Does Anyone Have Experience Growing Heirloom Vegetables? ?
I’m looking for people with personal experience. I need a reliable source of seeds, or preferably started plants, and advice on growing them. Most interested in tomatoes, peppers and other plants that can be grown in boxes on the patio.
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Tagged with: Advice • Boxes • Growing Vegetables • Heirloom Vegetables • People • personal experience • plants • Seeds • tomatoes
Filed under: Your Garden Q and A
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I have been growing heirloom/organic for years. The best source, by far, for seeds is Johnny seeds.
Every year I try different kinds of tomatoes. And always end up voting the Brandy Wine and Moskvich as my favorites.
The moskvich is an early tomato. (Compare to an early girl.) But, unlike an early girl, it has great flavor and not as mealy. Tall vine…so make sure you support the plant well.
The Brandy Wine is the best tomato on the planet!! Large fruit and the flavor is unbeatable! Tall vine as well.
An excellent fertilizer is "tomatoes alive" from Gardens Alive. An organic, easy to use food that performs greatly.
Good Luck!
I have grown a few, but would not consider myself highly experienced. I relocated across country and am relearning in a new climate. I found a source that specializes in the heirloom and native plants in this area. There are several heirloom seed sources easily available with a simple search for "heirloom seeds." Sometimes local nurseries carry a few heirloom plants started, but this will be a small selection.
I grow about 30 heirloom tomatoes and a few other misc. veggies. I get some starts at a local nursery or seed them myself.
I get these as starts: lettuce, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, strawberry and a few other things I cannot resist.
I do these from seeds: string beans, sugar peas, carrots, cucumber, tomatoes and a few other things I may see…
For the seeds, I get heirloom seeds at my local nursery or via plant trades using a plant forum. But for my tomatoes, I have been "collecting" them and I’ve gotten them from these two places:
http://www.tomatofest.com/
http://www.tomatobob.com/
I have been growing in containers the last couple of years because my new house has A LOT of gophers and I don’t have money for raised bedsyet. I use 5 gallon and 15 gallon containers.
I sow them either in a greenhouse (I borrow space at my dad’s nursery) or in trays that I put on top of the fridge. The top of the fridge is good because it’s warm and out of the place from kids. I also direct sow in the containers and thin when they begin to pop up. It depends on the time of year. For the early ones, I sow indoors 4-6 weeks before my last frost date which is around April 15. For the later season ones, I direct sow.
Keep in mind the a lot of the heirloom tomatoes are indeterminate and they sprawl a lot. This is fine for containers, just be sure to allow for that and to be sure to cage/stake or it will take over!
For trading, try these two sites:
http://davesgarden.com/
http://www.gardenweb.com/
Good luck.
I’ve grown and raised organic heirlooms for over 3 decades. For me there is no other type. Much of the seed I plant is from what I’ve personally saved the year(s) prior or from seeds I’d inherited from grandparents who were also heirloom gardeners and avid seed savers (last year I planted some melon seeds that were saved from 1968…and they came up!). When I do buy, I usually buy from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. I like their selections and have never been disappointed in my purchases.
Tomatoes are one of the easiest plants to start from seed. You didn’t say what planting zone you live in, but I’m in Zone 5b and I start my tomatoes (from seed) around the 2 week in February. Contrary to what the back of the seed package says, that is not too early. My pepper seeds are already started, as they take longer to germinate and grow. I don’t buy starts, even my asparagus beds and rhubarbs I grew from heirloom seeds.