Trisha, you could probably go thru that
recent thread on heirloom tomatoes and see which ones are most commonly grown by this group of gardeners and particularly, which ones they have grown repeatedly.
The ever-popular Brandywine is well represented but I was rather surprised how often Cherokee Purple shows up. (And, I've never grown either :/.) Of course, there are climate limits on what heirlooms some of us can grow since so many require such a long season.
In what part of northern California is your garden?
For twenty years, I have grown the same tomato that my grandmother grew in her garden during the Depression. My youngest uncle, who is now well over 80, grew this tomato for many years, also. My tomatoes all grow in the same part of the garden generally and I see no difference in the plants and fruit during all this time. Fresh seed is collected each year and for a long time, the entire idea of cross pollination hadn't even crossed my mind
.
The potato-leafed varieties are supposed to much more commonly cross with other plants. Grandma's tomato is a regular leaf tomato.
Fedco says that tomato plants should be separated by 25 feet to 100 feet to avoid cross pollination.
I live in an arid part of the country and the way I save tomato seed might not work well in more humid climates. I simple squeeze out the pulp on paper, set this in sunshine and allow it to dry thoroughly over the course of several days or weeks. The seeds can then be scrapped off the paper with the point of a knife.
Only a few heirlooms are determinate. That fruiting characteristic is much more common in commercial varieties.
Steve
Edited: Ah! I see in your signature that you live near Redding! I first became aware of the world as a small child in Redding. My other grandmother lived and gardened there
. I went went back to CA from Oregon for several years of high school in Arcata - just over the Coast Range from you but in a quite different climate.
