Tomatoes are undoubtedly the Kings and Queens of the backyard garden. Many people like to grow several different varieties. After all - what is better than eating a sun-warmed tomato, straight from the vine?
Personally, I like to have cherry tomatoes near my deck and patio, paste tomatoes growing for canning and sauce, slicers available for sandwiches all summer and a few beefsteak tomatoes to impress barbeque guests with.
We have decided to carry seven varieties of tomato this year at Greenleaf. We have received a few comments that they are sold at a high price point. This is a fair comment - and that is why I wanted to write this blog. So - why are our tomatoes so darn expensive?
Let's start with some tomato facts:
What are tomatoes?
Tomatoes are tropical plants, that are often grown as tender annuals in our northern climate. Depending on the type of tomato, theoretically you could grow it year-round in a tropical location, and it would keep producing!
There are two types of tomato:
- Determinate - often called "bush" tomatoes, determinate varieties tend to send out a flush of fruit that matures around the same time. These are often sufficiently supported by tomato cages.
- Indeterminate - often called "vine" tomatoes, indeterminate tomatoes will continuously produce flowers and fruit, making them more popular with gardeners. These grow along a long central vine, and need robust support in your garden.
Both tomatoes benefit from a longer hot growing season than Ottawa has to offer. For this reason, it is important to start your tomatoes early so that once the weather is warm enough - they are ready to produce!
Caring for your tomato plant once you have purchased will be the subject of our next blog post, but it is equally important to know how your tomato seedlings have been raised...
What makes a good tomato seedling?
Your tomato plants start to life can be a huge determinant for its productivity overall. We sell our tomatoes at a high price point because a lot of care, attention, and expense has been incurred to make sure they have had the best possible start to life. So what does a 'good start' mean?
The main factors that determine your tomato plant's viability include:
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Genetics
Our tomato seeds have all come from West Coast Seeds. This all-Canadian company has been producing amazing open-pollinated, heirloom and hybrid seeds that I have used almost exclusively for years.
We sell both open-pollinated and hybrid varieties. Open-pollinated varieties are great if you want to save seeds from your plant for future years, while the hybrid varieties have some really excellent disease resistance packages.
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Maturity:
Maturity matters for a few reasons when selecting tomato seedlings.
Smaller plants may be more vulnerable to cold, sunburn, high winds, or pests when they are transplanted. Larger, more mature plants may have an easier time surviving a pest infestation, a slight sunburn, or some cold damage than younger plants. All plants should be hardened off (more on this in the next blog post!), but if yours gets a little bit of damage in the process - a larger tomato seedling will have other leaves to compensate for those that may be less productive.
Smaller, more immature plants will also take longer to grow to a point where they are producing fruit. It's simple: if your seedling was started earlier, it will be closer to producing fruit when you transplant it out into your garden. Especially for our indeterminate varieties, this means that you can harvest earlier - and longer - meaning more tomatoes for you!
Are there any downsides to transplanting more mature plants? There can be - depending on how they were raised. Sometimes, more mature plants can be stressed - especially if they have had insufficient nutrition, or insufficient light. Big plants in small pots can also often lead to a poor root structure -- read on to learn more about that, and health when transplanting in general!
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Root Structure
When you transplant from a pot, out into your garden you are asking a plant to re-establish itself in a new setting. A big part of that is how well will its roots be able to venture out and gather water and nutrients? Very simply: Healthy roots mean healthy plants.
So - how can you tell if your tomato seedling has healthy roots? There are two key things to look for:
- White roots are good. Brown roots are bad. When you take your tomato seedling out of its pot, look for healthy white roots, not waterlogged, or rotten, brown roots.
- No evidence of being 'rootbound'. A rootbound plant will have several layers of thick roots circling the bottom of the pot. This means that there are too many roots for the current space, and they have been seeking water and nutrients - but coming up empty. This can lead to a stressed plant, and increase the risk of transplant shock.
Finally - tomatoes have a unique superpower. Since they are a vining plant, any part of their stem could theoretically grow roots. As a tomato grows, they can be re-potted quite deeply along their stem, and roots will spring forth to feed the plant. More roots (as long as they are healthy) means more water, and nutrients, and a more robust plant.
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Health when transplanting
OK - so you have chosen a tomato seedling raised from a good genetic base, it has been started early in the season, and it's root system looks good. Anything else?
A good final check is: Does the tomato plant (in general) look healthy ? Is the stem nice and straight, and is it supported adequately with a stake? Are it's leaves broad and perky? Are there any yellow or bleached spots on the leaves? Some bleaching isn't a problem, but excessive yellow, brown or bleach spots could be signs of disease or stress.
A healthy plant will suffer from less 'transplant shock' than an unhealthy one, so look for one that seems to be doing well.
How do we raise our tomato seedlings?
Okay - so you know what makes a 'good' tomato seedling. So - are our tomato seedlings good? Of course they are! But we are biased, so you be the judge based on how we raise our tomatoes!
First, we start our tomatoes in late February, in sterile seed-starting mix on heat mats and under bright grow lights. It is quite the setup - but it promotes strong, even germination of seeds in an environment without harmful fungus or bacteria that could either kill seedlings early, or affect them later on in life.
Next, we pot them up into larger cells as soon as their "true leaves" appear, and add some nutrition to the soil. This is the very first time their stems get buried in the dirt to promote the growth of a deep and healthy root structure (remember that?). At this point, they are still under bright grow lights in a protected environment.
Once the weather warms up in March and the sun is around for a bit longer, we pot them up into small individual pots (3.5" or 6") and put them out in the greenhouse. This is their second time getting potted up (are you keeping track?). At this point, their stems get buried up to the first set of true leaves -- again with the root structure! -- and we add more nutrition to the soil in the form of an organic, balanced fertilizer. In the greenhouse, they are in a nice warm environment under the full light of the sun -- it never drops below 10 degrees, and can get up to 25-30 degrees in early spring! They love it in there, and really take off.
Finally, after a few weeks in their small pots, it's time for them to be transplanted into their large pots. This year, that happened at the end of April. At that point - they were transplanted into 1.7 gallon pots, as deep as they could go. Once you take them home, that means they will have 1.7 gallons of roots to hold them in place, and really settle in! The other benefit to the 1.7 gallon pot is that they will absolutely not be root bound when you buy them, there is plenty of space for them to expand into as you harden them off (more on that in the next blog post!)
What tomatoes do you offer?
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, we chose to start seven different varieties this year! Some are more limited than others, so I would recommend getting your order in now!
- Tumbler Cherry Tomatoes - loads of sweet small cherry tomatoes for snacking all summer long.
- Sweetheart Grape Tomatoes - beautiful grape tomatoes for salads and antipasti plates.
- Principe Borghese tomatoes - these are paste tomatoes. That means they have very few seeds on the inside, and a lower water content. This makes them ideal for tomato paste, canning, or sauce. This variety was specifically bred for sun-dried tomatoes - give it a try!
- Mountain Merit tomatoes - this is our only determinate tomato variety in stock - and there's not many left!
- Moneymaker tomatoes - their name says it all! These will be highly productive all season long thanks to their indeterminate habit.
- Bonnie Best Organic tomatoes - this is an early-maturing variety suited to colder climates, like ours!
- Caiman tomatoes - this is our only beefsteak tomato in stock, and there are extremely limited quantities - order now!
What are you most excited to grow this year? Do you have any favourite tomato varieties that you see here, or would like to see next year? Let me know in the comments below!