Tomato-mania! Part 2
The tomato is so much more than just your French Fries’ best friend or the third metric when making your favorite sandwich. It’s farm to table, to palate. Done. Simple, effective, easy to grow, with ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’-type outcomes. There are many different kinds of tomatoes out there to cultivate in your garden. Each comes with varying degrees of nutritional value along with distinctive flavors. Some come big while others grow small. Some are plump, like little rubescent throw pillows (those adorable Sioux Heirloom Tomatoes); others like those clumps of golden bullion (the Golden Sweet Tomatoes). Whatever type you choose to grow, rest assured that they will be welcome in your kitchen as well as in your garden.
Here are the last three of our favorite tomatoes. To read about our other tomato favorites, click here!
3. Mortgage Lifter Tomato – Don’t worry, growing these won’t raise the rates on your home, it’s just their nom-de-plum. American-bred, Mortgage Lifter’s eventually can be found snuggling your hamburger in between two slices of sourdough. This tomato is meant for hearty consumption and makes a great sidekick to most dishes, hot or cold. Its plant produces very large fruits, all with a succulent, meaty texture with very little seeds.
4. Jersey Devil Tomatoes –With “Jersey” in its name, this fruit is bound to come with some kick. The easy-to-grow plant produces an abundant crop of 5-6″ long, tapered, bright red, paste tomatoes with a pointed end. Taste-wise, they are exceptional for making salsa.
5. Brandywine Tomatoes – Now these suckers are big, often over a pound per fruit. Distinctively spicy once on the palate, the Brandywine has deep pink skin, smooth red flesh and is a favorite among tomato aficionados. The medium-tall tomato is best staked or caged requiring 80 to 100 days, making it among the slowest maturing varieties of common tomato cultivars. The taste, however, is worth the wait as the Brandywine is popular for its rich, bold flavor.
Don’t forget to get our Organic Potting Mix to help nourish these tomatoes!