Grow and Sell Heirloom Tomatoes
(Page 2 of 6)
December 2006/January 2007
By Walter Chandoha
She’s not rigid in her “heirloom” thinking, though. When she tasted the sugary sweetness of ‘Sungold,’ a yellow-orange, modern cherry-type hybrid, she was impressed enough to include it among the more than 100 tomato varieties she offers to her clients.
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Kennedy’s involvement with tomatoes has its origins in the southern Italian town of Reggio di Calabria, home of her grandparents, where flavorful tomatoes are abundant. Like most farmers, Kennedy’s ancestors saved seeds from year to year. As immigrants to the United States, they brought along many of their favorite vegetable and flower seeds, including heirloom tomatoes.
Her grandparents settled in Robertsville, Pa., where they gardened several acres. Of her early days there, Kennedy says, “I grew up surrounded by gardeners, and it was always our job to help in the garden. My grandparents, aunts, uncles and parents had gardens as food sources, not as hobbies.”
More than 30 years ago, when Kennedy married and began raising a family, she started growing her own garden. “In my desire to be a good gardener, I wanted to try all the new varieties,” she says. “What my grandparents grew was old-fashioned. ‘New’ meant hybrids, so my family heirloom varieties had to make way for the hybrids.”
But after years of growing hybrids, she noticed her tomatoes and other vegetables didn’t taste as good as the ones from her childhood. “Articles written about heirlooms in the 1980s encouraged me to try them,” Kennedy says. Among the first she grew was ‘Big Rainbow,’ which is still one of her all-time favorites.
Selecting Seeds
Initially, the seed catalogs of well-known companies — Burpee, Johnny’s and others — satisfied Kennedy’s quest for a varied selection. But as she became more involved with heirlooms, she sought out seed sources that offered rarer choices. Her favorite today is Marianna’s Heirloom Seeds in Dickson, Tenn., which actually grows and evaluates all the heirlooms they sell. Among Kennedy’s other sources are Tomato Growers Supply Co., Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. She’s also a member of Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa, and New Jersey’s Garden State Heirloom Seed Society, for which she used to grow plants (see “Seed Sources” for complete contact information).
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