The Great Tomato Experiment: Growing Heirloom Tomatoes

The hot, dry summers here in the Sacramento Valley provide the perfect environment to grow the king of summer produce: The Tomato. This is my first year growing tomatoes at the new house, and so I’ve embarked on what I like to call the Great Tomato Experiment. The Great Tomato Experiment consists of a few variables:

Many thanks to Gary Ibsen's Tomatofest!

1.)    To start all of the tomatoes from seeds

2.)    To find what part of the yard encourages the best tomato growth

3.)    To find out which heirloom Tomato is best (for 2012)

4.)    To save the seeds at the end of the season and plant them again next year

In February I started the seeds indoors (variable 1). I placed them in a south facing window and encouraged their growth with a heating pad. Once they became seedlings and the threat of frost had passed, I planted them outside. Aside from the colony of ants that swarmed the rich, warm, indoor soil (likely a paradise vacation for them in February), the first variable of the experiment proved a success.

Now the plants are growing quite nicely. Some sit in direct sun nearly all day, while others are shaded after noon. They are in lawn that I have sheet mulched and raised beds. In total, there are eleven plants, and all are heirloom varieties. These varieties include: Ace 55, Brandywine, Dr. Wyche’s Yellow, Yellow Pear, Bloody Butcher, and Beefsteak.

Brandywine in a sheet mulched lawn bed.

 So far there is no all out winner. The Yellow Pear produced the first fruit, but the Ace 55 has really started to catch up. I have high hopes for the Dr. Wyche plants, for while they did not flourish as seedlings, they have put on a lot of growth recently. The fastest growing plants were those with the most shade.

I purchased all of my tomato seeds through Tomatofest, and so far I am happy with the results. I hope to save seeds and try replanting next year, although I harbor no illusions that they will be anything but hybrids of those I planted this year. I will post an update on the Great Tomato Experiment soon, as the first plant to produce edible tomatoes is still undetermined!