Home Grown Tomatoes

Started my seeds for the garden a while ago. These are Pruden's Purple tomato seedlings. They are an heirloom variety that have that incredible tomato flavor (caused by a chemical called furaneol) that you can't get at the grocery store. My other favorite is Brandwine. You can't buy these as seedlings at your local nursery (maybe Brandywine is available). You have to mail order the seeds. There are hundreds of types of tomatoes only a few of which are commercially grown. The best place to get good ones are at farmers markets. Gourmet grocers like Whole Foods carry some but they are really expensive. If you have any yard at all you can grow a couple tomato plants. My Russian grandparents lived in a row house in Philadelphia and grew enough vegetables and fruit (tomatoes, beans, cabbage, onions, apples, etc) to last all winter. If people want to fight high food prices there is no better way than to have a small garden. It's also good exercise. All you need is a piece of ground, a shovel, a rake and and some manure (or other organic material).