I first ran across an article on NPR that made me miss my Cherokee Purple tomatoes from last year. The article discussed a study in science (see abstract) about how choosing uniform ripeness in tomatoes also lead to a decrease in taste. The study was also discussed in this article in the  NY Times. It’s big news in the horitcultural world, and another piece of evidence why modern agriculture stinks and heirlooms are wonderful.

Later on in the week I read this by Graham Rice at Transatlantic Plantsman. His response reminds us that not all modern bred hybrid tomatoes stink. For me, even the much deplored grocery store varieties have their place. I would rather go and buy a decent looking tomato than buy the mess of a shipped Cherokee purple tomato. (Sometimes just transporting them in the car a few miles left gooey soft spots.)  If I really want the taste of a homegrown tomato, I’ll grow it. Hybrids and supermarket tomatoes can make great tomato sauce, cooked dishes etc, where the tomato is masked by other introduced flavors. There are times when sacrificing flavor for traits like uniform color make sense.

Heirlooms and modern hybrids are not competition, but are compliments. Something I do not agree with in the organic agriculture movement is a push away from modern-bred plants. I’m not even against all GMO’s. (For example, at the end of the Times article they mention re-engineering the lost flavor genes back into tomatoes, creating a GMO.  Alternatively, breeders could cross different tomato plants, look for mutations and desirable gene traits and after many generations, and years of effort finally find a tomato that resembled or might even be identical to the GMO. The GMO took far less time and energy to produce, so I’d take the GMO.) The original research is not another piece of evidence why modern agriculture stinks and heirlooms are wonderful, but simply an interesting look at gene play.

Did you know that most fertilizers on the shelf at hardware stores are not based on good science? There seems to be a plot to get us to over apply phosphorus, which is bad for the environment. They have taken phosphorus out of lawn fertilizers, but non-lawn fertilizer still have incorrect fertilizer ratios, resulting in the continual overapplication of phosophrus in our gardens. Garden chemical suppliers at hardware stores are not doing a good job of getting us products that are healthy for the garden.

I went to home depot to get some fertilizer for my potted plants outside. They haven’t been growing well, mainly because I have not put any form of fertilizer on them. Potted plants are difficult to grow successfully without additional fertilizer. I was looking for something fairly cheap and easy. When I got there I stared at the shelf in bewilderment. I knew I wanted a fertilizer with an unbalanced ratio, something looking like  5-1-2, and I wanted a slow-release granular type for ease and to avoid over application. At first glance, nothing was close. I finally found this:

I am using this on potted herbs and flowers. It was the closest I could find to what I wanted. It was interesting looking at these fertilizers marketed for different kinds of plants. Fertilizer is fertilizer and tomatoes, lawn and flowers all use the same chemical stuff. They tweak rations and percentages but its all marketing and not based on good science.

The general public will often go to a store if they have a problem with the garden, or need a good product. Most of the time they don’t come prepared with the knowledge of what they actually need. When they get there, they find a lot of chemical-junk products. I found out that even if you go knowing what you need and what would be best for your plants, the product is often just not there. What results is a lot of overuse of chemicals. Unfortunately, if you want a decent garden and reduced chemical use, you usually also have to have some sort of garden training. Without it, it is easy to get overwhelmed by the massive amount of horrid chemical products on the shelf.

I’m not necessarily again chemical use: I have yet to grow a completely organic garden. Chemicals, including pesticides and inorganic fertilizers, can be part of sustainable gardening, mostly as a last result. But walking into Home Depot they seem like the only option and often the ones that are heavily promoted are poor products. I can never seem to find the type of low-impact chemical solutions that I would also recommend to people.

What I would like to see is gardening education in the store so that you can walk into a store and the most sold and promoted product is also the one that is best for your garden. Right now there is a great divide between what is recommended by experts and what is actually on the shelf. If we really want sustainable and smart gardening to take off, it’s going to have to happen in the hardware stores and garden centers as well as in blogs and book. Authorities can recommend practices and types of products all they want, but to really be effective the products need to be available on the store shelf and marketed correctly.