The Rusted Vegetable Garden

Monday, February 11, 2013

The Homestead Heirloom Tomato: Great for Hot and Humid Gardens!

'Homestead' Heirloom Tomato:

Great for Hot and Humid Gardens!

It is cold and rainy here. Up north they are digging out of a blizzard. What better time to look at a video on the 'Homestead' heirloom tomato and imagine the warm spring. February is a good time in many parts of the US to start planning out your spring garden. I have ordered many catalogs and made circles on some new tomato varieties for the 2013 season. One variety I collect seed from and grow every year in my garden is the 'Homestead' tomato.

The 'Homestead' is a semi-determinate plant which means it is between a determinate variety that sets all its fruit at once and dies and an indeterminate variety. Indeterminate varieties continue to grow and set fruit until the frost comes and kills them off. This plant produces a lot of 6-8 oz fruit and grows to about 6 feet. The plant in the video produced a lot of tomatoes (40-60) over the season. That was my best year for the 'Homestead'. What I like about the semi-determinate variety is that it will produce steadily over the season and it stays around 5-6 feet tall. It just doesn't get out of control like some indeterminate tomatoes do.

Tomatoes like warm soil but a lot of tomatoes won't set fruit or die back a bit when the temperatures hit mid 90+ degrees for consecutive days. The 'Homestead' doesn't mind the heat and does much better at setting fruit at high temperatures. Humidity... if you have it in your area, you know hot humid weather can create havoc for your garden tomatoes. Again, the 'Homestead' heirloom tomato does better than most in humidity. That is why I collect seed from these tomatoes every year and continue to grow them.

This video highlights the 'Homestead' heirloom at full maturity and the end of the video shows you picked and sliced tomatoes. Consider it for your garden! It is a great all purpose tomato.

Good Luck in 2013!