Secrets to Growing Tomatoes With Incredible Flavor - NPR

I really am looking forward to the enjoyment of growing tomatoes in my backyard this summer. For about the last three years I've been experimenting with various ways to grow tomatoes. I've decided this year to try out raising several different heirloom varieties. They have some interesting names, including Bloody Butcher, Black Krim, Mortgage Lifter, and Burpee's Jubilee.

I'm using some raised bed containers, about 3 x 3 feet square, that also have built in water reservoirs under them. My soil is very amended with organic material, including lots of peat moss and cow manure (organic of course) and a slow release fertilizer all mixed in. I started my plants from seeds beginning in late March under some grow lights I had set up in the basement. I then transplanted them to 3 inch peat pots and put them under grow lighting around mid April out in the garage. When they were about 6 inches or so high, I went ahead and planted them in the raised containers.

Now, I grow tomatoes because I've found that while most store bought tomatoes may look great, they can't really deliver in the flavor department. The following is an excerpt from a National Public Radio article by Eliza Barclay that highlights for us just what is and also what isn't that important in growing a tomato that possesses a lot of intense, dramatic flavor.

Secrets to Growing Tomatoes With Incredible Flavor - NPR

Summer is the time to enjoy growing flavorful tomatoes in your yard.

One scientist who's hot on the trail of what makes a fresh tomato shimmer in your mouth is Harold Klee at the University of Florida. Klee's inspiration to map real tomato flavor began with those pale waxy supermarket tomatoes. You know the ones — they've been bred to travel well and resist pests, but they sure need some help in the flavor department.
According to Klee, good tomato flavor is a complex panorama of sugars, acids, and mysterious gassy chemicals that we experience as smell. Klee and his colleagues are still identifying those "aroma volatiles," and have pinpointed more than 3,000 of them across more than 152 varieties of heirloom tomatoes.

You can read the complete original article here:

As the summer forges on, I'm fully expecting that all of my growing tomatoes will produce about twice the harvest I produced last year. I mean, really, you just can't have too many delicious ripe tomatoes. I will be posting here regularly about every week or so and I'll be sure to include some photos of my progress.

If you happen to have found the article or this post useful and enjoyable, go ahead and leave a comment. I'd like to hear about what you might be growing in your garden.


It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato.
                                                                                            --  Lewis Grizzard