THE COASTAL GARDENER:

If you shop for produce at your local grocery store, you’ve probably already noticed that “heirloom tomatoes” are selling for two or three times the price of standard vine-ripened tomatoes. If you also love the flavor of a rich, juicy tomato you may have even tried a few of these pricey delights. If you’re watching your budget, you may have wondered who can afford these delicacies.

Heirloom tomatoes are expensive for a reason: They taste really, really good. They are succulent, juicy and rich with flavor, and they improve even the simplest meal. It’s tempting to grab a half dozen of these love apples and place them gently in your basket, but when you get to the checkout you may have to call your bank for overdraft protection.

I am always surprised how many gardeners I talk to who still haven’t grown heirloom tomatoes. If you haven’t tasted an heirloom tomato, picked right off your own backyard plant, this is the perfect week to get started. They are no more difficult to grow than any other tomato, requiring the same care as more familiar modern hybrids. The advantage is in having a tasty supply of tomatoes for several months just outside your kitchen door.

And if you’re already a home tomato grower and committed to putting in a moderate amount of effort, why not grow the best tomatoes you can?

What is an heirloom tomato? Tomato breeders during the past 100 years have focused on transportability; picked green, then crated, shipped and distributed to the market.

What has been compromised is flavor. It is true that even newer hybrids will have better flavor when home grown and vine ripened. But they can’t compare with a homegrown “Brandywine,” a “Stupice,” a “Mortgage Lifter” or “Aunt Ruby’s German Green.”

Heirloom tomatoes are fragile compared to market tomatoes or most of the newer hybrids. They have thinner skins and should be picked ripe, ready to use. This is why they have a high price at the market.

One concern I occasionally hear from home gardeners is that newer hybrids are more resistant to disease than heirlooms.

It is true that newer hybrids have been tested for resistance to pathogens like fusarium and verticilium wilt. The testing process is expensive. A company that has bred a modern hybrid will have exclusive market rights to that variety for many years. Since they are the sole provider of this variety, an investment like this is usually justified.

But heirloom varieties are available to anyone. Therefore, they simply haven’t been tested. In my experience an heirloom tomato is no more or less prone to disease than modern hybrids.

Heirloom tomatoes are naturally pollinated, only helped by bees and the wind, unlike their hybridized kin. This means that the seeds of an heirloom tomato will produce the same plants and fruit again next year. Not so with hybrids. Hybrids are controlled crosses of two different varieties. So when you plant the seeds of a hybrid, or when they seed themselves, what grows is not the same as the plant it came from. Unlike heirlooms, nine times out of ten the children of a hybrid are inferior to its parents.

Having grown nearly one hundred heirloom varieties myself, I was asked recently what my favorite was. Like my favorite book, my favorite meal or my favorite daughter, I don’t have just one. In addition to the four mentioned above, here are six more I really like. “Marianna’s Peace” (a huge red), “Green Zebra” (a small striped fruit), “Copia” (an enormous yellow), “Cherokee Purple” (a large dark red), “Galinas” (a yellow cherry) and “Black Krim” (a deep black-red fruit). These ten should keep you busy and supplied with delicious tomatoes all summer.

ASK RON

Question: What is the best time of year to prune a large pine tree in my yard?

Martha

Costa Mesa

Answer: Late fall would be my suggestion. Pines (Pinus species) are periodically attacked by small unseen pests collectively called bark beetles (locally these are usually either Red Turpentine Beetles or Engraver Beetles). These pests are a key contributor to many of the unhealthy pines seen in Orange County landscapes. The small beetles live under the bark, so they are almost never seen. These pests are actually attracted to freshly pruned trees, so it is best to prune pines only during a time of year when adults are not present — from about October until February.

ASK RON your toughest gardening questions, and the expert nursery staff at Roger’s Gardens will come up with an answer. Please include your name, phone number and city, and limit queries to 30 words or fewer. E-mail stumpthegardener@rogersgardens.com, or write to Plant Talk at Roger’s Gardens, 2301 San Joaquin Hills Road, Corona del Mar, CA 92625.

RON VANDERHOFF is the Nursery Manager at Roger’s Gardens, Corona del Mar