Seed Saving 101

Saving tomato seeds is very easy and a great way to continue growing your favorite variety of heirloom tomatoes for years to come. By saving the seeds from the best fruits of the season, you are assuring the continuation of excellent fruit production in the coming seasons. You are selecting the best from your own particular growing conditions, not some generalized hybrid seed meant to be grown anywhere.

Here is all you need to do...

Squeeze the seeds from a tomato into a clean jar. Remember, use one of your top quality specimens.



Add some water to the jar...



Cover the jar with plastic and poke some holes in the plastic. Place the jar on a shelf out of direct sunlight for several days.



After three or four days a layer of mold will have formed on the surface of the water, and you will notice that the seeds have settled on the bottom. Use a spoon to remove the mold from the jar.




Now gently run water into the jar and carefully pour off the rinse water. The seeds will stay on the bottom of the jar as long as you pour the water off gently. Keep doing this until the water runs clear and all that is left is clean seeds. Pour these seeds onto a coffee filter. You can also use a paper towel, but the seeds tend to stick to paper towels.



Place the coffee filter on a plate and set it back on the shelf to dry for a few days. When completely dry, you can now store the seeds for next season. I usually just wrap them up in the same coffee filter and then put them into a white envelope. Make sure you label the envelope with the name of the tomato variety and the year you saved them.

Tomato Report

I have not heard a single complaint from a Mid-Atlantic tomato gardener this season. Excellent Spring conditions followed up by a hot dry summer have resulted in near perfect conditions for growing tomatoes. I had a small case of Blossom End Rot show up on my early Schimmeig Creg fruits, but that seemed to correct itself with some fertilizer applications. No sign of the dreaded Late Blight that so devastated the crops of 2009. I'm looking forward to the final push of late season fruits as we wind down to the end of a wonderful growing season. Here is a collection of the best examples of my tomatoes so far this season...

garden peach


assorted cherry tomatoes


dr. wyche's yellow


harfeuer


german red strawberry


santore roma

Dr. Wyche's Yellow

This is the first year I have grown this variety, and this is the very first fruit I've harvested. Haven't tasted it yet, but it sure is a beautiful tomato! I am certainly going to save some seeds for next year.






DR WYCHE'S YELLOW TOMATO (Solanum lycopersicum) was developed by the late Dr. John Wyche who owned the Cole Brothers Circus. Produces meaty, rich tasting yellow-orange one pound tomatoes. Heavy yields even without elephant manure, which is supposedly what the good doctor used in his garden soil!

Seed Saving Time!

Many thanks go out to my friend Albert Yee for the reminder to save seeds! It is more important than ever after this really dreadful growing season. Any quality fruit that made it through this year of bad weather and Late Blight is surely a keeper and something you will want to grow again next season. It's important to make sure you save seeds from the best picks of the harvest.



I'm saving seeds from the three most successful varieties I grew this year... Harzfeuer, Schimmieg Creg, and Hahnstown Yellow.

There are several ways to save seeds... I have a friend who just squeezes the seeds onto a paper towel and lets them air dry. He has mailed them to me and I have grown them very successfully. These are the Santore Romas I grew last season. I started them again this year from seed and because I lost track of my plant labels as the seedlings got bigger, I ended up without planting any Santores in my garden this year. (Huge lesson learned!! Keep track of your seedlings!)

Earlier in the season I found a really excellent blog post on how to save seeds. It seemed really simple and foolproof so I saved it...

How to Save Seeds

It's a cold miserable rainy day here in Philadelphia, much like the season started. The perfect day to begin saving seeds for next season!

final harvest....

final harvest 2009

The final harvest of the year is always bittersweet, but this year I am sort of glad to be finished with the dismal tomato season. Last season I was still picking wonderful tasting fruit all through October. Yesterday I decided to pull out all of the tomato plants and get ready for a full crop of cool weather veggies.

Today I have a slow cooker full of sauce simmering for the next 12 hours or so. I used up about half of the harvest, including 4 lbs of plum tomatoes I got from my CSA this week. About a gallon of sauce for the freezer, and plenty of green tomatoes for pickling. Plenty left for sharing with friends and lot's of great tomato salads for the next week.



Here is the bed all ready for seeding with cold crops like spinach, arugula, bok choi, broccoli, etc. I have plenty of seed packets left over from Spring, so I'll just use what I already have on hand.

Saturday morning tomatoes....

Even with the terrible growing conditions and battling the Late Blight menace, the small crop of tomatoes that have made it to the harvest basket this season have been gorgeous! These are all local heirlooms from Amish Land Seeds and I have posted about my belief in the importance of growing local stock many times. Everything I grew this year has a long history of proven growth in Southeastern Pennsylvania gardens.These gorgeous results just confirm this philosophy for me, and I can't wait to see what these varieties will do in a summer of ideal growing conditions.

Everything I have been picking so far has not only looked beautiful, but has tasted wonderful. I think my favorite so far for taste has been the Harfeuer. The Schimmieg Creg is the hands down winner for appearance. I haven't tasted a Howard German yet, the one shown below was just picked this morning and it is the first harvest of the season. The surprise of the season have been the yellow tomatoes shown below. I didn't order any yellow tomatoes from Amish Land Seed, so there must have been an errant yellow seed or two among my seed packets. (not at all unusual for a small home based seed saving company) I checked the Amish Land Seed website and I think these are Hahnstown Yellow. The closest resemblance I could find to the photos on the website. They are really nice little fruits and I would definitely grow them again!



Harfeuer


Howard German



Schimmieg Creg



Hahnstown Yellow

world's greatest sandwich...

simply the best

It need not be said that the world is full of fantastic sandwiches... the Hoagie, the Hamburger, the Banh Mi, the Philly Cheesesteak... but the hands down winner for world's greatest has to be the simple Tomato Sandwich.

Maybe it's because this delicacy can only really be made during the short but sweet weeks of summertime tomato harvesting. The incredible taste but a lingering memory for the remainder of the year. Who in their right mind would make one of these with a wintertime hothouse tomato? (ewww)

The freshest bread of choice... (classic old school white bread is actually preferred), thinly sliced tomatoes directly from the garden, a layer of just snipped basil leaves, and the defining ingredients... a thick slathering of Mayo and a good sprinkle of Jane's Mixed-Up Salt. It's how I've made this culinary masterpiece since I can remember.

lazy way Marinara...

Last night I brought home three pounds of hybrid tomatoes from my CSA, and decided to make a batch of Marinara Sauce because it doesn't look like there will be any large abundance of tomatoes this season for canning or freezing. I typically start making sauces with my tomatoes much later in the season after I am literally sick of eating them fresh. But this season all bets are off as we all know, and after bringing home six pounds of tomatoes yesterday it just seemed like a good night to make some sauce!

Every ingredient in this Marinara Sauce came straight from Pennypack Farm and was cooked on the same day as harvest. (all except the Garlic and Anchovies) Couldn't be any fresher!


Start with a slow saute of Onions and a few cloves of Garlic. Nice low flame...



Add some dice green Pepper...



Now a few Anchovies.(Do it! Even if you hate Anchovies. It adds a nice complexity and slight saltiness to the sauce) Stir them around until they melt...



Now begin adding diced tomatoes. This is where the lazy factor comes in. I don't peel my tomatoes. I simply cut off the top, squeeze out most of the seeds over a bowl, and then dice them. Peeling tomatoes is an added step I usually avoid. I do not mind the texture of skins in my pasta sauce, and I am a firm believer that most of the nutrition of fruits and vegetables is in the skin. I never peel potatoes or carrots, and I would only peel tomatoes if I was making a concentrated paste or very traditional sauce.



Fresh Basil and Parsley...




Course chopped and added to the simmering tomatoes...




All that's let is a very slow simmer. Maybe a splash of really good Olive Oil and a touch of Balsamic Vinegar. The entire sauce can be pasta ready in less than 30 minutes if you are in a hurry, or you can let it simmer and thicken a bit and then put it into the fridge or freezer. This sauce is just as good the next day or thawed from the freezer as it is fresh. Enjoy!

CSA to the rescue!

CSA Week 12

Just when I was getting really bummed out about the state of the tomato season, my CSA had a really nice harvest of fruit today. In previous weeks, everyone was limited to one 3 lb. unit of tomatoes. Today we were allowed to take two units! So I got three lbs of Heirloom Ox Hearts for slicing and salads, and three lbs of hybrids. I made an excellent Marinara sauce with the hybrids, and I'll post photos of the sauce making process tomorrow...

Late Blight Blues...

I've been feeling pretty damn smug about escaping the wide spread Late Blight that is attacking Tomato beds throughout the Northeast. I was certain that my small suburban garden was well out of reach of any airborne spores that might be flying around, and the fact that I was growing only plants started from my own seed starts. I have been obsessively checking my plants every day, and all of my fruits look nice and healthy, even though they are way late in the ripening department.

To my dismay however, I have been watching a couple plants deteriorate very quickly in the past two weeks. I have been cutting off withering leaves on a daily basis, but the plants have just increasingly withered and yellowed. They also have developed lots of brown spots on the leaves and stems.

This morning I found this tomato sitting on the ground....




Here is the row of plants that have quickly grown sick. Notice how nice the plants behind them look in comparison...



So, while I hated to do it, I yanked out the entire row to try to prevent this blight from spreading. I put the plants into a garbage bag and into the trash. (never put any diseased plants into the compost pile)



The Tomato Season of 2009.... sigh.

Tomato Report

Seems everywhere you turn, the garden talk is about how bad the tomato season is. The early season weather was cool and wet, gardeners had to wait until very late in the spring to set out plants, and now Late Blight is reeking havoc on tomato crops throughout the Northeast.

My own tomato crop is at least three weeks behind last year's in terms of fruit maturity and ripening schedule. I am also seeing smaller plants, quite a few yellow leaves, and about half the amount of fruit this year as compared to last year. Last season, with fewer plants, I was swimming in tomatoes by this time. I was eating tomatoes at every meal, and giving bags of extras to my neighbors and family.

Things could be much worse, however, and I am very glad I decided to go with the tomato varieties I picked. Way back in mid-Winter, I did some research and found a small owner operated company in Lancaster, Pa., Amish Land Seeds. This is a small, one woman operation that provides hand selected heirloom seeds from the Amish and Mennonite farms throughout Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. They have a fantastic website with excellent photos and descriptions of all of the seed varieties they sell.

I think that several factors helped me out tremendously this year and helped salvage what could have been a total crop failure. First, I am growing only seed started heirloom tomatoes that were developed to grow successfully in my own region. I have always been a fan of starting my own tomato plants from seed, but many years I will also buy some starts from my local garden supply center if I see something interesting. Even in the poor growing conditions we have had, my plants have maintained nice steady growth and reasonable fruit production. The few tomatoes I have harvested so far have been delicious!

I am completely sold on this idea of growing locally developed heirloom varieties, and I am looking forward to seeing how well they do in what will hopefully be a better weather season next year and in years to come.

Here are photos I took this morning of the varieties I am growing. Looks like I should be getting some nice harvests in the next few weeks...



Howard German (Amish Heirloom)


Glicks 18 Mennonite (Mennonite Heirloom)


Harzfeuer (German Heirloom)


Schmmeig Creg (German Heirloom)


Amish Land Seed website


*Edit*... When I wrote this post I had not seen this fantastic Op-Ed in the 8/8/09 New York Times...

You Say Tomato, I say Agricultural Disaster, by Dan Barber

Barber spells out many of the things that have contributed to the current harvest problems...

It’s important to note, too, that this year there have been many more hosts than in the past as more and more Americans have taken to gardening. Credit the recession or Michelle Obama or both, but there’s been an increased awareness of the benefits of growing your own food. According to the National Gardening Association, 43 million households planned a backyard garden or put a stake in a share of a community garden in 2009, up from 36 million in 2008. That’s quite a few home gardeners who — given the popularity of the humble tomato — probably planted a starter or two this summer.

Here’s the unhappy twist: the explosion of home gardeners — the very people most conscious of buying local food and opting out of the conventional food chain — has paradoxically set the stage for the worst local tomato harvest in memory.

So what do we do?

For starters, if you’re planning a garden (and not growing from seed — the preferable, if less convenient, choice), then buy starter plants from a local grower or nursery. A tomato plant that travels 2,000 miles is no different from a tomato that has traveled 2,000 miles to your plate. It’s an effective way to help local growers, who rely on sales of these plants before the harvest arrives. It’s also a way to protect agriculture. If late blight occurs in a small nursery it’s relatively easy to recognize, as straightforward as being able to see the plant, recognize its symptoms and isolate it before it has a chance to spread.

... and there is a great follow up to the Barber Op-Ed on Slow Food's Blog...

So, when we start thinking about what next to grow in our gardens, let’s search out place-based varieties, buy plants from local farmers and nurseries and buy seeds from regional seed companies. This will ensure those seeds are adapted to our particular climate needs

Slow Food USA blog

Goodbye Suckers!

There is some debate over weather to prune tomato plants or not.There are those gardeners who don't want to cut back any vine that could potentially develop fruit. I have always felt that pruning back the side sucker shoots during the early growth season will help to enhance the vigorous development of the main stem, and all of the energy will go into producing flowers from the main part of the plant. It also keeps your tomato bed from becoming a wild jungle.

The side suckers tend to grow out from the main stem at the bottom of the plant. They will also grow from thee crotch of larger branches as the plants get bigger...



When my plants are big enough to need staking, I usually go around and snip off all of the side suckers...



... and here is a perfect example of my newly staked and sucker free tomato plants. Every bit of nutrients from the soil and sun are now being concentrated into the main plants...

a walk through the garden...

a quick walk through the garden on a steamy night in late June...

All of the pepper plants are doing well except the Tabasco Peppers. The leaves are turning brownish and it looks like something is eating at it. I don't know why it is only this variety that is doing poorly. All of the other varieties are thriving, such as these Thai Dragon Peppers...

thai dragon peppers

I have been carefully thinning out the Carrots and Beets, and both new raised beds are coming up nicely. The seedlings are really starting to look like actual plants!

carrots

The container Pumpkin experiment is going really well. The vines are growing vigorously, and I see lot's of flower buds forming. I can't wait to see pumpkins growing around the base of my oak tree.

container pumpkins


I put in several Genovese Basil plants, not as many as I have grown in the past, but it should be enough...(can there ever be enough Basil?? Maybe I should get more!)

genovese basil

The first sign of a true Tomato has appeared on the little Tom Thumb patio plants. These container plants are loaded with flowers right now.

tom thumb tomatoes

And here is the Amish Heirloom Tomato bed soaking up the last hours of sunlight. A few plants have developed flowers, and all of the plants are really thriving. I need to get some support stakes in this bed this weekend.

amish heirloom bed