainly describes my area.  For more information about landrace adaptivars, visit Joseph Lofthouse's page.

I've identified three tomato categories:  table, canning/paste, and currant.  While the first two categories are self-explanatory, the currant category may be unfamiliar.  Currants are a different species of tiny (1/2" and smaller) tomatoes which absolutely thrive on my farm.  During the 80-degree-plus nights, when other varieties fail to set fruit, they continue to produce prolifically.  They are delightfully flavorful, and worth the garden space.

So, here's the beginning of my landrace plan for this year, so far.

Table

Taste is the overriding criterion here, leaning toward the "smoky" flavored varieties.  There are some blue/purple varieties, too, so it will be interesting to see what we get.

Bradley:  a wilt-resistant pink-red developed at the University of Arkansas

Ozark Pink:  a tall, flavorful pink suited for humid, disease-prone areas

Richardson:  a huge (1-3 pound) dark pink Tennessee beefsteak with a well-balanced flavor

Arkansas Traveler:  balanced flavor is the hallmark of this rose-pink suited to heat, humidity, and drought

Blue Beauty Tomato:  modest beefsteak whose good flavor and interesting coloration blessed with resistance to sunburn and crack

Cherokee Purple:  prolific rose to purple beefsteak, legendary for its complex flavor

Canning/Paste

While taste is important, essential criteria are a high meat/juice ratio, low seed count, and productivity.

Costoluto Genovese:  an Italian red, almost ruffled, described as a pungent sauce tomato

Debarao:  an early red paste variety, small but crack-free

Early Annie:  short plant with few seeds, fruit matures all at once

Tennessee Sweet:  suitable for slicing or canning, a large red sweet

Big Italian Plum:  a large red thick paste plum

San Marzano Gigante:  the legendary flavor and twice the size!

Currant

The flavor of these single-bite beauties just explodes on the palate!  I wonder if I could dry them . . .

Broad Ripple Yellow Currant:  big bush, sweet, prolific

Hawaiian Currant:  tiny, sweet, tasty

White Currant:  heavy clusters, very sweet

Red Currant:  smoky, sweet, tiny, prolific

The development of landrace varieties fits in quite nicely with my interest in permaculture, which also promotes diversity.  It's going to be interesting to see how the two intersect this season.

What about you?  What are your plans for your Savory garden?

Nancy

Perennial Growth for an Organic Gardener

The grass always grows
better than the garden!

Over the past several years I have chronicled my battles against bugs and weeds in my quest to become an organic gardener.  No matter what I try, the grass and weeds seem to get the better of me.  I need a new plan.

While the growing season is hectic, the time between Christmas and early spring have become my own "greening" time, one where I seek out new knowledge to improve the next season.  Last winter, I completed the Rodale Institute's Organic Transition Course online.  I had planned to take the local Master Gardener class this year, but it's only given in the fall, which is already jam-packed in my schedule.  Perhaps, in the future, I'll find an online class, like Clemson offers.  South Carolina's climate is similar enough to Tennessee's to be compatible.  I just wonder if Tennessee will accept it?

Mulched crocuses with carrots
in a raised bed are weathering the cold well.

So, I've been looking for an online class for the winter.  I should have known that my cousin Mary Catherine would provide the answer.  She gardens quite successfully, and keeps chickens as well as goats.  When I visited her Facebook page last week, I noticed a new addition:  a link to Permaculture magazine  Permaculture is a systems approach to gardening, and life, which emphasizes the creation of  sustainable ecosystems rather than gardens.  Instead of fighting against Mother Nature, which even organic gardeners do to an extent, permaculture takes advantage of the relationships among the elements of an ecosystem.  It's quite a change from the traditional method of gardening.  So, perennial student that I am, I searched for a reliable online course.

Heavy rains have taken a long time
to soak into the ground.

Apparently, reliable is a relative thing, and the first course I thought I would take doesn't seem to be appropriate for me.  I finally settled on a distance learning class at North Carolina State University taught by Dr. Will Hooker.  Called Introduction to Permaculture, it's a recording of a live class and utilizes two texts:  Toby Hemenway's Gaia's Garden and Bill Mollison's Introduction to Permaculture.  I am, basically, auditing the class, not enrolled, and do not have any interactions with the instructor.  He is a certified permaculture designer and instructor, so I hope the information will be accurate.  The cost is perfect (free) and the flexibility works with my schedule.  I'd like to start implementing permaculture design principles in the spring.

Nandina, lovely, but pervasive.

So, the dark days of winter will be bright and busy here on the farm.  Far from barren, they will be a growing time for me, and, I hope, for my garden, too.

What about you?  How are you growing this winter?

Nancy

The Winter Garden

The first camellia--sasanqua--of the season.
The japonica is just budding.

The threat of near-teen night-time lows last week sent me scrambling to mulch my winter beds.  I've added several raised beds and put in several winter crops.

The garlic had sprouted about 4" tall and I knew it needed to be mulched.  Although not optimal, the lack of hay sent me dashing to Tractor Supply for pine shavings.  By the headlights of my trusty little truck, Jim and I fluffed about 4" of pine shavings around the garlic leaves.  I have not been outside in the daylight since, and hope that will do the trick for the winter.

The garlic has enjoyed warm fall days!

The spinach has also sprouted about 1" tall, but it will have to fend for itself.  Although we do have some bitterly cold nights, at times, most winter days are in the forties, which, hopefully, the spinach will enjoy.  It not, oh, well.

Carrots!

This bed is split between carrots (left) and saffron crocus.

The saffron crocus finally sprouted.

The third bed is split between carrots and saffron crocus.  While we did mulch the crocuses, the carrots are on their own against the cold.  Saffron is a fall-blooming crocus, but likely will not bloom this year.  It is reputed to be a profuse multiplier, so I hope to fill the bed next year.  I'll need as many bulbs as possible since each bulb only produces 3 threads of saffron.  No wonder it's so expensive!

The fourth bed is the original, from which I've recently harvested turmeric.  Although I've given a few tubers away, I'll save most for seed for next year since seed will not be available.

What can I plant that's short-term, and loves the cold?

One topic I'll be researching over the winter is "landrace" crops.  I had not ever heard of the term before this week, but it seems like one solution to a variety of problems with plants just not thriving.

What do you know about landrace farming?

Your helpful comments are needed!  So, not much going on the the garden, which is a good thing.  If the rain lets up, I'll turn under the garden.  I'm enjoying the rain, however and would not dare complain about it.

Many thanks for reading, and for your comments about landrace farming.

What's growing in your Savory jardin?

Nancy