Bring on the Heirloom Tomatoes/My Seed Orders Have Arrived! - Part 1

In a previous post (http://dansgardening.blogspot.com/2014/01/sorting-through-vegetable-seedsout-with.html), I discussed where I purchase my vegetable seeds.  In review, I use a combination of local stores and seed catalogs, some of which I also mentioned in a previous post (http://dansgardening.blogspot.com/2014/01/here-come-seed-catalogs.html).

This year I was able to find most of the seeds locally, however I did end up ordering from a couple of catalogs.  I thought I would share what I ordered to give you some ideas.

My first order was from Park Seed:

www.parkseed .com

The main reason I ordered from Park Seed is tomatoes.  In recent years I have been growing heirloom tomatoes, which I have found to be so much more flavorful and interesting that the run of the mill varieties.  Of course I also grow a grape variety and a paste/Roma type.

If you've ever looked in a seed catalog at heirloom tomatoes, you know just how many varieties there are. So how do you choose?  One option is to pick a seed mixture.  One of the best you will find in my opinion is the Heirloom Tomato Rainbow Blend from Park Seed:

All indeterminate and all bearing large, distinctive, delicious fruit!

Contains Aunt Ruby's German Green, Dixie Golden Giant, Black from Tula, Brandywine Red, Big Rainbow, and Cherokee Purple.

In keeping with the tomato theme, I mentioned above that I normally grow a grape tomato.  This year I decided to try something different which was new to the seed catalogs this year; it is called Artisan Blend. I ordered this type from Jung Seeds:

www.jungseed.com

Artisan Blend-Jung Seed Co.

Following is the description from The Jung Seed catalog:

Unique Appearance - Exceptional Flavor
Whether you're a master chef or a home cook, you'll love all the options these tomatoes bring to the table. The breeders of Artisan's focused on combining excellent flavor with unique colors and shapes. The results are these beautiful and tasty, round and elongated, striped and blushed cherry-type fruits that range from 1.5 to 2 inches in size, resist cracking and keep well. Indeterminate plants stay healthy and extremely productive over an extended period.

Similar to the heirloom blend above, this blend of grape/cherry type tomatoes looks very appealing to the tomato lover.

In my next post I will discuss some other seeds I ordered including some lettuce blends.

Also to come is some more bird photos and results from my participation in the Great Backyard Bird Count.

Until next time.