Exactly what are heirloom tomato seeds? They are seeds that are still of the original varieties that have never been crossed in any way in the growing process. To provide the best looking fruit for the consumer market many tomato plants have been crossed, but the heirloom seeds have been saved in their original varieties. There are over 10,000 varieties of tomatoes available today according to one of America’s top tomato seed suppliers. Doesn’t this number seem absolutely mind blowing? Who would ever have thought that one fruit could have so many varieties?
Why The Popularity Of Heirloom Tomato Seeds?
It is a much publicized fact that the heirloom tomatoes have a much better flavor than the commercially grown tomato (the crossed varieties). In many cases the heirloom tomato is not the ‘perfect’ looking tomato but when it comes down to growing tomatoes for your own home use it is the flavor that is usually the most important.
Commercial varieties have been crossed to make them more disease resistant, better shape, color, volume and amongst other reasons but in all this playing around with the original varieties they have more often than not lost some of the flavor.
Heirloom Tomato Varieties.
There are in fact hundreds of heirloom varieties to choose from and several large seed companies supplying hundreds of different seed types.
Heirloom tomatoes come in all shapes and sizes, anything from the black varieties to the white varieties. There are round ones, oblong ones, acid free tomatoes, pear shaped tomatoes, cherry sized tomatoes, striped ones and so many, many more.
The tomato enthusiast usually has their favorites but they also like to try different varieties, just for fun, as much for anything else.
Here are some of the popular varieties that are available:
Bi-colored (striped) tomatoes:
� Big White Pink Stripe, Big Zebra, Green Zebra, Gold Medal, Marvel Stripe, Red Zebra, Texas Star, Vintage Wine
Black tomatoes:
� Black Brandywine,Black Krim, Black Cherry, Cherokee Purple, Black Plum, Black Plum, Cherokee Chocolate, Paul Robeson
Cherry tomatoes:
� Golden Grape, Idi, Austin’s Red Pear, Amish Red, Aunt Ruby’s Yellow, Dr. Carolyn, Gardener’s Delight, Gold Current, Sprite
If you are a keen tomato grower you will want to put a whole paddock in tomatoes if you really start delving into which heirloom tomato seeds are available. Some of them sound as if they would be so much fun if you could grow them and see the end product. Some of the colors just look absolutely unbelievable, more like apples than tomatoes.
For many more tips on how to successfully grow tomatoes in a variety of situations and different styles visit http://growtomatoessuccessfully.com where you will be able to sign up to our FREE 10 part mini-course ‘Luscious Tomatoes’.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kaye_Dennan
http://EzineArticles.com/?Heirloom-Tomato-Seeds-Are-Popular-With-Home-Gardeners&id=4291749