Growing Crack-Free Heirlooms

[curly_kate]

I've decided to take my summer hobby of selling at the farmer's market more seriously this year to see if I might be able to make a little money at it. Since the big sellers have the "usual" stuff covered, I'm going to see if I can grow some things that are a little more unusual. Not bok choy unusual (people at this market won't buy stuff they don't recognize), but more like yellow carrot unusual.

Anyway, I'd like to get better at the heirloom tomatoes I grow every year. I don't care if they're ugly because they still taste good, but obviously someone who is going to buy a tomato wants both looks and taste. The main problems I have are cracking and cat-facing, which seem to be due to uneven watering. We don't have the funds to install a drip irrigation system, but I've seen a couple of on-the-cheap ideas, like burying bottles & keeping them filled so that the plants get a constant supply of water.

Anyone have any experience with this, or other cheapie ways to keep tomatoes from cracking?

 

[Ridgerunner]

The best thing I know is to mulch and keep a constant moisture, but if I get a decent rain they still crack. When rain is forecast and pretty certain, or immediately just after a rain, I pick any tomatoes that have even a blush of color and keep them on a table in a workshop, warm but out of the sun. They will eventually ripen and turn out pretty good. I normally pick them a bit early like that anyway to keep birds from pecking them.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

That's the same approach I take, sticking with the usual vegetables but straying away from the standard and growing things that have unusual colors/shapes/etc. My customers have become used to the "unusual usual" vegetables, this has allowed me to introduce them to some vegetables that they've never heard of before. I don't go to market (yet) but do take orders from the neighborhood people and bike their vegis to them.

I don't know much about tomatoes, because I don't grow many. But one that I have grown is crack-free and is listed as such in some catalogs - Japanese Black Trifele (sp?). If you're looking for crack-free beefsteak varieties you might have trouble finding them. I'll see if I can find any other varieties listed as crack-free.

 

[ninnymary]

That's the same approach I take, sticking with the usual vegetables but straying away from the standard and growing things that have unusual colors/shapes/etc. My customers have become used to the "unusual usual" vegetables, this has allowed me to introduce them to some vegetables that they've never heard of before. I don't go to market (yet) but do take orders from the neighborhood people and bike their vegis to them.

I don't know much about tomatoes, because I don't grow many. But one that I have grown is crack-free and is listed as such in some catalogs - Japanese Black Trifele (sp?). If you're looking for crack-free beefsteak varieties you might have trouble finding them. I'll see if I can find any other varieties listed as crack-free.

SeedO, you just mentioned my favorite tomatoe!

Mary

 

[Smart Red]

Once again, my mind wanders far from gardening. How the heck has science developed heirloom veggies that contain crack? Why haven't I heard of this before now? Could this trend be behind the government's seeming goal of eliminating small growers?

I guess cracks in my tomatoes are such a rare occurrence that I never thought of splitting fruits when I read the thread title.

 

[goatgurl]

@Smart Red you worry me... ok, so that was funny, i don't care who you are that there was funny

 

[Smart Red]

Thank you, @goatgurl. I worry myself from time to time.

Okay, be honest. Was I the only one to read the title and have cocaine pop into my mind? Me? Who has never experimented with anything ever in the realm of the illegal?

Help me here, folks! Fess up before I seek treatment.

 

[Jared77]

Sorry I'm no help cat faced tomatoes are sauce tomatoes in my garden. I won't waste them. I'd put them in a basket of them & sell them that way. Explain it's just cosmetic, and if your making sauce, soup, etc it's not a big deal. Give them low price I bet someone would buy them.

While I was typing that I just had another idea. Why not sell them with other ingredients, garlic, onion, fresh herbs and include a recipe for sauce? Sauce in a basket? That way all you need is some stock, low simmer and your eating great. Folks might be more inclined to buy them as a package deal. Little more work on your end but your getting something at least something for them.

Cracked ones however make me nuts.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Not going to lie, I was thinking of the drug when I read the thread title to.

Black Trifele's are good tomatoes, aren't they?

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Sorry I'm no help cat faced tomatoes are sauce tomatoes in my garden. I won't waste them. I'd put them in a basket of them & sell them that way. Explain it's just cosmetic, and if your making sauce, soup, etc it's not a big deal. Give them low price I bet someone would buy them.

While I was typing that I just had another idea. Why not sell them with other ingredients, garlic, onion, fresh herbs and include a recipe for sauce? Sauce in a basket? That way all you need is some stock, low simmer and your eating great. Folks might be more inclined to buy them as a package deal. Little more work on your end but your getting something at least something for them.

Cracked ones however make me nuts.

I like your way of thinking.