Book Review by Marla Koss
You only have to google the title ‘Epic Tomatoes’ to see how heartily the gardening world and hordes of readers have embraced this award-winning book. Author Craig LeHoullier, tomato advisor for Seed Savers Exchange, has won the confidence of tomato-growers everywhere, charmed readers by sharing his own fascination with growing and appreciating tomatoes, and contributed widely to the field, introducing scores of tomato varieties to the trade (one of his latest is the Dwarf Tomato Project). This book was a product of his many years researching and reveling in the subject that he calls his “out-of-control hobby”.
So what do I, as an Alamedan trying to cope with indifferent summer weather (hello, June Gloom), take away from this book? After all, if it’s not specific to the San Francisco Bay Area, doesn’t have Pam Peirce’s name on the cover or “Sunset” in the title, I pick up a gardening book warily. Alameda growing conditions just don’t offer the same toasty summers to warm-weather crops the way Denver, Pittsburgh or Atlanta do. And this book does focus on tomatoes that most of the continent can grow. But in reality many of the tomatoes listed would still do well in our yards if we take a little extra care to situate them in sunny spots. Towards the back of the book LeHoullier has included a section on regional growing tips, which is super-helpful if your region is one big micro-climate. But the two California examples are Sacramento and Orange County – a good choice if you’re looking at California from the aspect of an entire continent, but a bit of a let-down for me.
That said, if you pick up this book, get ready for an especially delightful read. ‘Epic Tomatoes’ is not your average gardening how-to. It’s an “I can’t put this down right now. Go make your own dinner!” armchair buddy. Besides the thorough technical explanations and advice on how to grow tomatoes successfully, Le Houllier includes some fascinating facts. His own experience has taught him, for instance, that the seedlings of heart-shaped and paste tomatoes have weaker stems that need extra protection when young, or they may bend and break; or that some tomato varieties just tend to look a bit pathetic as young seedlings before being planted in the garden, but grow up to be big, happy brutes. He sticks a pin in the balloon of conventional wisdom that “yellow/gold/orange tomatoes are less acidic” by providing a table with the individual pH numbers for a list of red, pink, yellow, white and cherry varieties (spoiler fact: it’s the sugar content that masks the acidity). Finally, how many of us never noticed that tomatoes come with skin that is either yellow or clear? That pink tomatoes are actually red tomatoes minus the yellow pigment in their thin, cellophane-like skin? According to LeHoulllier, clear skin is a recessive trait, so you’ll naturally see fewer pink varieties than red. And on goes the axiom: purple tomatoes would look mahogany if their skins were yellow instead of clear.
The purest white tomatoes have clear skin while the ivory varieties have yellow. Ripe green tomatoes with clear skin will remain malachite green; yellow-skinned green tomatoes will warm to a golden-green. And the yellow/gold/orange varieties have a deeper, warmer hue when the skin is yellow than when it is clear. Were I to own only two books that even mentioned tomatoes, this would be one (Pam Peirce’s beloved ‘Golden Gate Gardening’ would be the other). The subtitle ‘How To Select & Grow the Best Varieties of All Time’ reflects the spirit of a longtime professional tomato-grower’s desire to share his knowledge and help us get results. He lists 250 varieties not only for their characteristics, but also for the results of the trials he puts many of them through for several years in Pennsylvania. Growing tomatoes from seed, transplanting, seed-saving open-pollinated or heirloom varieties, recipes, identifying tomato pests and diseases and offering short histories of his favorite varieties are all covered with user-friendly insight and beautiful photography.
The book is 255 pp.; first printed in 2015; ISBN 978-1-61212-208-3; $19.95 in the US.