Out in the Garden

Heirloom Tomatoes - Brandywine, Prudens Purple & More!

Last year, I grew a lot of wonderful tomatoes!

As I told you before, my favorite was the Amish heirloom variety "Brandywine".The look of the plant and the fruit was quite different from the hybrid tomatoes that I was used to, and the taste was magnificent! Because of the success from last season's Brandywine plants, I have decided to experiment with growing many more heirloom tomatoes this year!

The ones on my A-list that I have ordered so far are more Brandywine, Prudens Purple, Kelloggs Breakfast and Aunt Ruby's German Green.

These pictures are taken from the Pinetree Seeds website, which is where I'm ordering them from. I'm also ordering Dixie Golden Giant, Black from Tula, Big Rainbow, and Cherokee Purple - all heirlooms.

I never used to grow heirlooms because I believed that it was too hard and I was unaware that there were so many different varieties. They are more difficult because they do not have any disease resistance bred into them. They have not been altered at all in fact. Heirlooms are true open-pollinated seed plants. You can actually save the seeds from heirlooms and grow them again year after year (which I do not do because I worry about cross-pollination). If you try to save the seeds of hybrids, they will not reproduce true to the parent plant, but hybrids are usually very resistant to diseases. The other draw back with heirlooms is that not as many tomatoes grow on each plant as do the hybrids. Usually the heirloom plants are much larger even hence taking up more room. Last year I had a bit of a problem here because I did not stake or cage my Brandywine plants. I grew over 40 tomato plants and didn't get around to supporting all of them. I tried many different kinds of support as I discussed in "Tomato Cage Alternatives".

I plan to use the Florida "Stake and Weave" method this year to support the heirlooms. I will discuss that in greater detail later. As for now, I have to decide if I will try any other heirloom tomatoes this year. I welcome any suggestions or comments about heirloom varieties that anyone likes or dislikes. Last year I grew 20 different tomato varieties. This year I may top that mark with at least a third of them being heirlooms. I am very excited to find out what each one is like. Of course I will report back to you each step of the way!

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02:21, Thursday, January 25, 2007 .. Posted by GrandmaRosie

I have been considerung Bradywine myself. You have talked me into it!!

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04:57, Thursday, January 25, 2007 .. Posted by Suze321

Brandywine is an amazing tomato and we plant it every year. One of the best yielding heirlooms that we've found is called Amish Paste. Our all-time favorite though is called Black Crim. We seem to get bumper yields out of both the Amish Paste and Black Crim every single year, as well as the Brandywine. The Amish Paste and Black Crim are smaller tomatoes than the Brandywine but OH SO LUSCIOUS! BLESSINGS! Suze

Great Post

09:17, Thursday, January 25, 2007 .. Posted by MrsBurns

And wonderful photo. Makes my mouth water just thinking about what's to come in the next few months. We grew Kellogg's and Aunt Ruby's last summer and they are both returning for a repeat. I've had no luck with the Brandywine's though. Not sure if my weather is too hot; I've read where some strains won't set fruit if it gets above 85 degrees.

I'm glad you've made the jump, though. We're the opposite...out of maybe 22 varieties this year, only one will be a hybrid!

Edited by MrsBurns on Thursday, January 25, 2007 at 09:18

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11:06, Thursday, January 25, 2007 .. Posted by southernbelle

Oooo those tomatoes look so good right now in January! I had a question. I love a really acidic tasting tomato. Do you have any suggestions? Also, I live in the South and the temps get really high and I think my zone is 7. I usually like to buy plants that say VFN at least. It can kind of be tricky having healthy plants and tomatoes down here. I usually plant Big Boy and Better Boy.

Edited by southernbelle on Thursday, January 25, 2007 at 11:07

I can't Wait!!!

01:12, Thursday, January 25, 2007 .. Posted by Anonymous

I can't believe we grew all those:) I can't wait until our counter is full this year:) The girls and I just ate a store tomato (yuck) You are even getting your wife excited!!

Lots of Love,

Renee