Heirloom tomatoes prized in his garden

Bartlett resident Glenn Auble has been serving Wayne Township for over 20 years.

Auble was township supervisor for eight years, and served as a trustee from 1985 to 1997.

For the past 10 years, though, Auble has served the township with vegetables.

"When you live in a house for over 40 years, you collect a lot of things," said Auble. "Instead of having a garage sale, it is much nicer to donate to someone who can actually use it."

Although Auble donates everything from clothes to kitchen items to the Wayne Township food pantry, his heirloom tomatoes have always topped the list of items most desired.

Wayne Township is one of more than 50 drop-off sites included in the Daily Herald's Giving Garden program, which encourages gardeners to give extra produce to area food pantries.

This year, however, fewer heirloom tomatoes, like his zebra variety, will make their way to clients' tables thanks to the long, cool spring.

"In the past, I had been raising the heirlooms from seed in my grow cart," Auble said. "The season was so late (getting started) this year that I couldn't start from seed, so I just went out and bought plants."

Auble said that finding heirloom varieties in stores and garden centers is very difficult.

"Most of the tomatoes this year will be more conventional like the Big Boy and Roma tomatoes," Auble said.

Auble hopes to continue growing heirlooms next season because it's fun to see how they turn out. People might not even recognize some of the varieties as tomatoes, he said.

"The heirlooms look much different, but they taste so much better than many of the tomatoes from today," he said.

In addition to tomatoes, Auble said he will have an overabundance of cucumbers and zucchini to donate this year.

"It's pretty much just me in the garden," Auble said. "I plant, grow, pick, clean and donate to others."