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New England Gardening

Good tomato for food pantry donation

10 years ago

This year I want to grow some tomatoes to take to the food pantry. Usually I grow heirlooms for my own use, and don't mind cracking etc. However, I am now looking for a red or pink variety that produces good looking, fairly high yield tomatoes. I am looking for some suggestions. I have some leads from catalog reading, but would love to hear about any that you have personal experience with.

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Comments (7)

Lalala (zone 6b)
10 years ago
I don't personally grow tomatoes, but a local farm that grows produce for food pantries grows the following varieties (I've volunteered there):

Big Beef Tomato, Sun Gold Cherry Tomato, Indigo Rose Tomato, Red Pearl Red Grape Tomato, Rose de Berne Tomato, and Granadero plum tomato.

Do you already have a food pantry in mind? You might want to call to see if there is a kind of tomato they'd prefer (i.e. grape tomatoes vs. beefsteak etc.) good luck!
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seb99 z 6a
10 years ago
In addition to my heirlooms which I keep, i always plant a few Celebrities, Jetstar, Supersonic or Ace55 for give-aways. Since these varieties produce when EVERYBODY has surplus tomatoes, consider Burpee's Long Keeper so you can donate later in the season, Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan.
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I donate common varieties to local food shelves, and I commend all gardeners who do this, but I especially like to donate to our seniors in local assisted living communities and subsidized elderly apartment housing. Most of the older folks around here gardened until they weren't physically able, so they have a keen interest in all the vegetables I grow because they grew many of them themselves in the past. Many of these folks want the varieties you can't find in a grocery store. They also know and appreciate the difference between store bought and vine ripened produce. Many are house-bound and can't physically get to the local food shelf, grocery store, or farmer's market, so they appreciate being able to choose their own produce rather than having others shop for them. There are some who can afford grocery store prices for mediocre produce but can't afford the prices of some of the quality produce at farmer's markets. This year I am growing some heirloom varieties I have never grown before because some of my new friends requested them. I am also trying to become more sensitive to ethnic and cultural tastes, and this year I am growing some new things I never would have considered in the past, which is a benefit for me as well. Some speak of their favorite vegetable varieties they used to eat as a child or used to grow in the 40's, 50's, or 60's that I can't find seeds for anywhere, which I find very troubling. Thank goodness for the seed saving movement of today or many more varieties would surely be lost. Lastly, many of these folks are lonely and absolutely love talking to someone outside of their generation with whom they have a shared interest. To be frank, I love seeing the appreciation in their eyes and I am becoming selfishly addicted to it. Regards, -Tom
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Thanks Marla - taxes are going to be hard to figure this year, gotta use a CPA and not do it myself (I have been doing our personal ones for years, even did business when I was single and sold Tupperware). Let's say they decide they want Wild Grape Jelly and Autumn Fruit Jam (made with wild grapes, apples, store-bought plums, sugar and spices). I planned on asking for the jars back. I used 4 plums (have to look up cost but say $2) and 1.5 lb of sugar (at 64 cents/lb) plus our own grapes and apples for the Autumn Fruit jam, they may take 1/2 the batch so that's $1.48 and a few cents for lemon juice and spices say $1.50. Jelly used same amount of sugar so another 50 cents - that's $2 cost (maybe include cost of 6 lids so another 87 cents but I'm getting jars back). So $2.87 plus electricity? For 6 jars of jams worth $36 at market. Wild grapes and apples are "free" (except for my labor picking and preparing, and DH's labor clearing the brush around the old apple trees, pruning them, etc.). So what do I claim as the value of my donation? If they want Wild Blackberry Jam again cost of sugar is 25-30 cents per jar, berries are "free" but I get $5/pint when I sell the berries at market (and charge $1 more for jam that takes a pint to make a pint to make up for the sugar and the jar, that doesn't even cover electricity and some people think $6 is too much). So would the blackberry jam be worth more as a donation than the grape, since I can sell blackberries and I'm assuming no one would buy wild grapes so they're "worthless" at market? Might be easier just to let my aunt who contacted me pay for them and she can take the deduction off her personal income tax?
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Comments (26)
Glenda, After your tomato experience, I made it a point to look at the canned tomatoes in a local store yesterday, and the 28 oz. cans were $1.28 for the store brand, and $1.64 for a major brand. George, Maybe the beans were late because of our odd weather? Everything in my garden seemed to cycle in-and-out of production this year, instead of producing regularly. The only exception was tomatoes and peppers, which mostly produced nonstop (and still are). The okra, beans, black-eyed peas, cukes, melons, etc. all seemed to stall during the frequent cool and cloudy spells, and then would produce like mad during the hotter, drier periods. I'm thinking maybe the cornfield beans didn't get enough consistent sun/heat to produce earlier. Even now, my beans and cukes will slow down during a cooler and cloudier period. Then, we'll have a couple of days of warmer and sunnier weather and they'll speed up again. Scott, I am still picking tomatoes regularly, but the harvest has slowed down a whole lot and I am hoarding them and trying to make them last as long as possible. Our son is married to a real doll, and I have to admit that there were times I worried he'd fall in love with and marry whoever he was dating at the time, and that particular person wasn't one I would have chosen for him if I could do the choosing. So, yes, it's a great relief that his wife is wonderful in every way and we're thrilled the two of them found each other. I don't think your wife did too badly, by the way! LOL Since she decided to keep you, you must be a 'keeper' and I imagine she hopes the kids will one day find someone just like you. Dawn
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Comments (2)
ThatÂs very admirable! I donÂt have space for a garden the size you do but I informally follow the "Plant a Row for the Hungry (PAR)" program started by the Garden Writers Association. I checked with the Prince William County Extension office and they said there is no organized PAR group here but most local food banks accept fresh food so I grow extra tomatoes, peppers, and summer squash to donate to SERVE which has a Food Bank and Transitional housing. They very much welcome any garden produce I can provide so I get to expand my summer hobby while doing a little good. Here is a link that might be useful: Plant a Row for the Hungry program
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tree_oracle
10 years ago
You want to grow a hybrid if looks are part of the equation. I highly recommend Better Boy if you want something that looks like it was purchased in the grocery store. The flavor is very good. For taste and good looks, my vote hands down is Brandy Boy. It's a hybrid of Brandywine and to me tastes just as good. It's not a perfectly round tomato but it has a much more uniform shape than Brandywine without all of the weird cracks and such that you find with heirloom tomatoes. The yield is also much higher. I'm a big fan of Cherokee Purple. Other than the purplish color associated with them, I find the shape to be very round and consistent without many imperfections. The taste is hard to beat.
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pixie_lou
10 years ago
I grow Early Girls and Better Boys. I get high yield, consistent round fruits without cracking, and good taste. The early girl is a smaller tomato - maybe 2" maximum diameter.

For cherries, I grow sungolds. They are a yellow cherry. Super sweet. High yield. Though they do crack if they get over ripe. Definitely a tomato that you can leave on the table for snacking. Kids love them. Last summer, 6 sun gold vines gave me a quart of tomatoes every 2 days.
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asarum
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you all for the suggestions! I have just retired and have to revamp my gardening plans. I used to grow lots of Sungold and take it into work where people ate them as a snack food. Very popular! At least with my work schedule, I ended composting many split Sungold tomatoes. I will still be growing them and see if I can improve on the harvesting.

This is a good year to test out various food pantry choices, so I will probably pick 3 or 4 of the above suggestions. One unfortunate effect of retirement is more time to gaze at the seed catalogues. My list is already longer than usual. I am telling myself I will have so much more time to tend the seedlings, etc.
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diggingthedirt
10 years ago
I haven't grown tomatoes lately, but I love an older variety called Marglobe for having beautiful (if not very exciting!) perfect looking fruit.

When my kids were young, they didn't want to eat anything speckled or unusual; a yellow tomato, or one with a split skin, would never get eaten. Marglobe was, at the time, a good choice for flavor, yield, uniformity, and overall health. Not sure if it's still around, I think it was one of the older tomato varieties.

I'm guessing that some food pantry clients may also have kids with food preferences like mine had.

Kudos to you for supporting your food pantry like this, by the way!
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asarum
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks, Diggingthedirt! My aim was to grow for a group that would include the non-adventurous and those who may not be used to the funky nature of home grown. I will keep Marglobe in mind.
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