Heirlooms to flavor our lives
Stopping to smell the flowers
By Arlene Marturano marturano@yahoo.com

With heirloom tomatoes returning to garden centers and seed catalogs, the opportunity for great tasting tomatoes in gardens are within reach. Heirloom tomatoes took a back row since the 1950s when corporate and commercial farming emerged to feed a post WWII burgeoning population and to change the quality of produce available to the consumer.

Tough skinned and solid fruited tomatoes were bred to withstand long- distance transportation, mechanical harvesting, packing, and refrigeration. To mass produce great quantities of fruit, breeders sacrificed flavor for shelf life, high yields, uniform size, and disease resistance. The hybrid assembly line tomato is still prevalent in most grocery chains.

Heirlooms were the parents of the hybrids. They are open- pollinated and very diverse in yield, color, size, shape, ripening time, and flavor. Heirloom varieties can range in size from a pea to a plate. They add color to the plate with a palette of red, pink, purple, garnet, gold, orange, yellow, green, chocolate, white, and even striped. Flavors vary with acidity from sweet to tart and fruity to spicy.

Heirloom tomatoes return to garden centers and seed catalogs.

Rodger Winn, certified organic grower and Master Gardener in Little Mountain, S.C., grows heirloom tomatoes for local markets. He shares several recommendations about how to succeed with heirlooms:

• Heirlooms need adequate support because they become giant plants. Wire fencing at least 5 feet high with 4" x 4" openings works well.

• Space plants 4- 5 feet apart to insure adequate air circulation.

• Mid- April when the soil has warmed sufficiently is a better time to put plants into the ground than early in the month.

• Tomatoes need a continual supply of nitrogen, but too much causes foliar growth at the expense of fruit. At planting time add a handful of gypsum for calcium, one cup of bone meal for phosphorus, and 2- 3 shovels of compost per plant. When plants start to bloom, add a slow release nitrogen fish fertilizer or compost tea every three weeks.

• Mulch plants to add nutrients, retain water, control soil temperature, and deter weeds but, most importantly, to keep plant leaves from touching the soil. Foliar diseases are spread with soil contact.

Rodger Winn, Master Gardener and certified organic grower

• Prune plants to keep within the support structure. Proper pruning encourages more fruit production.

• Always water the plant to keep the leaves dry. Drip systems work well.

• Hand pick off pests like the tomato hornworm if parasitic wasps don't get to them first.

Rodger Winn will appear at the Spring Fling Flower Show at the Farmers Market on Bluff Road April 17- 20 with information about growing heirloom tomatoes. Winn's heirloom tomato plants are available at garden centers in Columbia and Newberry.

Newberry Master Gardeners will host the third annual tomato tasting in Little Mountain on Saturday, July 19.

Visit these websites for more information: www. ra re-seeds.com, www.seeds-avers.org, www.tomatogrowers.com.