Featured Recipes: • Vegetable Tower • Watermelon, Tomato and Feta Salad • Chilled Tomato Soup Gazpacho-Style • Creamy Tomato, Bacon and Blue Cheese Linguine • Focaccia • Green Bean Salad with Tomatoes and Feta • Saffron Fettuccine with Ten Kinds of Tomatoes • Tomatoes Provencale Gardening Tips: Tomato Disease Codes We have listed the diseases to which select hybrids have been bred to be resistant~one of the true benefits of improved hybrids. V: Verticilium Wilt F: Fusarium Wilt F1: Fusarium Wilt Race 1 F2: Fusarium Wilt Race 2 N: Nematode A: Alternaria alternata L: Septoria leafspot ST: Stemphylium TMV: Tobacco Mosaic Virus Green Means 'Go' If you're wondering if your tomato plants (or any annual crops) are getting the soil fertility they need, keep an eye on the 'seed leaves'. This is the first pair of leaves to emerge when a seed sprouts and remains at the base of the stem as the plant grows. If the seed leaves stay healthy and green, you're doing something right with the soil in that row. If they are pale, yellow or withered, you need to prepare the soil more carefully next time you plant. Juicy Fruits The more water a vegetable contains, the more water you need to give it in dry, hot weather. Tomatoes, cukes and celery stems are especially thirsty. If you can, group them together and run a soaker hose through the patch. Not-So-Strange Bedfellows According to the theory of companion planting, tomatoes and basil benefit one another when grown in the same plot. Certainly, they cause each other no harm, for we have often interplanted the two in a row, especially when we're training tomatoes vertically on strings. There's plenty of space in between them for bushy basil plants. After all, they keep excellent company in the kitchen, whether you're serving fresh tomatoes strewn with the pungent green basil leaves or cooking both up into a luscious sauce for pasta. It's handy to be able to pick the two together. And who knows? Perhaps the basil's strong scent repels insect pests that might otherwise prey on the tomatoes. Cooking Tip: Variations on a Theme At the height of tomato season, platters appear on the table regularly, and we never seem to get tired of them. But it’s nice to vary the dressing. Sometimes it’s just a simple vinaigrette. Sometimes its a heavier balsamic vinegar dressing with olive oil and honey. Sliced red onions are often part of the mix. Basil, either with the leaves whole or cut into ribbons, is a frequent player. And sometimes I make a pesto with my lemon basil and some good olive oil--maybe a little extra lemon as well, and some parmiggiano cheese. It stays a brighter green than other pestos, and is wonderful spooned over the tomatoes.

Absolutely nothing compares to eating a sun-warmed, homegrown tomato straight off the vine. This garden mainstay is easily grown and most rewarding. Start seed in a warm, bright, well-ventilated area six to eight weeks before setting out. Transplant out after the last frost date. To encourage stockiness, sink seedlings deeper into the well-enriched soil than you grew them - soil should cover the lowest layer of leaves. Position stakes, cages or supports at that time to avoid disturbing the plants later on. Keep soil evenly moist and well-fertilized. Once harvested, store tomatoes at room temperature, as anything below 50°F destroys the enzyme which gives tomatoes their flavor.

When a variety is said to have determinate vines, it means that the vines top out and all of the fruit ripens at once. When a variety is said to have indeterminate vines it means that the vines keep growing and bearing fruit until a killing frost.

Average seed life: 2 years