Heirloom Tomatoes for Vegetable Gardening

Heirloom tomato varieties have long histories, bred years ago by individuals seeking to improve the fruit or plant. The tomato is a popular fresh food grown as a vegetable in the United States but is technically a fruit.

The tomato is botanically known as Lycopersicon esculentum. Old varieties remain popular choices by gardeners for growing a vegetable garden despite the multitude of new hybrid disease resistant tomato plants available.

Family Heirloom Tomatoes

The foundation of many new and frequently grown Lycoperisicon esculentum is the heirloom varieties developed by a family and passed on to the next generations.

One of the most popular is the ‘Mortgage Lifter’ tomato developed by Marshall Cletis of Kentucky. Created by breeding ‚”German Johnson’ with other tomato seeds, ‘Mortgage Lifter’ is a large heavy tomato with pinkish red fruit. ‘German Johnson’ is a ribbed pink and red smaller meaty tomato with few seeds.

‘Limbaugh Legacy Potato Top’ is a pink thin-skinned meaty tomato with few seeds. This tomato however is susceptible to blossom drop often associated with inconsistent watering. The fruit is named for Fred Limbaugh from Robinson, Pennsylvania, who told his story to Doug Oster in 2000.

‘Brandywine Sudduth’s Strain’ was in 1980, obtained by Ben Quisenberry from Dorris Sudduth Hill of Tennessee. It is a pink beefsteak tomato and was used with another tomato to develop Burpee’s ‘Brandy Boy.’ While both tomatoes are indeterminate, the hybrid tomato plant grows better in heat and humidity with earlier and greater harvests.

Russian Black Tomatoes

Native black tomatoes are traced to the southern Ukraine and later western Russia. Russian heirloom tomatoes have very dark blackish skins and flesh with a strong flavor.

‘Black Krim’ has a dark greenish almost black skin. The flesh is sweet and slightly salty. It is prone to cracking but has a high yield. ‘Black Krim’ was named for the Crimean Peninsula.

‘Black Russian’ has purplish red skin prone to cracking with greenish black flesh of sandwich size. The plant is semi-determinate.

Green Yellow or Orange Striped Tomatoes

Gardeners grow nontraditional colored tomatoes for their appearance, unique patterns and low acid developed in yellow and orange tomato fruits.

‘Big Rainbow’ is a tomato with orange and red striped flesh and skin. The plant grows two-pound fruits that are sweet.

‘Green Zebra’ is a small tomato. The fruit is yellowish green with a sweet tart taste. The plant produces fruit 75 days after transplant. ‘Black Zebra’ was bred mixing ‘Green Zebra’ with a black tomato and retains the flavor and texture of black tomatoes, sweet and juicy.

‘Pineapple’ grows to be very large, weighing in at two pounds on average. The tomato is yellow with red marbling and fruit that is sweet tasting. Although ‘Pineapple’ is an indeterminate plant with fruit that takes up to 95 days to mature, gardeners have grown this plant in containers.

Old Tomato Varieties Bred for Regional Climates

Many old tomato varieties were specifically bred in a regional area for a specific purpose. Native and immigrant influences and climate constraints encouraged growers to develop improved tomatoes.

‘Cherokee Purple’ is a Cherokee Indian heirloom, from Tennessee, of the pre-1800 era. The purplish pink tomato is a sandwich size slicing fruit, has a strong sweet taste and thin skin.

‘Valencia’ is from Maine that was developed for short growing seasons. The tomato is orange with a sweet tangy taste; the meaty fruit weighs 8 – 10 oz.

‘Wisconsin 55’ is a tomato plant developed in the 1940s. It grows best in well-amended soil and the fruit is treated as an all-purpose tomato. The Lithuanian immigrants of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, have grown ‘Sheboygan’ tomato plants since the early 1900s. The paste type tomatoes are small, have high harvests and excellent taste. Both tomato varieties are appropriate for canning and mature in 80 days.

Heirloom tomatoes are saved for the sense of history attached to their names, as well as practical reasons. Growing tomatoes from seeds is an economical gardening strategy, while gardeners growing their own help to ensure safer fresh food for healthier eating at home. Growing old varieties of the vegetable Lycopersicon esculentum helps preserve plants from the past for the future.

References

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds Book, 2010

Seed Savers Exchange Catalog, 2010

Tomato Growers Supply Company Catalog, 2010