With spring almost here and being time to place our seed orders, it seemed like a good time to ask- What are your favorite heirloom varieties?

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), March 04, 2002

Answers

My favorites r brandywine tomatoes;Kansas;cantalope & Kondike blue ribbon watermelon. The melons come from BAKERCREEK HEIRLOOM SEEDS;&did really well last summer

-- Dave Coyner (dkoiner@webtv.net), March 04, 2002.

I have to second the Brandywine Tomatoes. The flavor is wonderful.

-- Charleen in WNY (harperhill@eznet.net), March 04, 2002.

I love the brandywine tomatoes but I also like the Lincon tomatoes! Small but full of flavor

-- Teresa (c3ranch@socket.net), March 04, 2002.

Pink ponderosa. Sweeter than Brandywine, but still taste like a tomato.

-- Terri (hooperterri@prodigy.net), March 04, 2002.

Dragon Langiere beans-they are flat yellow with purple stripes and have a true bean taste.Pinetree has them. For tomatos-try Dad's Mug from Fox Hollow-they are a dark pink,sweet and thick fleshed with few seeds.They are good just to eat in hand and freeze and can beautifully. Baker's Creek Poona Kira cucumbers are delicious and your neighbor will think you are the greatest when you supply some to them and you will because they are so prolific.I cannot wait for summer. Terry

-- Terry Lipe (elipe@fidnet.com), March 04, 2002.

Please tell us your gardening zone with your favorites--it may help others choose their seeds/plants.

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), March 04, 2002.

Russian tomatoes. A lot like Brandywine but a lot bigger and less seeds. Almost solid meat when sliced.

-- Mel Kelly (melkelly@webtv.net), March 04, 2002.

I love opalka tomatoes. They are a dry paste type tomatoe. I use them for making BBQ sauce, add to my salsa to thicken it, etc. Not very good for eating fresh, however.

-- jean (wildwoods@garden.com), March 04, 2002.

Amish paste tomatoes, borettana cippolini onions, ailsa craig onions, lincoln peas, marvel of four seasons lettuce, maiden's blush rose, fruhlingsgold rose, and painted lady sweet peas. Zone 5

-- vicki in NW OH (thga76@aol.com), March 04, 2002.

In the Ozarks, Tommy Toe is an excellent producer of cherry tomatoes that taste good, hold up to heat and insects And, best of all, if you leave a few on the vine over winter, you don't even have to replant them - they do it themselves! We used some of our compost (which apparently contained some rotten Tommy Toe tomatoes) around our roses and were surprised by a volunteer tomato plant crop - hundreds of the tiny seedlings - coming up at the base IN DECEMBER! I've got 7 more inside in my houseplants right now. One is 12" tall! If they didn't taste so good, they could almost be considered a pest plant! They dry well too.

Principe Bourghese is an Italian heirloom paste tomato that makes great tomato paste and also drys well.

For flavor and size try Caspian Pink - a Russian heirloom tomato. It's only drawback is that even when it is starting to rot on the vine, it still looks under-ripe. You have to feel them to tell they're ready to pick. I missed a lot of them before I figured that out.

Other than tomatoes, you might try plain old Yellow Crookneck, Straightneck Early Yellow, Walthum Butternut and Table Queen (acorn) squashes; Sugar Baby watermelon; Black Beauty eggplant; Fordhook Giant swiss chard; and Scarlet Runner beans (very pretty flowers as a bonus).

Get the "Totally Tomatoes" catalog for the biggest variety of tomato and pepper seeds I've ever seen. "Southern Exposure Seed Exchange" is another good source of heirloom seeds of all types.

-- Deborah Stephenson in MO (wonkaandgypsy@hotmail.com), March 05, 2002.

I love the Boothby's Blonde cucumber. It is the best I have ever tasted, very uniform shape and size, and being light colored, is extremely easy to pick! I could grow just this variety of cukes and be quite happy.. They make such lovely pickles!

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), March 05, 2002.

Brandywine tomatoes taste good (I find that the balance of acids and sugars is different than most hybrids) and also have the ability to ripen fruit even with the cooler summer nights here on the high plains. They are not quite as productive as modern hybrids so you may need a few more plants, and when the weather gets pretty cool in the fall we think they start tasting a little weird.

-- Marcia in MT (marciabundi@myexcel.com), March 05, 2002.