Almost time for Tomatoes!

On these chilly, wet, dreary December days, it is hard to imagine even thinking about gardening, but that is exactly what I'm doing.  I like to plant my tomato, pepper, and eggplant seeds on New Year's Day - inside of course.  I'll nurture them under growth lights until it is time to put them in the ground outside.

This past year my tomato crop was less than stellar.  We had over 100 tomato plants in rows, representing seven different heirloom tomato varieties.  Although we harvested, ate, canned, blanched, and froze a fair quantity of fruit, it wasn't near the yield that I think we ought to be harvesting compared to the amount of plants we grew, so I wanted to do a bit of reading on the subject.  I wanted to see if perhaps I wasn't growing heirloom varieties that are matched to our climate.

So I went to the following link: LSU AgCenter Heirloom Tomato Trials to see if I might learn which tomatoes grow more favorable in our locale.  The quote below shows the results of the study:

The top five producing tomatoes included: Thessaloniki – 336.44 lbs, 5.6 lbs/plant; Black from Tula – 306.15 lbs, 5.10 lbs/plant; Red Brandywine – 295.7 lbs, 4.92 lbs/plant; Pruden’s Purple – 276.05 lbs, 4.6 lbs/plant; and Mortgage Lifter – 241.05 lbs, 4.01 lbs/plant.

The only variety I've planted before in that list was Thessaloniki.  I decided to give the others a shot, so I needed to order some seeds.  My Go To seed catalog is Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.

Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Catalog

Their seeds are open pollinated heirloom seeds - that means you can save the seeds to replant year after year.  I like Baker Creek for several reasons.  First, their seed catalog is a work of art.  It can be used as a coffee table book.  The photography is outstanding.  It is free of charge and can be requested by clicking on this link Rareseeds.com and then clicking on the Request Free Catalog at the top left.  You can also shop online there.

Neat photography

Some more...

I placed my order and in no time at all, look what came in the mail!  I ordered four of the five varieties that LSU tested.  Baker Creek didn't have the Pruden's Purple, so I ordered Black Krim as a replacement.  I was excited to open the package and see my new seeds.  If you look at the last package of seeds on the right, you'll see that it is inscribed, "FREE GIFT."

That's another reason I like Baker Creek.  Even though the seed company isn't from Louisiana, they completely understand the concept of Lagniappe - a little something extra or free.   With every order, they include a free pack of seeds.  In my order the free seeds were 'Gypsy' Tomatoes from Russia.  These tomatoes have a purple-maroon color.  I can't wait to try them.

Seeds of Change!

I already checked my inventory of pepper and eggplant seeds and I've got plenty. Now, in just a few days I'll be sowing seeds.