And as I have noted here time and again, the breeding done for commercial tomatoes has NAUGHT to do with flavor and aroma, but tougher skins for shipping and color and shape for appearances sake alone...
My 'Cherokee Purple's were ugly as sin and wouldn't have made it to a grocers stand on a dare, but they were the best tomatoes I ever tasted! And the health and spiritual benefits of growing them myself cannot b4e measured...
Yep - I MISS my tomatoes right now! When I get desperate I get some from the store, but oh I cannot wait to have my tomato plants in the ground again. There is just no comparison, not in flavor, texture, color or anything else.
You know, I actually hated tomatoes growing up. I didn't like them until I tried planting some in my backyard, made sauce, then the next thing I knew, I was eating them straight from the plant! No comparison at all.
Amongst a plethora of others, I saved seeds from grape tomatoes that I bought at the market this year (they were tasteless and most likely grown hydroponically but, had a nice shape). I look forward to seeing if they have flavour when I grow them organically next year.
Not to mention the nutrient accumulation of tomatoes (and other plants like peppers) that are grown hydroponically is generally really low because they are given a very select array of nutrients sufficient for the plants to grow and produce fruit. Organically grown plants, have a wide array of nutients to grow in and so many that a lot of nutrients are deposited in the tissue of the plants that we therefore can absorb when we eat them.
Really the commercializing of our food source should be a concern for us all - pesticides, imports from 3rd world countries (which you know still use DDT), calves raised on cow blood (I have this from two sources now), chickens fed with chicken by-product and chicken meal (nice way of saying, ground up feet, feathers, and other unusable parts). Is it really any wonder it seems our great grandparents were healthier, even though they worked SO HARD to survive on the farm?
Much of our food is so tasteless, the fact is covered up with lots of salt so we "think" it has flavor, which in turn is bad for our kidneys.
So I value what comes from my garden for more than just my efforts of growing something coming to fruition, but because it tastes better, is healthier for me and the environment, and I know it had no pesticides or fertilizer given to it.
I'm curious if your grape tomatoes will have flavor this year if grown in REAL soil too!
But keep iin mind that the genetics are probably shifted towards production, rather than eating, so don't be suprised if there isn't a huge leap forward (I am sure there will be improvement).
'Sweet Hundreds' and 'Sweet Millions' have both been good to me, and 'Matt's Wild Cherry', despite the dire warning to give this one a place of it's own (climbed over the top of ALL my other tomatoes last year) is going to be my cherry of choice; PROLIFIC!
I intend to try Matt's Wild Cherry. Not only for its habit, but as a personal joke. I used to work for a wild guy named Matt Cherry. I quit after he thought a married woman like myself would be interested in his wild side. Ha!
This thing is a real climber and that's how I'll grow it this year. I'm going for a ten foot high by ten long structure (right now I'm leaning towards something like the pole and wire system they use for growing hops as the habits are similar (and if you've ever grown hops you are starting to see what I really think of this tomato). It's a runner...
This is a pic of the house when we first bought it - so remember it's a work in progress and there are more plants out there now than there were last winter (when this was taken).
We finally get to see your work in progress. Looks like it has a lot of potential.
With regard to the inbreeding of my grape tomatoes: Yes, they probably have been bread for shape, and number of fruit for many years and most likely inbreeding suppression will play a huge role in the overall phenotype of the tomatoes. However, for the flavour and other traits, non genetic factors can play a huge role: For instance (as stated above) nutrients and other such chemicals that are available in the soil can turn on/off varies alleles within the tomatoe inducing different proteins being expressed that have been previously suppressed (actually not made at all).
Also, different chemicals being absorbed by the plant and subsequently deposited and stored in it's tissues can play a huge role in the flavour a a fruit. (Take a beefsteak grown in my garden and one bought at the market. NO COMPARISON)
Hear hear! And that is my answer to Avid as well; NO comparison in actual flavor and as to the spiritual benefits of eating one' own food, it is that "mission accomplished", job well done feeling of satisfaction you can only get by completing a task and reaping the rewards...PRICELESS...
They do work in a pinch - though they do pinch my wallet, too.
The problem with the grocery is where they were grown and what kinds of pesticides were applied to them. If they were grown in Mexico, where I believe DDT is still legal, or South America, where I know it's still legal... do you really trust it all just washes off?
It's getting better all the time (I know of a 57 acre glass greenhouse to be installed in Maine for doing just that; heirloom winter crops. Pretty neat.
But for the most part the store bought types are raised for looks and shippability. That's why garden grown heirlooms are always better...(IMHO)
I know it doesn'tjust wash off because the plant absorbs it, the outside is probably more clean than the inside of the fruit. Does anyone know what the requirments are to have FDA certified foods? I wanna know because as far as I can tell I could be eating DDTMelon instead of watermelon
