Heirloom Tomato Woes
Dear Experienced Gardening Friends,
This year I attempted to grow heirloom tomatoes, one variety in particular called 'Old German'. I also grew 'Beef Steak' and 'Early Girl' with great success.
My question is..when are they ready? I seem to be catching them too late and found through the late summer, early autumn that they would crack or the bottoms would be rotting. This seemed to occur within a matter of days prior to them still looking green. What it just the crazy heat this year here in the PNW?
I'll admit that things have been a bit rushed this growing season and I have not been the attentive gardener that I normally pride myself to be.
So, any hints? Tips on growing Heirloom tomatoes? Should I skip them all together...as all I really do with my tomatoes is sauce them?
Any pointers would be much appreciated.
Cheers, Jenni
This year I attempted to grow heirloom tomatoes, one variety in particular called 'Old German'. I also grew 'Beef Steak' and 'Early Girl' with great success.
My question is..when are they ready? I seem to be catching them too late and found through the late summer, early autumn that they would crack or the bottoms would be rotting. This seemed to occur within a matter of days prior to them still looking green. What it just the crazy heat this year here in the PNW?
I'll admit that things have been a bit rushed this growing season and I have not been the attentive gardener that I normally pride myself to be.
So, any hints? Tips on growing Heirloom tomatoes? Should I skip them all together...as all I really do with my tomatoes is sauce them?
Any pointers would be much appreciated.
Cheers, Jenni
Jenni; From the symptoms you describe, I reckon the problem is erratic watering. You need to keep their growing medium consistently damp - neither wet nor dry. See the article on my blog about self-watering pots(25 May 2012). The rotting at the bottom of the fruit may be Blossom End Rot, which is exacerbated by lack of calcium. I think you should persevere, because when you master the technique the results will definitely be worthwhile. This year, from my few plants (13 I think), despite the blight I got many kilos of hugely-tasty fruit. Very satisfying! The freezer is bulging with tomato sauce.
ReplyDeleteHi Mark, I didn't realize that the heirlooms were as touchy as they appeared to be. This was not the summer for growing plants needing a consistent dampness! lol, no real rain since end of July. The ones I did manage to salvage were huge, colorful and I imagine, flavorful. I hope they bring a new dimension to my sauces. I just wanted more! :)
DeleteHi Jenni, It's a case of "I wish I had your problems!" The highest official temperature ever recorded in Edinburgh is 30 degrees Centigrade/Celcius. This year it was a lot less than that. Any growers of tomatoes peppers aubergines (eggplant)sweetcorn (corn) was sorely disappointed this year, as the sun refused to shine. We had plenty of rain though.
ReplyDeleteOn a serious note, heirlooms are notorious for disease build up. Please don't blame yourself for their susceptibility to problems.
Hi Mal, you're so kind to remind me of heirlooms and being disease prone. They just might not be the ticket for me and my 'no nonsense' style of gardening ;) Last year, we had your summer. It was impossible to grow anything besides leafy greens and it was a disheartening growing season for the garden lover. But as the nature would have it, this year, we've had the exact opposite. No real rainfall since end of July. I expected it from reading my farmers almanac, so I planted peppers and tomatoes in abundance! I'm keen to see what next year will bring.
DeleteI guess you have stumbled on why heirlooms are less frequently grown now. Newer varieties are less prone to disease and cultural problems.
ReplyDeleteHi Sue, I daresay I've developed a rather impatience with growing things that require a bit too much TLC. But, that's mainly due to my station in life. It's terribly tough to move a household and do the 'mom' thing while babysitting tomatoes. I may try heirlooms again someday, but they don't seem to be a good fit for the current demands on my time. Cheers
DeleteWish I could help but I don't have much experience of growing tomatoes and I haven't tried growing any heirloom varieties.
ReplyDeleteHi Kelli, it doesn't sound like it would have a great year for growing tomatoes in your neck of the world. A bit soggy?
DeleteIt does sound like inconsistent watering/blossom end rot. I've done both. The problem is that when there isn't much water the tomato skin hardens, then it gets water and starts to grow. I have been more careful this year and avoided some of it, but with the weather we've had it is hard.
ReplyDeleteNext year put bone meal in when you plant and that should eliminate the blossom end rot. Hopefully that helps, (these are things that happened to me last year, so I learned a bit)
IG - Thanks for the tip on the bone meal! Not sure this was the best year, weatherwise for me to try an heirloom :( But, I'm fascinated now and will likely have to try again!
ReplyDeleteAll I can tell you about tomatoes is this: every year I try, every year I fail. Aftyer every failure I vow to never try again. Each year I try again. I'm not growing them next year. This much I promise.
ReplyDeleteWell...
I've already bought the seeds.
The circle of life...
I've noticed that the larger tomatoes are difficult to grow in the PNW without the heat of say Michigan where I spent 19 years gardening - so much easier to grow them in a lot of heat. That said I learned a couple of tricks, use red plastic and floating row covers and plant next to cement or rocks - I planted ours this year in red plastic next to the cement wall and used floating row covers early on and was rewarded with wayyyyy too many tomatoes in September and October. Granted I would love to have tomatoes in summer but at least I had tomatoes for once!
ReplyDelete