Today, I’m sharing my gardening tips on my 2020 successes and failures with my heirloom tomato plants. My heirloom tomato plants are my specialty, and they were quite productive this year. The taste of heirloom tomatoes is unmatched, so I grow a variety. So, they won a place in my heart years ago. My kitchen garden is always filled with heirloom tomatoes. However, I did plant a few Early Girl tomatoes. It takes longer for heirlooms to produce fruit, and my BLT simply can’t wait that long.
Heirloom Tomato Plants for 2020 included:
- Paul Robeson
- Cherokee Purple
- Brandywine Pink
- Orange Beefsteak
- West Virginia Hillbilly
- Brandywine Red
- San Marzano
What Worked
First, this year I amended my soil with aged chicken manure. I tilled in a scoop throughout the garden, added crushed eggshells, a chopped banana peel to each tomato hole before planting the tomato plant deep. I than used a top dress of composted leaves. My plants thrived. They produced an abundance of delicious, healthy fruit.
An abundance of healthy fruit also means lots of seeds from the tomatoes. I save them from season to season, and use them to start seedlings for next years garden. Growing heirlooms tomatoes produces seeds that will produce fruit exactly as the parent from one season to the next. Heirlooms are pollinated by the birds, bees and the wind. There’s no human intervention. What you see is exactly what you get from year to year. Sadly, that is not true for hybrid tomatoes.
What Failed
Next, I was careless staking my tomato cages this year. My heirloom tomato plants get very heavy. The are an indeterminate plants, which means they continue to grow throughout the season. They produce lots of flowers, which turn into tons of tomatoes. I use sturdy tomato cages for my heirlooms, but to ensure they remain upright during high winds and storms. To help secure the cages, I use t-posts to hold the cages down.
Unfortunately, this year I didn’t push the stakes in the ground deep enough or tie the cages to the t-post as securely as I normally do. As a result, I had a few cages tumble over during a wind storm. Have you ever tried pulling up a topple tomato plant loaded with tomatoes? It is quite an endeavor. Especially, when you’re trying to save your fruit. With the help of a friend, I did manage to get the cages up and re-stake them properly.
So, it’s best to take the time and do it right when you first transplant your seedlings into the garden. I still learn lessons even as a master gardener. This is a lesson that I learned long ago, but had to re-learn this gardening season. Also, you may like: Bon Appetit – Heirloom Tomatoes.
