This fall’s Weekend in the Country will be a “Tomato Fest.” It is scheduled for Sept. 24 and 25. The organizing committee will buy local heirloom tomatoes for the event.

There will be family fun, tomatoes and other vegetables, farm visits and workshops. The organizers of the event are offering suggestions and information about growing tomatoes.

Many terms are used to explain tomato orgins. Heirloom are fruits or vegetables that are over 50 years old and have not be hybridized. Seeds will copy the parent. Open-pollinated mans pollination occurs in uncontrolled conditions, as in nature. Seeds will copy the parent. Hybrids are new plants produced from successfully crosspollinating parent plants that are genetically different. Seeds will mutate. Organics are grown with only animal or vegetable fertilizers such as manure or compost.

For tomatoes determinate or “bush” varieties are those that reach a certain plant height and then stop growing, with most fruit borne over four to six week period. Most large producers use this method as it makes it easier to harvest all at once. Indeterminate varieties continue to grow and flower throughout the season, but have less mature fruits at one time.

For more information about the event and suggestions on how to grow tomatoes, visit www.MariposaAgTour.c om or contact JJ Gillispie at 377-8458 or jimandjoce@gmail.com.