Grand Shire Farm Heirloom Guide www.grandshirefarm.com

Transplanting Your Tomato Plants When the weather outdoors has warmed into the 50 degree range at night, it's time to plant tomatoes! To harden off, put them outside in a protected spot 2 or 3 full days. Plan to transplant into the garden in the late afternoon or on a hazy or cloudy day to minimize stress. Set them about 3 feet apart in the garden into rich well-cultivated soil in full sun. Tomato plants can be buried several inches deeper than they are planted in their containers. Firm the soil around the plants and water well. Set in stakes or cages for tall- growing tomatoes at planting time. Keep your young plants moist but not soggy. I like to mulch them with a good thick layer of compost, well-aged manure, straw or other organic material. This will provide the even moisture balance needed for healthy, disease-free growth and early big fruit sets, and will also discourage weeds. Tomatoes can me grown in large containers, as long as they are supported with stakes or cages.

Red: Medium to Large Heirloom Tomatoes

Abe Lincoln— Beautiful red, round, medium-sized, 8-12 oz. tomatoes in clusters up to 9. A good disease re- sistant tomato. Delicious, rich, slightly acidic tomato flavors. —Large, meaty tomato used mainly for sauce, Amish Paste's slightly irregular plum-to strawber- ry shaped fruits avg. 8-12 oz. Vine is more straggly than other varieties, but still a very good producer! Beefsteak—An 1890’s heirloom, this is one of the largest varieties of cultivated tomatoes, some weighing 1 pound or more. —Named after the Brandywine Creek in Chester County, PA. This now-famous heirloom made its way from an Ohio farm family in1889 into seed stores. A heavy producer with potato leaves. Costoluto Genovese— fluted, old Italian favorite that has been around since the early 19th century. Fruits are rather flattened and quite attractive with their deep ribbing. This variety is a standard in Italy for both fresh eat- ing and preserving, and known for its intensely flavorful, deep red flesh. Taste is somewhat tart. German Johnson—came with immigrants to Virginia and North Carolina. It is one of the four 'grandparents' of the tomato. It produces large, round, tart Beefsteak shaped fruit with bright red skin. Jersey Devil- Good producer of very large 5-6 inch paste tomatoes, with very few seeds.

Mortgage Lifter—developed in 1922 and called Radiator Charlie, MC Byles of Virginia sold plants for $1 each and paid off the $6000 mortgage on his house! Mushroom Basket—Determinate. Very few seeds. Grows in very large, uniform clusters. Paul Robeson—Brick red tomato with fabulous flavor A nice balance of sweetness and acidity. Named in honor of Paul Robeson, the famous opera singer and civil rights activist. Roma— a popularly used both for canning and producing tomato paste because of their slender and firm nature. Determinate. San Marzano— When chefs throughout the world prepare authentic Italian paste and sauce, San Marzano tomatoes are their preference! An oblong, meaty tomato with sweet flavor!

Indeterminate and Determinate Tomatoes

The majority of heirloom tomatoes are Indeterminate, meaning they grow very large plants and produce tomatoes all season long. A very few are Determinate, including Roma and Mushroom Basket, where the plants stay smaller and produce a large amount of tomatoes all at once, and then the plants are pretty much finished with fruit production. These are good varieties for container growing, as well as canning — when we want a lot of tomatoes to get ready all at the same time. Yellow/Orange/Green Medium to Large Size Heirloom Tomatoes Amana Orange—an heirloom