Planting and choosing tomato plants is a job that is harder than it looks.  Do I want heirloom or hybrid?  Red, purple, golden, big or small?  

A heirloom tomato is the choice of many.  Heirloom means that the tomato plant has been passed down from generations.  One of the favorites is the Cherokee Purple.  It has been traced back to the Cherokee Indians.  How is that for good DNA?  The Cherokee Purple variety is now one of the favorites.  Other heirlooms are Marglobe, Jubilee, Brandywine, and the Caspian Pink.  

A hybrid tomato is one that has been selected for specific traits.  They typically may not produce a fruit that is that is consistent every year.  I’ve always been told that you cannot save the seed from the hybrid plants and that goes for the seed you buy also.  Some hybrid tomatoes are Whoppers, Better Boy, Big Boy, and the Celebrity.  

My Dad always planted the Better Boys.  He planted around 100 each year.  One of my favorite memories is planting tomatoes with my Dad.  He was 6’2 and I am 5’2.  He dug the hole, dropped a 5 gallon bucket of dry cow manure(the none chemical one) and I would plant the tomato.  He usually planted around 100.  During the harvesting season, he would take tomatoes all around the community.   I think my brother got the tomato gene from daddy.  Miss those days.  He liked the Better Boy best by the way. 

(Mitzi Thomas owns Minden Farm & Garden LLC. Watch for her column on Fridays in Webster Parish Journal.)