Heirloom Tomato Seedlings

Yes, anyone can grow great-tasting tomatoes...

95 percent of people who are gardeners in America grow tomatoes. This is probably because growing, harvesting, eating and sharing your own tomatoes provide a multitude of life-enhancing pleasures and nourishment. Almost anywhere you find food growing, you are likely to find tomatoes.

I regularly share correspondence with long-time tomato gardeners as well as soon-to-be first-time tomato gardeners. I speak with family farmers with lots of available land and generations of experience, and city folks who grow tomatoes in pots, or raised beds, on rooftops and patios...with teams of children in schoolyard gardens and recently with an old-timer planting his last tomato garden before leaving this earth. What they all had in common was their passionate appreciation for growing their own delicious tomatoes and the contribution of gardening to the quality of their life.

Firstly, I encourage all about-to-be tomato gardeners to follow their dream or intention of growing tomatoes by planting something.whether seeds or store-bought seedlings. Just plant it!

Trellised Rows of Heirloom Tomatoes

Hawaiian Pineapple Heirloom Tomatoes

Secondly, I encourage all gardeners to 'grow organic'. There is no good reason not to. The benefits of doing so are rewarding and there is the added pleasure of fulfilling a personal and global responsibility of being a conscious caretaker.

Gary & Dagma Cleaning Tomato Seeds

For many years I've grown heirloom tomatoes for chefs and markets who have preferred my TomatoFest tomatoes to others because they were loaded with the exceptional flavor that was genetically inherent to heirloom tomato varieties. I'd like to share with you some of my experience in how, you too, can grow the best-tasting, most nourishing heirloom tomatoes.

In the pages I've provided you, I'll discuss why I prefer open-pollinated and heirloom tomatoes to hybrid tomatoes, "What is an Heirloom Tomato?" , tomato terminology, tomato seed starting tips, tips about managing the growing of your tomato plants , common problems, plant disease and pest management, cleaning and storing tomato seeds, should you wish to embark upon tomato seed-saving. - Gary Ibsen