Quote:
Originally Posted by feldon30
...I'm not sure enough research has been done to definitively show that the success of a tomato variety in successive years in a garden can be attributed to anything other than improvements in the gardener's skillset, improvements in the soil, and climatic variation....
|
Yes! That's exactly what I think when I hear someone saying they're getting improved versions of a variety because they've been saving seed for 5 or 7 years. I know it's true in my gardens: I get better yields, better-tasting tomatoes, and larger tomatoes each year mostly because I'm becoming a better gardener and my soil is getting better. This is true even at a community garden where gardeners in neighboring plots often complain about "bad tomato years." Most of my tomatoes at that garden are, in fact, new to me, so selecting and saving seed is not a factor.
The old adage that "organic gardeners don't grow plants, they grow soil," is the reason why I haven't had bad tomato years but many gardeners at neighboring plots have. In the relatively small sample at that community garden, I've noticed that gardeners who spend time working on their soil have the best results. I've gone so far as to transfer soil from another garden (on my bicycle!), which I'd spent years developing, as well as adding homemade compost every year.