Hal Lewis asked:


Heirloom tomatoes are a variety of tomatoes grown from seeds that are usually over 50 to 100 years old. They are non-hybrid, open-pollinated cultivar tomatoes.

The use of the word heirloom can mean that the seeds have been passed down through generations, from farmer to farmer or parent to child and they are still growing today. Or it could mean any seed older than 50 or 100 years old; the jury is still out on this definition with many debates raging on for the use of heirloom to describe the wide variety of tomatoes.

What everyone does agree on is that an heirloom tomato needs to be an open-pollinated plant. This means it is pollinated by the wind, insects or birds, not man. And cultivar means that it is a plant species is being cultivated and given a specific name and that it can repopulate itself again in the same manor and retain all its characteristics.

There are several names of heirloom tomatoes available today which recently as ten years ago became available. There are over a hundred heirloom tomatoes and list grows every year as long as the tomatoes adhere to the standards put forth by the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP) or the cultivated plant code.

Many of the most popular heirloom tomatoes are Brandywine, a large, pink fruit, red outside, clear inside, it has been said to have been grown from a seed passed to a farmer in an Ohio farm and then traded to several large seed companies who preserved it’s heirloom status.

In addition to Brandywine tomatoes, there is the Cherokee Purple, one of the only known ‘black’ or deep rose colored tomatoes; the Green Zebra, a small green tomato with either yellow or reddish stripes depending on when you pick them. They are rather tart and are often man-made therefore they can not be an heirloom tomato, although it is often categorized as one.

Black cherry tomatoes are tomatoes everyone should be familiar with. They are the smallest of the heirloom tomatoes and come in a cluster on a fine like grapes and are sometimes referred to as grape tomatoes.

The Hillbilly and the Big Rainbow are similar heirloom tomatoes because of their yellow, large fruit with red swirls of color; however their origin is unknown so verification into the heirloom society is iffy at best. One of the best stories behind an heirloom tomato is the Mortgage Lifter tomato. A man by the name of “Radiator Charlie” who owned a radiator business during the Great Depression lost his business and decided to breed his best four tomato plants into one giant tomato that tasted better and sweeter than any one of them individually. He was able to come up with the best tomatoes and advertised that they could easily feed a family of six. He began selling his plants for a dollar a piece and that was when a dollar was a dollar and so after four years, he was able to pay off his mortgage. People began calling the large tomatoes the Mortgage Lifter after that and “Radiator Charlie” was able to retire after a few more years.



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HebrewStudent asked:

Another clip from my archives of Mel Barthalomew the host of Square Foot Gardening. We have now adopted his spacing methods with homemade earthboxes and the results have been great.

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Kenh Jones asked:


I have been growing tomatoes in patio containers and pots this year with some success. I also have my beloved plot with tomatoes growing in the ground. I know the ones in the ground will work fine - they have done for thirty years. But growing my tomatoes in containers is anew departure for me.

The comparison between the pot grown tomato and those in the ground.

I grew 2 varieties this year moneymaker and an Italian cherry tomato variety. I cannot remember the name but they came free with a magazine. I sowed the seeds in March 2008 and grew them on in my conservatory in 6 inch pots. As Always I grew too many tomato plants and gave 20 away. I planted them out as 2 - 3 foot high plants in early June and a month later picked the first tomatoes. As I speak in late august I still have many fruits to pick so it has been a good year. The plants grown in containers have had similar results but I have noticed 2 differences.

Firstly the moneymaker tomatoes were slightly smaller than the ones grown on my plot.

Secondly there were not quite as many cherry tomatoes in the containers.

Other than that the results were very similar. The taste is uniformly excellent and the texture and colour very appetizing. For the container grown tomatoes I did treat them differently and with a bit more care.

1. Make sure you put tomato plants in a really big pot.

I like the root systems to have plenty of room and not become pot bound. You also need a big container to have enough depth for the support canes. I use standard clay terracotta pots but any wide and deep container will work fine.

2. Water your tomatoes even if it rains.

We have had a dreadful summer in the UK this year and it has rained constantly. I still found that the pot grown tomato plants were wilting a bit if I didn’t check them for watering. The plants in the veg plot did not need this. The reason for this is that the leaves of the tomato plants deflect much of the water away from the pot. Very little water gets to the root of the plants. This is why I check them daily.

3. Be ruthless with pinching out side shoots on the tomato plants.

I only pinch out once or twice a season when growing tomatoes in the ground because they seem to do fine. I have learned this through trial and error. The moneymaker plants in pots were pinched out once a week to ensure that the fruits I did get were big enough and juicy enough. I never bother pinching out cherry tomatoes. They take care of themselves and always give plenty of harvest.

4. Remove excess foliage once you have the tomato fruits.

I have always done this to tomatoes and do not know where I picked this tip up. Once you have all the tomatoes set on the plant remove any leaves that are hiding the fruit from the sun. I prefer the tomatoes to ripen on the plant and this helps speed up the ripening process. Removing the leaves also gives you slightly bigger tomatoes.

If you have missed this tomato season then I encourage you to plan ahead for your tomato growing in 2009. Grow some in pots and containers as well as in the ground. They are a lot of fun and be grown on any sunny spot you have.



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munchman35 asked:


I bought some seeds online, and I grow nice, unique beauties I really enjoy. Will the seeds I get from my fruit still maintain the genetic integrity of the seeds I originally bought online? Or if they are cross-pollinated, will I see the result immediately growing in the first generation? — will the flowers that got cross-pollinated produce an F1 generation immediately? Will these seeds usable?

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laura D asked:


Does anyone have any “Martha” tips on how to keep nails from looking like an auto mechanics when you are an avid gardener? Martha Stewart suggested to put rubber gloves under gardening gloves, but they make your hands sweat badly! Or, how best to clean “gardener’s hands?” Thanks!

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Garden Lodges asked:


In today?s world, garden offices have gained much popularity and are in great demand. People purchase garden rooms from different suppliers and manufactures. However, there are certain essential things that a person needs to consider before purchasing a garden office. A person, prior to purchasing garden offices, should ensure that he is getting the best deal. There are ten essential things that should be considered before buying a garden office or garden studio.

Before purchasing a garden office one must be sure of the purpose that it would serve. This will help the person to ascertain whether the requirements of the building can be met by the design. If the building is being purchased to be used as a garden office, sufficient amount of lighting should be provided. If the room is to be used as a gym, then there should be provision for sufficient ventilation. If it is for the purpose of garden a lodge, then there should be provision for proper heating.

The position of one?s garden office is also of utmost importance. One rarely requires planning permission most of the time as long as the garden office is situated at a distance of 5 metres from the person?s home and occupies less than 50% of the garden?s area. Permission is also not required if the garden office or garden studio is built for private use and is about 20 metres away from any public place.

A person while buying a garden office or garden studio should also be careful about the height of the building. However, the height of the modular garden offices should not exceed 4 metres. If the height of the garden office exceeds 4 metres a person will have to seek permission. Permission also has to be taken if the building consists of two or more floors. Permission also has to be taken if the size of the rooms exceeds 30 Sq metres.

Further, a person prior to buying a garden room should be sure of the type of room he requires. A person buying a room for a garden studio should ensure that the room is in accordance to his requirements. The design of the room should also be taken into account.

A person buying a room for the purpose of running a garden office should also check the materials used for both constructing and designing the office. There are numerous suppliers who can provide the best garden offices. For information regarding garden offices and garden studios visit gardenlodges.co.uk.



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HereAndThere asked:


I am interested in turning my small time hobby of gardening into a bit of a career. Are there classes, certifications, training that I can take in order to become an expert on plants, trees, etc? I’d like to have a deep knowledge of the various kinds of trees, shrubs, flowers that work in different climates, how to best plant and maintain them, to design landscapes with a variety of well-coordinated plants, etc. Should I try to become a certified arborist? Where do I start exploring this potential new career direction? Thanks.

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MoodyGem asked:


I have read many articles that suggest using old tires for container gardening. My father is considering making a vegetable garden out of tires. Does the tire pollute the soil and there fore the vegetables? I it is bad to burn tires.. Should I be concerned about the quality of the vegetables? Have you seen any scientific evidence about this topic? Or environmental tests?

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Anna Hart asked:


Organic gardening has increasingly become an important part of the curriculum in schools around the world. Teachers at every grade level find themselves teaching it to students, and sometimes being called on to give a speech to a group of parents. As a career educator and principal, I know the difficulty of opening up time for speech preparation, and offer this organic gardening speech for your use. Feel free to edit it to fit your needs.

Organic Gardening Speech

How selfish are you? On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest, how selfish would you rate yourself? If you are the least bit selfish, you might be interested in organic gardening.

An organic gardening speech might seem more appropriate coming from a Home Economics teacher, but I am just selfish enough that I love organic gardening. I want to share that love with you and with your children.

Imagine

I want you to come with me, in imagination, to a time and place before the Industrial Revolution. The year is 1707. It is late summer. We find ourselves walking the streets of a small town. Houses are spaced well apart for privacy. Land stretches out behind each house. As we look, we notice that much of that land is taken up by gardens. Here and there, we see both adults and children actively engaged in gardening. The plants are beautiful.

You call to one of the adults and ask what they use to make the garden so lush. A broad smile breaks, and through the smile come the words, “Feed the soil, and the soil will feed the plants.”

You shake your head. Poor people. Too bad they don’t know about that miracle combination of chemicals you saw advertised on TV last week. That’s the easy way to grow spectacular plants!

Dinner

The organic gardener invites us to join them for the evening meal, and we accept. At dinner, we join in the prayer of thanks, and then watch in amazement as the children, one after another, begin eating fresh vegetables.

You yourself are not that fond of vegetables, but you politely take a small serving of each. You bite into a leaf of steamed cabbage, and your eyes open wide in amazement. It is sweet - twice as sweet as the cabbage you buy at your local market! You watch a small child fill his mouth with dark green kale, and shudder. There’s a small spoonful of the nasty vegetable on your own plate, and you pick at it, putting a single small leaf in your mouth. Amazing! It, too, is twice as sweet as any kale you ever ate. The same seems true of every vegetable on the table. You decide that if your supermarket vegetables were this good, you would eat a lot more of them.

Our imaginary trip ends at that dinner table, and we return to the present.



Organic Gardening’s Benefits

Organic gardening has many benefits. If you are completely selfish, you will want those benefits for yourself. If you are unselfish, you will want those benefits for your family. Let me give you just three of organic gardening’s benefits.

1. Taste: Organic gardening has been proven to produce tastier fruits and vegetables. A Hong Kong study measured Brix levels, the percentage of sugar in plant juices, using produce from organic gardening and from non-organic gardening. The results showed that organic gardening produced produce that was 2 to 4 times as sweet as that produced by non-organic gardening. Sweeter fruits and vegetables are tastier, and easier to eat, whether you are a young person or an adult. Organic gardening helps us eat better by providing tastier fruits and vegetables.

2. Nutrition: Organic gardening has also been found to provide nutritionally superior produce. Virginia Worthington, of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, compared the composition of vegetables grown simultaneously under different farming conditions. Her work included 41 studies with 1,240 comparisons of 35 vitamins and minerals. Worthington found that organic gardening produced vegetables and fruits that were higher in most minerals and vitamins than those from non-organic gardening. Not only that, organic gardening produce was lower in potentially harmful nitrates, which result from nitrogen fertilizers. Dr. Worthington concluded that produce from organic gardening is nutritionally superior. You and your family will enjoy better health with fruits and vegetables from organic gardening. (Effect of Agricultural Methods on Nutritional Quality: A Comparison of Organic with Conventional Crops, Virginia Worthington MS, ScD, CNS, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 1998, Alternative Therapies, Volume 4, 1998, pages 58-69)

3. Exercise: Finally, organic gardening offers you and your children regular daily exercise in the outdoors. Organic gardening helps you build muscles, especially important core muscles. Organic gardening gets you into the sunlight where you can absorb essential vitamin D. Organic gardening is a great stress management tool. Organic gardening gives you an outlet for creativity. It provides satisfaction as you see your work produce useful fruits, herbs, and vegetables.

We could talk about the aesthetic pleasures of organic gardening - how beautiful that garden might become. We could talk about how you can save money with organic gardening - growing your produce instead of purchasing.

Finally, we could talk about how important it is for our children to learn about organic gardening, to embrace it as the way to better health, and to practice it with school, home, and community gardens.

An organic gardening speech could go on for hours, but I’m going to stop here, hoping that I have whetted your appetite enough that you will seek out more information on organic gardening.

Helpful Tip for Speech-givers

A few large bowls of beautiful organic produce can be set on the platform or around the room to help visual learners picture organic gardening.



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