Tomato Jewels of Goodness

by theartbuff

I cannot say enough good things about heirloom tomatoes. Besides it being warm and having longer nights, homegrown vintage variety tomatoes are my favorite thing about summer. Curiously, this is the same thing tomatoes like--lots of sun! My good friend and an excellent gardener Richard Prince asks "Do you remember how tomatoes used to taste?" Well, I am too young I guess, but I do know how store bought tomatoes taste even in the summer. Not very good. And heirlooms are even better than your average garden tomato, because heirloom variety (there are over 500 to choose from in catalogues these days) each is grown for its own unique personality, not some "average" of what a good tomato should taste like.

As I tell all my friends, heirloom tomatoes, especially home grown, would truely be the last thing I would eat on my death bed. There is nothing like the magic mix of sweetness, sourness, earthiness, freshness, and sexiness that comes in this little magic vegetable that's really a fruit. Don't miss this opportunity to grow your own. At $10.00 a pack its seems expensive, but if you bought heirlooms at the market it would be this much for two tiny baskets. If you grow your own, you will have dozens of baskets from just just four plants.

Please check out our heirloom tomatoes which you may order from Urban Roots Community Garden Center by March 27 at http://www.urbanroots.org/products/heirloom-tomatoes.

Claire Schneider, tomato enthusiast extraordinaire