Setting the Dining Room Table With Heirlooms

Welcome to my dining room.  Mismatched plates?  No worries, each is carefully labeled with a name.  Perhaps it is a bit too crowded?  If I move this one, just a little, it is possible to squeeze another in.  No, I am not planning a dinner party; my late summer dining room table is holding what will be next year's tomato crop and I am working to make room for all.

Tomato seeds on plates crowd the summer dining room table

Eating a fresh, ripe heirloom tomato, warm from summer sun, is one of life's great pleasures and when it comes to planning for the following year, now is the time seed savers begin.  For best results, choose this season's most beautiful, unblemished specimens, scoop out the seeds (you can still enjoy the fruit) and clean away pulp.  Allow seeds to dry and store in a cool, dry environment until you are ready to plant next year.  Alternatively, store seeds in a freezer, but dry them completely before doing so.  If you plan to save more than one seed variety, be sure to carefully label.  I repeat:  label seeds carefully.  I speak with the voice of experience, as one who mislabeled plants and found, without a great deal of pain, the cherry tomato I thought I planted was actually a huge slicing fruit.  After all, both were delicious!

Save seeds from the best specimens.  These are Cherokee Purple

Heirloom seeds grow plants that produce consistent traits.  Unlike hybrid or genetically engineered seeds, heirlooms are able to adapt to growing conditions and develop resistance to diseases, pests and weather that is either too wet or too dry.  When heirlooms grow in the same geographical area for many generations, those smart plants consistently produce better than ones that are newcomers to the region.  For the first time in four years, my tomato garden hosts a San Marzano tomato that is producing beautiful, abundant fruit and I am madly saving those special seeds.  After all, it took four years to grow fruit that is consistently free of black rot spots.

So far, the yield from one San Marzano plant is 14 quarts!

Even if you did not grow a favorite heirloom food you enjoy this summer, as long as it is a true heirloom, save seeds to grow your own for next year.  A few years ago, I purchased Indigo Rose tomatoes from a farmer's market vendor and scooped seeds from the beautiful fruit.  For the past couple of years, this variety has been one of our family favorites.  

Indigo Rose boasts lovely color and delicious flavor

When it comes to growing colorful, delicious heirloom fruits and vegetables, I admit I lack self-control, which is why each summer I vow, "Next year will be different. . . I will NOT plant as much."  Yea, right.  

Now, back to fitting everyone at the dining room table.  Guests can stand, but heirloom seeds deserve a place of honor.