Have you wondered why heirloom tomatoes taste so much better than those conventional ones from the store?

Conventional tomatoes have been bred for long shelf life, disease resistance, high yield, and, even for their looks! So whether you say to-may-to or to-mah-to, we’re here to help you choose the perfect heirloom tomato variety for you.

What is an Heirloom Tomato?

Heirloom tomatoes come from seeds that have been handed down from farmer to farmer for generations for their special characteristics and varieties must be 50 years old at least. Because of this, heirloom tomatoes have minimal disease resistance.

Heirloom varieties are open-pollinated–meaning that the seeds you collect will produce plants almost identical plants year after year. That’s key to their survival.

Many heirlooms have been passed down from generation to generation. Seeds, once considered valuable property, traveled country to country in pockets or through letters. Varieties come from Central America, Russia, Italy, Japan, France, Germany, and Kentucky. Here are a few of our favorites.

Best Heirloom Tomatoes to Grow

Pink Brandywine– This is hands-down the yummiest and most popular heirloom. Dating back to 1885, these tomatoes ripen late in the season, but delight with huge tomatoes with even bigger flavor. Plus, Pink Brandywine tomatoes grow well in containers.

  • Growth Type: Indeterminate
  • Time to Maturity: 85-100 days
  • Taste and Texture: Intense, full flavor with a rich, velvety texture
  • Light: Full sun
  • Plant Size: 4-9’
  • Spacing: 24-36” apart
  • Staking: Yes – Cage or stake

Black Cherry – This black, heirloom cherry tomato is somewhat disease-resistant and easy to grow – even in containers. The truly striking color makes these cherry tomatoes an instant conversation (or kabob!) starter.

  • Growth Type: Indeterminate
  • Time to Maturity: 65-75 days
  • Taste and Texture: Sweet meets smoky flavor with a meaty texture
  • Light: Full sun
  • Plant Size: 5-8’
  • Spacing: 24-36”
  • Staking: Yes – Cage or stake

Cherokee Purple – Cherokee purple tomatoes may look eccentric, but boy, do they taste good! Believed to be passed down from Cherokee Indians, this variety produces significantly more tomatoes than other heirlooms.

  • Growth Type: Indeterminate
  • Time to Maturity: 75-90 days
  • Taste and Texture: Sweet, juicy, and savory with a thin skin
  • Light: Full sun
  • Plant Size: 4-9’
  • Spacing: 24-36”
  • Staking: Yes – Cage or stake

San Marzano- The long, blocky fruits mature with a small, discreet seed cavity that can be scooped out, leaving all meat. This means much less boiling to get a first-class paste. The shape is also good for canning and excellent for drying.

Why Should I Grow Heirlooms?

We believe the flavor of heirlooms is so superior that no garden would be complete without them. Try a variety this year, and we’re sure you will agree. You will be tasting a little bit of history all summer long.

When you’re organic gardening, be sure to feed tomatoes lots of Tomato-tone during the growing season.

For a printable guide to tomatoes click HERE

For the most part, I am a plant person. Peonies, Poppies, and Oxalis are exciting stuff! Fertilizers and mulch, not so much; but there are always exceptions to every rule. I actually have a favorite mulch and it’s called Sweet Peet.
In my younger days, I was an estate gardener on Fishers Island, NY, where Sweet Peet was the mulch of the rich and famous. I liked Sweet Peet because it was easy to lay down and gave everything a “Chelsea Flower Show-like” appearance. The estate on Fishers Island was a very extensive and very ambitious property. I confess I overplanted every bed and border and all of the soil was a mix of clay and sand. I had my work cut out for me as the soil didn’t really yield serious results. Fast forward four years, the shrubs and perennials were thriving! I found myself dividing daylilies that were growing in six to seven inches of rich soil! A dark loam populated with earthworms! That soil wasn’t there before, was it. Actually, it was, the Sweet Peet made the difference bringing more than just mulch and color to the beds; it brought beneficials to the soil and added humus and nutrients. Now I loved Sweet Peet!
All the while Sweet Peet appears to be just yearly mulching when it really is the greatest soil amendment that you can add just like mulch. In fact, Sweet Peet is a “secret blend” of aged bark, compost, peat, and bio-char, balanced to the right pH with lime. Fast forward to the present, my own personal estate is 20 by 28 feet and modest with lousy glacial till for soil, with not an earthworm in sight. Three years later, my peonies now have dozens of blooms instead of three. I even now have earthworms. At Van Wilgen’s, we offer Sweet Peet in bags as well by the yard. Sweet Peet will also work just the same for you, whether you are famous or not. Yes, Sweet Peet is a premium mulch, realize you will get benefits beyond just sweet-looking, well-dressed beds.

Peonies are garden classics! They’ve earned their classic status with their easy care and their incredible longevity. To get them to be spectacular and long-lived, follow a few easy steps.

Skip the big spring fertilizing, your peonies were busy building roots last fall. Adding a granulated, bulb fertilizer like Bulb-tone lightly around the base of your plants, is all the spring fertilizing you’ll need to do. Watch for Gray Mold or Botrytis on shoots. If you spot the mold, spray with Copper Fungicide to control. As for ants on peonies, they are part of life and not really a sign of serious consequences. You’ll do better if you just ignore them.

By now, the red shoots of peonies are turning green and spring blooms are about a month away, but now is the time to put out those cages and peony hoops. It’s easier to do them earlier than later. If you are planting new ones, Van Wilgens offers newer varieties with singles flowers. These varieties are just as fragrant and seldom require staking or hoops.

Pretty simple! More questions? Stop by and see us! We’ll help fill in the blanks.

Big or small, that patch of earth in your backyard is a part of the planet we live on. Celebrate Earth Day by being kind to it. Like you, all of us at the garden center enjoy digging in the dirt and outdoor living. Here are a few of our favorite ways to “go green” this week and year-round.

• Plant a Tree. So for us, this is a no-brainer. Aside from the fact that we love beautiful the green canopy they create, they produce the oxygen we breathe. The amount produced by an individual tree is dependent on its species, maturity, and health. They also assist in filtering pollution from the air, and in reducing erosion.

• Mulch your Garden. Applying a layer of mulch to your flower beds not only limits erosion, but it also reduces the need to water. Mulching also means less weeding, and that’s a win/win

• Plant Milkweed and Fill a Planter with Annuals. Though it may be a weed to some, this plant is the only food eaten by the kind of caterpillars that become monarch butterflies. While you’re at it, fill one of your annual planters with flowers that welcome pollinators. The results will be beautiful and beneficial!

• Grow Your Own. Nothing tastes like vegetables that you’ve grown yourself. Whether you just grow a pot of tomatoes on the patio or you expand your large vegetable garden, you’ll be able to say, “I grew this, and it’s delicious!” ​

These are all kinds of practical ways to be kind to the earth 365 times a year. In the Garden is a great place to start.

Greetings everyone,
Well, it finally seems as though old man winter has slowly unfurled his long, icy fingers to usher in another beautiful Spring here at Van Wilgen’s! With temperatures rising and the sun shining, we are all anxious to get out into our yards and get our hands a little dirty in the garden. What a fantastic time of year, watching everything spring to life after a long slumber! Most of you know that our main location at 55 Valley Rd. In North Branford, is the premier destination for all of your gardening needs but we also have three other Van Wilgen locations for your convenience. With locations in Guilford, Milford, and Old Saybrook it is easier than ever to scratch that gardening itch! With an extensive selection of annuals, tropicals, vegetables, perennials, and small shrubs we are sure to have what you need for that weekend project. All of us here at the Van Wilgen Garden Mart locations welcome you back to enjoy another fantastic season with us! We look forward to seeing you all again this season, and as always, it would be our pleasure to help you with any of your gardening needs. It is easier than ever to find location addresses, phone numbers, and hours of operation for all of the Van Wilgen locations on our updated website, vanwilgens.com. We are all excited to share another wonderful season with you. Come by any Van Wilgen location to see what’s new and exciting as well as the tried and true. It would be our pleasure to assist you. From all of us here at Van Wilgen’s, welcome back and we can’t wait to get our hands a little dirty with you!

Rich Baker, Milford Garden Mart Manager

It’s our favorite time of year again, spring is here! This marks the start of prime time gardening season as the weather begins to warm up.

Now’s the perfect time to put on some gardening gloves and repot indoor plants or start fresh with new seeds outdoors. Either way, March & April is the time to get a head start on rejuvenating your outdoor garden to ensure your harvest is ready by mid-spring or early summer.

Beets

Healthy and delicious, the best time to plant beets is right now. They’ll harvest quickly, leaving us with an early summer treat. Plus, beets are known to lower blood pressure, fight inflammation and they’re rich in nutrients and fiber.

Broccoli

One of our favorite greens, broccoli is a nutritional powerhouse. It contains Vitamin K, Vitamin C, Fiber, and Folate. This cool-weather crop can germinate in soil with temperatures as low as 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Be sure to keep the soil wet, though, because this plant is thirsty.

Cabbage

Whether leafy green or perfectly purple, this annual vegetable is perfect for colder temperatures. Pests love Cabbage, so be sure to keep an eye on it. Try using natural repellant methods instead of harmful chemicals to keep your cabbage healthy and safe.

Carrots

Why plant orange carrots when you can choose from the entire rainbow? Choose from purple, black, red, white, or yellow. Not only are they good for eyesight, but carrots are also one of the best plants for reducing the risk of Cardiovascular Disease.

Lettuce

This true cool-weather plant is actually stunted by hot temperatures. Perfect for early spring gardens, lettuce requires light watering since its leaves will develop quickly. And, don’t forget to use organic mulch to conserve water. Once true leaves grow, it is time to harvest the crop before it becomes bitter and tough.

Spinach

Perfect for salads and sides, spinach loves the spring weather. This green is extremely sensitive to excessive heat. Spinach is fast-growing, forming flowers and developing seeds in no time at all.

Onions

Onions have disease-fighting power and high nutritional value, making them one of the healthiest vegetables to eat. Onions can endure all of the hardships that come with early spring weather. Note that this crop will not be as fruitful if temperatures drop below 20 degrees Fahrenheit.

Peas

Sweet peas, snow peas, and snap peas are perfect for planting in March. They’re easy to grow and so delicious.

My wife had a moment of panic last week, she had to dig deep down in our chest freezer to find the very last batch of tomatoes from last year’s garden. She and I spent hours processing and freezing as many vegetables as we could to use throughout the winter. It’s a sad moment when we finally run out of our own veggies from the garden but hopefully, it means we are closer to warmer months ahead.

Speaking of warmer months, my Dad is already busy planning out the garden and finding ways to make it better. We have been combating everyone’s arch-nemesis, WEEDS, by putting a VERY thick layer of mainely mulch in-between the rows and it has helped keep the weeds down and let the veggies thrive. Last year my wife taught me how to flash freeze green beans and one night while she was out with some friends, she left me in charge of processing a whole bushel that my daughter and I had harvested earlier in the day. Nora and I paid extra attention to keep the purple beans separate from the green beans. That evening after I trimmed the whole pile of beans, again being careful to keep the purple separate from the green. I worked in batches boiling the beans for a few minutes and then dunking them in a large bowl of ice and water. I finally get to the big batch of purple beans and that’s when I discover that purple green beans turn GREEN after cooking them! All that work separating and they all end up green. The boiling water cooks them just enough to kill any of the bad stuff and the ice water stops the cooking process so that the beans won’t be mushy when we use them later in the winter. After the green beans cooled, I spread them in a single layer on a cookie sheet and stuck them in the freezer. An hour or so later I separated them into freezer bags, labeled them with the date, and stack ’em in the chest freezer. Even though the purple beans didn’t stay purple, it was so nice to have a small piece of summer with our dinners throughout the winter. We can’t wait to get started!

Ryan Van Wilgen

(Fruit Tree Care)

Don’t you want your family and friends to look at your fruit trees this year and exclaim, “What a fruiting beauty?! Don’t you want to share your bountiful harvest of peaches, apples, and plums with those you love? I am assuming your answer is a hardy “Yes!” Okay then, let’s make this happen. Fruit tree care begins now.

There isn’t much happening right now or is there? Yes, there is plenty going on with our fruit trees right now. The root system is waking up and busily absorbing nutrients and water, the canopy is starting to push out green buds that will open into beautiful flowers, and unfortunately, diseases and insects may also be waking up on our fruit trees.

Let’s begin, shall we!? Grab a bottle of Bonide’s All Season Horticultural Oil. If using concentrate, mix at a rate of 3 tablespoons per gallon of water. Spray the entire fruit tree from the tips of branches to the bottom of the trunk. This will help eliminate any overwintering insects or insect eggs. I always recommend horticultural oil to wake up the garden. Spray when temperatures are above 40 degrees but before the buds open.

When you grab your bottle of Horticultural Oil, be sure to pick up a bag of Espoma’s Tree-Tone. Tree-Tone is the perfect, organic, slow-release fertilizer for your fruit trees. Don’t be shy. Most people under-fertilize. Remember, it takes a lot of energy for fruit trees to push out that delicious fruit. Depending on the size of your fruit trees, you can use anywhere from 3lbs/9 cups to 6lbs/18 cups per inch of trunk diameter. I know that sounds like a lot, but trust me! Apply the fertilizer at the drip line of the tree always. That is where all the hungry feeder roots hang out. Feeding and Horticultural Spray can both happen NOW!

Don’t get too comfortable. The next step will happen soon. When you start to notice green tips appearing on your fruit trees, it is time to switch to Bonide’s Citrus, Fruit & Nut Orchard Spray, or Bonide’s Fruit Tree & Plant Guard. If using the concentrate of the Orchard Spray, use at a rate of 2.5 ounces/5 tablespoons to 5 ounces/10 tablespoons to 1 gallon of water. Spray every 7 to 10 days up to the day of harvesting fruit. If using the Fruit Tree Guard, mix at a rate of 2 ounces/2 tablespoons to 1 gallon of water. This product packs a potent punch and only needs to be applied 3 X’s in the season…at the green tip to pre-bloom, at petal fall, and at fruit set. Easy as 1, 2, 3!

Have you already done your winter pruning? If not, now is the time to clean up those suckers! I literally mean, it is time to clean up those suckers. Suckers are the unwanted branches that grow straight up from the base of the trunk, from shallow roots, and from branches. Anytime you see suckers growing, cut them off at the base. We don’t like suckers.

After all this work, you and your family will be able to reap the bounty of your plentiful harvest or simply enjoy eating a homegrown apple or two.

Come see us at Van Wilgen’s. We would love to help!

SHOPPING LIST:

*Bonide’s Horticultural Oil

*Bonide’s Citrus, Fruit, & Nut Orchard Spray

*Bonide’s Fruit Tree & Plant Guard

*Espoma’s Tree-Tone

For as long as I can remember, there was a thin line between winter weather and spring weather. A question often asked is, “what’ll happen to my bulbs that have popped?”
Good question. Most spring bulbs, with the exception of tulips, are very hardy and very reliable. Most come from mountain climates where the weather is extreme. Connecticut is slightly more hospitable than the mountains of Tibet, Turkey, and the Swiss Alps. Not to worry, my suggestion is to let nature take its course. When the weather dips in temperature, many bulbs shrink back into the soil.
Tulips are a different matter. Should the temperature dramatically, cover the emerged foliage with burlap or towels for the night. If blooms or buds are facing cold temps, just cover clumps with a five-gallon bucket secured with a brick. Tulip flowers are delicate. Be sure to remove the covers in the morning to keep flowers from bolting.

As we shake off the chill of what seems to be a never-ending winter, it is natural and even soothing to look for those first signs of life in your garden. But while your Crocus may be struggling to push its pretty purple flowers past the snow, there is no plant I look forward to in my winter garden more than my hellebores. Hellebores love the shade, are drought-tolerant, and deal with the ravages of New England’s up and down temperatures better than any early blooming plant I’ve ever planted. Every year, I add two or three more to my under tree gardens, expanding my color palette to pinks, purples, whites, and, this year, even multi-colored varieties. We truly have something for every type of garden.

Will O’Hara

Perennial Manager