Lakewood couple transform one-third acre lot into tomato patch

Pity the people who gave up growing tomatoes after last year’s early rains led to a dismal harvest. This year’s late summer stretch of blazing temperatures is making for a bumper crop.

On a small butte in Lakewood, a couple has turned their one-third acre lot into a garden paradise. Paul Shelley and Diane Downie grow 61 different varieties of tomatoes – 173 plants total.

The couple, married 34 years, have always had one foot in the garden. He grew up on an Ohio farm, she on a citrus orchard in California. They moved to Lakewood from California in part to have a big garden where water wouldn’t be an issue. Every year they turn a little bit more of their lawn into raised beds.

Downie, a retired math teacher, and Shelley, a Boeing engineer, divide their annual tomato crop into three categories: the reliables they’ll never give up (about 15 varieties), first-time experiments (about 10) and what might be called “the rest of the bunch.”

After 21 years of tomato farming in Lakewood, the couple have their system down and it shows. Rows upon rows of plants hanging with fruit fill their backyard. Taller plants weave through mesh fencing, some 9 feet high.

Naturally, Shelley and Downie have more tomatoes than they can use: They expect to harvest 500 pounds this summer. Some of it goes to food banks and friends, but the couple have become adept at preserving their harvest through freezing and drying. “We have yet to meet a tomato that didn’t dry well,” Downie says. She pulls out a bag of dried Golden Sweets and offers some to a visitor. The thin discs explode with an intense, sweet tomato flavor.

The tomato season starts in late March for the couple. Seeds sprout indoors in potting soil lit by grow lights. After transplanting to bigger pots and hardening off, the starts are finally planted in late May.

Crop rotation is key in the Downie-Shelley garden. All their beds get two or three different crops in the course of a year. During winter, a large part of their ranchette is devoted to garlic. Other crops grown during the year include beets, peppers, greens, beans, tomatillos, potatoes, squash and saffron.

The vast number of tomato varieties range from an orange-brown ribbed fruit that resembles a pumpkin (Black from Tula) to a convoluted, pink, heart-shaped variety that looks like something Dr. Seuss would have created (Oxheart Pink).

Many of the tomatoes are heirlooms – time-honored varieties that were cultivated before commercial hybridization became popular.

“Brandywine is the quintessential heirloom everyone tries to grow,” Downie says. The couple says heirlooms have a longer growing season and are trickier to grow, particularly in a cold year. “They get challenged by anything ... if you look at them cross-eyed,” Downie says.

The couple is not against hybrids – they’ve greatly improved crop reliability. But, as Shelley says, “The commercial growers went to the extreme. They made them sturdier but got rid of the taste.”

Craig Sailor: 253-597-8541
craig.sailor@thenewstribune.com

TOMATO GROWING TIPS

Diane Downie and Paul Shelley offer these tips to get bountiful, flavorful tomatoes.

What to do now:

-Remove some foliage to let light and heat penetrate inside the plants. Also, remove any foliage touching the ground.

-Tie tops of plants to trellises or similar structures.

-Make sure any low-hanging fruit is not touching the ground. The couple uses straw.

-Keep water on an even schedule: every other day or every day, when it gets hot. Water only the ground. Wet foliage can lead to blight.

-Harvest when ripe. If rain is forecast, pick everything you can that is ripe to partially ripe. They can ripen indoors. Rain can quickly destroy a tomato crop. Another option is to cover the plants with plastic.

Tips for next year

Where to grow: The warmest spot you can find in your yard. Take advantage of reflected light from bright walls or warmth from brick walls. Avoid windy areas.

What to grow in: The couple grows their vegetables in raised-beds one foot high and dug out one foot below the surface. The forms are made from untreated redwood and lined with landscape fabric (weed prevention) and wire mesh (mole prevention.) They are filled with two parts local sandy soil (from a supplier) and one part worm compost.

Planting: Cut off the lowest leaves and bury the stalk past the point where the lowest leaves were removed. Stake or trellis indeterminate varieties.

Fertilizer: When starts are planted, mix in bone meal, 3-5-2 (a formula that boosts bloom production) and compost. Do not fertilize again during the season. Avoid fertilizers high in nitrogen – they will increase foliage in tomatoes at the cost of fruit. (Root crops, squash and broccoli, however, produce better with nitrogen.)

Irrigation: The couple use soaker hoses, an improvement, they say, over drip irrigation. Their system is automated and waters the tomatoes for 45 minutes every other day. Water can be reduced once the plant has set many tomatoes.

Pesticides: They don’t use them.

Paul and Diane’s greatest tomato hits list

The couple have three criteria for their favorites list: flavor, dependability and prolific production.

Cherry and grape: The easiest to grow and the sweetest, say the couple. They like Sun Gold, Super Sweet 100, Sugary and Golden Sweet. Zebra Cherry is a new one for 2011 but it’s already on the list.

Roma: Known for their firmness and base for sauces. They like Margarita and Striped Roman.

Determinate: Short plants (3-4 feet) that tend to ripen early and all at once. Good choices for patio pots. Heirloom favorites include Manitoba, Legend, Black Sea Man and Siletz.

Indeterminate: Taller, need staking or trellising, and produce throughout the season. Goliath is a classic red, good for slicing. Another reliable red is Early Challenge. Other favorites include heirlooms Stupice and Costoluto Genovese.

Non-red varieties: You’re not giving up anything in flavor by breaking away from traditional red, say the couple.

Pink: Oxheart Pink

Orange: Valencia and Orange Pixie

Yellow: Limmony

Green: Aunt Ruby’s German Green

Purple: Pruden’s Purple

Black: Black Sean Man and Black from Tula

Striped: Tigerella and Striped Roman

Flavor

Tomatoes can vary greatly in flavor from one variety to another. Exploring and understanding the different and often intense flavors of tomatoes might have you forever shunning those mealy, tasteless fast-food varieties. Here are a few that exemplify their flavor profiles.

Sweet: Sun Gold and Sugary (cherry)

Meaty: Brandywine (heirloom)

Balanced acidic: Limmony

Tart: Green tomatoes

Rich/complex: Black tomatoes

Preserving your harvest

The weather we’re having now is some of the hottest and best timed we’ve had in recent years for tomato harvesting. But what happens when your entire crop ripens at once? Don’t panic. You have several options:

Freezing (quick and easy): Rinse and de-stem tomatoes. Place in zip-top plastic bags and freeze until needed.

Roasting (Diane Downie uses this method to make a deeply flavored substitute for canned tomato products): Rinse and de-stem tomatoes. Roll tomatoes in a small amount of extra virgin olive oil, garlic and herbs such as basil and rosemary. Lay a single layer of the tomatoes on a baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until they get soft and a little singed. Cool to room temperature and run through food processor to puree. Place in containers and freeze until needed.

Drying (Requires purchase or use of food dehydrator. Shelley and Downie use a commercial grade from Cabela’s): Slice cherry tomatoes in half or larger ones into 14 inch slices. Dry in dehydrator at 130 degrees for 24 hours. Store in freezer. When ready to use, rehydrate by about half and put in green salads or recipes that call for tomatoes. They deepen the flavor of any dish, Downie says. And they make great “chips” on their own.