Q&A with Marie Krane: Growing Heirloom Tomatoes for Tomato Bliss
Our founder, Marie Krane, went from heirloom tomato gardener to heirloom tomato farmer after her operation grew bigger than her rooftop gardens on the South Side of Chicago. Now in her eighth year of regenerative farming, we asked her to share a few details about her experience growing a wide variety of heirloom tomatoes..
Team Bliss: Tomato Bliss products contain a "seasonal mix" of heirloom tomatoes. What does "seasonal mix" mean?
Marie: Seasonal here changes almost every week as heirloom tomatoes have different ripening times. Unlike commercial tomatoes, which are harvested by machines when firm and green and then ripened in trucks, our tomatoes are hand-picked straight from the vine when perfectly ripe.
Team Bliss: Do all heirloom tomatoes grow at the same rate from seed to ripeness?
Marie: Every heirloom tomato has its own lifespan from seed to ripeness. Some heirloom tomatoes take 55 days to ripen and some up to 100 days. We plant in successions to get a wide variety every week of the growing season.
Team Bliss: Is there a core variety of heirloom tomatoes you use in all Tomato Bliss products?
Marie: The essential tomatoes that are in just about every jar of Tomato Bliss are: Jaunne Flamme, Black Cherry, Aunt Ruby's Green, Striped Roman, Cherokee Purple, Kelloggs Breakfast, Ukrainian Purple and Nebraska's Wedding. Later in the season, Green Zebra comes in.
The five backbone tomatoes are Black Cherry, Aunt Ruby's, a large purple (varies depending on harvest Ukrainian and Cherokee this year), Jaunne Flamme and Green Zebra. The essential key is a rainbow of tomatoes.
Team Bliss: Do you work with other heirloom tomato farmers?
Red heirloom tomato varieties such as:
- Sub Artic Plenty
- Whittemore
- Trophy
- Wisconsin
- Kellogg's Breakfast
- Gold Medal
- German Pink *One of my favorites 🙂
- Henderson Pink Ponderosa
- Brandywine Pink
- Chocolate Stripes (Red Brown)
- Vintage Wine (Pinks/Some Green)
- Yellow Radiance/Pork Chop (Yellow/Green)
- A few trial red striped varieties
- Along with trials of Blue/Red and Red/Brown striped varieties
Team Bliss: Has regenerative farming been successful with heirloom tomatoes?
Marie: In each successive growing season, we've experienced an earlier, more bountiful harvest. The promise of regenerative farming is being proven at Lotus Flower Farm.