Henny Penny Farmette

The tomato is the favorite plant of backyard gardeners for good reason. It’s the perfect addition to summer salads, soups, pizzas, and a host of other delicious culinary creations. Plus, tomatoes are easy to grow.

Tomatoes are grouped as either determinate or indeterminate. Determinate tomatoes will flower and then produce fruit. Fruit and flower mature simultaneously. Then, the plant is done. This type of tomato is perfect for growing in a container because it remains bushy and rarely needs staking.

Indeterminate tomatoes grow throughout the season, perpetually flowering and setting fruit. The plant produces fruit on vines that require staking for support. Many backyard gardeners choose this type of plant because it keeps on producing.

Tomatoes require fertile soil with good drainage to perform well. They also need eight hours of direct sunlight in most parts of the country except in the areas where summer temperatures can hover between 85 degrees Fahrenheit up to triple digits. For areas with such sizzling hot days, shade tomato plants between 10 A.M. and 2 P.M. (when flowering and pollinating take place), using a shade cloth over a frame.

Control tomato pests such as slugs and snails by picking them off and disposing. Tomatoes are also subject to attacks by sucking insects like aphids and whitefly. Try spraying with dish soap and water or hang sticky tape.

Heirloom tomatoes have been favored for generations because the seed can be saved and used for a future garden. Plus the flavors, colors, and textures are quite diverse. Some heirloom varieties to try include (but are not limited to) Brandywine, an Amish heirloom that features a deep red color and meaty flesh (there’s also a yellow Brandywine tomato). Cherokee Purple, dated to before 1890, produces large fruit with true, old-fashion tomato flavor. Costoluto Genovese is an Italian coastal tomato with dark red flesh and lots of ribbing. Hillbilly comes from the hills of West Virginia and features red striping and mottling on its yellow-orange skin. Mortgage Lifter is an old favorite with few seeds and luscious pink flesh. Stupice, from the Czech Republic, produces golf ball-size, highly flavorful fruit.