While names like "Berkeley Tie-Die" and "Lithium Sunset" may evoke obscure album titles from the psychedelic '70s, they're actually tomato varieties of the striped sort! And you might consider adding them to your vegetable garden this year.
Recently on the public media gardening podcast, A Way To Garden, host Margaret Roach talked with a guest about new seed trials conducted at Siskiyou Seeds in Oregon, and the seeds they isolated as ones to try. Several striped tomato varieties made the grade as being both easy to grow and delicious to eat.
Some of the best-performing striped types with colorful monikers include "Cherokee Purple," the aforementioned "Lithium Sunset," which boasts gold flesh with bright red streaks, and "Berkeley Tie-Die," plus "German Streak" along with "Green Zebra" and "Captain Lucky."
These tomatoes are often the big, beefsteak varieties, so if you do plant them in your garden, raised bed or container, use sturdy caging for them. Also, when you're planting them, resist the urge to start too early!
Instead, start seeds indoors in early April. That will give them a good four to six weeks of active growing. Starting them earlier in March or February will produce large plants that won't be vigorous by the time you transplant them in the garden.
Grow the plants indoors, under lights, with a heating mat under them, then when the height of the plants are two times the diameter of the pot, transplant them into a deeper pot. That will help produce strong root systems.
And if you have already grown one of these special tomato varieties, consider overwintering the whole plant indoors in a dormant state by cutting the roots and the plant way back, wrap it up and place in a cool place till its ready to transplant back into the garden.
Charlie Nardozzi's new book, The Continuous Vegetable Garden, dedicates a segment on how to do this, plus Nardozzi will hold a webinar about this topic on Feb. 10 at 6 p.m.
Pruning hydroponic tomato plants
Q: Hi Charlie, I have a hydroponic tomato plant that's doing well, but I have a feeling it needs to be pruned, as it looks very thick. - Jen, via email
A: From the photo, it looks as if this plant has nutrient deficiencies in the leaves and a healthy pruning could remedy that.
Try pruning it back pretty strongly by taking out a lot of side stems, and give it a chance to regrow.
You can also refresh the nutrient solution you're using, and hopefully, once you do that, it'll grow right back and you'll get some more tomatoes.
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