Learn how to grow delicious heirloom tomatoes step by step and see for yourself how growing heirloom tomatoes compares to those you used to eat at the grocery store!
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What Are Heirloom Tomatoes?
Heirloom or heritage tomatoes to us Brits, are varieties or cultivars of tomato which have been grown, pollinated naturally and the seeds saved for more than 50 years, often through a family.
Learn more about types of seeds to grow in the Ultimate Guide to Choosing Seeds to Grow.
Heirloom tomatoes are not often found in the grocery store because they often have thin skins, they do not ship well and sometimes have issues with diseases depending on your climate and region.
Why Grow Heirloom Tomatoes?
Growing heirloom tomatoes is like growing a delicious kaleidoscope of color, shapes, sizes, textures, and tastes! Once you grow heirloom tomatoes, you won’t want to eat another grocery store tomato again!
They’re Delicious
The flavor is the main reason gardeners grow heirloom tomatoes and there is usually no contest between an heirloom tomato and one you pick up at the grocery store. Heirlooms win, time after time.
If you care about flavorful and delicious food, heirloom tomatoes are the way to grow. I blindfolded my husband and he taste-tested some from the store and our own, homegrown tomatoes. You can see which he loved in this video:
Seeds
Since heirloom tomatoes are open-pollinated which means that they are pollinated naturally by insects or wind.
Heirloom tomatoes offer themselves nicely to building your own seed bank or, even better, begin creating your own landrace garden.
Heirloom Tomatoes To Grow
There are so many tomatoes to try and grow and each year I try to grow new varieties as well as firm favorites. Here are some great heirloom tomatoes to try growing:
- Paul Robeson
- Aunt Ruby’s German Green
- Yellow Pear
- Brimmer Pink
- Japanese Trifele Black
- Kellogg’s Breakfast
- Speckled Roman
How To Grow Heirloom Tomatoes From Seed
Tomatoes are warm weather, sun-loving crops and need warm temperatures to sprout and grow. They also need a long season of warm weather to grow and produce ripe fruit.
Starting seeds indoors is your best chance of getting plants that will mature and produce because you can get those seedlings started and growing in the protection of your home.
Find Your Last Frost Date
The process of growing heirloom tomatoes starts 6 to 8 weeks before your last frost date in spring. Find your last frost date using The Old Farmer’s Almanac.
Count back from this date 6 to 8 weeks. This is the date you need to start your tomato seeds indoors.
Planting Seeds
Start your seeds in a good quality seed starting mix
You can start your heirloom tomatoes in module seed trays
Pre-Wet Seed Starting Mix
Make your life easier and get your seeds settled in quicker by getting the seed starting mix
Start Your Seeds
Sow your seeds by sowing 1/4 inch (6 mm) deep. Sow one seed per module in the tray or one seed per pot or cup. Gently water in your seeds and keep them in a warm location at about 70-80 °F (21-26°C), a seed starting mat
Check The Seeds
Heirloom tomatoes will sprout within 5 to 7 days. As soon as the seeds sprout, you need to get them under bright lights like a sunny window or under grow lights. I use grow lights to start my warm-weather crops and you need to get the lights close to the sprouting seeds. This helps to encourage stocky growth, not spindly, leggy seedlings that are prone to problems later.
Pricking Out
Pricking out is where you transplant small seedlings that have their first set of true leaves into larger individual containers to continue growing.
Use an old fork or spoon (the charity shop or thrift store is a great place to look!) to lift the seedling and soil attached to the roots from the bottom and gently hold one of the baby leaves to help support the seedling as you move it.
Try to avoid holding by the stem, tomato seedlings are very delicate and prone to breaking!
Plant In Bigger Container
After about 30 days, your seedlings should be big enough to transplant. Plant the baby seedlings up to the first baby leaves, stem and all. New roots will sprout from the stem.
Gently water the seedlings in. Keep the seedlings warm and give them plenty of light to encourage healthy growth.
The earlier you start growing heirloom tomatoes, the bigger the containers you need as well as more seed-starting or potting soil mix to keep them happy and healthy. Oh, and you will need more space to put them all!
Planting Outside
When the temperatures outside sit around 55°F (13°C) during the day and the night, your tomatoes can be planted outside. But, since your seedlings have grown up in the nice temperature-controlled environment of your home, they need a little help in getting settled into their growing space outside.
To do this, your growing tomato plants need to be hardened off. This is a process where you gradually expose your seedlings to conditions outside during the day and back inside at night over the course of a week or two.
A plastic storage tote with a lid makes a good makeshift cold frame to protect your seedlings as you gradually introduce them for longer and longer periods of time outside, plus it makes it easier to carry your seedlings in and out of the house!
Learn more about growing tomatoes early.
Prune Before Final Planting!
If you have seedlings that are more than 6 inches (15 cm) tall, prune off the bottom leaves before planting your heirloom tomato seedlings into their final space.
Dig Deep
Plant your hardened-off seedlings deep, that stem right up to the leaves needs to be buried to produce roots all along that stem giving you sturdy plants. Throw into the planting hole:
-
- crushed eggshell and gypsum
to combat blossom end rot
- worm castings
for a nutrient boost
- kelp meal for trace minerals
- 1 tsp mycorrhizal fungi
to improve your tomato’s ability to take up nutrients and boost yields
- well-rotted compost for a longer-term nutrient boost
- 1-2 tsp biochar
to provide a home for your soil microorganisms and turn your soil into a food making powerhouse
- 1-2 tsp Epsom salts to help reduce blossom end rot
- crushed eggshell and gypsum
to combat blossom end rot
for a nutrient boost
to improve your tomato’s ability to take up nutrients and boost yields
to provide a home for your soil microorganisms and turn your soil into a food making powerhouseAdd Support
Right after planting your growing heirloom tomatoes you will need to provide some support. Some heirloom tomatoes produce huge fruits and support is needed to reduce those branches breaking with the weight of the fruit. I use folding tomato cages
Check out how to prune your tomatoes in my video:
Caring For Growing Heirloom Tomato Plants
Your growing heirloom tomato plants will need some care as they establish and grow. Here are some tips to help you get your plants growing:
- Place some mulch on the soil to reduce splashing on the leaves to help cut down on some common tomato plant diseases.
- If you can, avoid watering with overhead sprinklers, wet leaves on tomato plants spread diseases quickly.
- Cut back comfrey plants and use them as a mulch around your tomatoes. As the comfrey breaks down it helps to feed your tomatoes.
- Check for bugs like tomato hornworm and crickets regularly on your plants. Pick off any you can.
- Look out for signs of disease and prune out any affected leaves.
- Feed with some compost tea to give your plants a boost as they begin flowering.
- Water regularly to avoid the fruits cracking.
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