Last week, students in Ralph Keyes and Prema Long’s Wiscasset High School biology classes transplanted over 500 heirloom tomatoes they had grown from seeds into four-inch pots. As a result of their careful handling of the delicate seedlings, sixteen different varieties will be available for sale at the Morris Farm Plant Sale on May 18.

The students learned about heirloom tomatoes, naturally pollinated tomatoes whose seeds have often been handed down for many generations. Some varieties planted are over 100 years old. Germination rates for the seeds were extremely high, as a result of the care the students took with planting and watering.

The array of plants include slicing, paste and cherry tomatoes that are red, yellow, orange, purple, green and a deep red that is called black.

The plant sale will be held on Saturday May 18 from 8:30 a.m. to noon at the Morris Farm, 156 Gardiner Road (Route 27) in Wiscasset. The sale will also include hardy Maine-grown perennials from local gardens.

The Morris Farm is a nonprofit educational farm. It is open to the public seven days a week from sunrise to sunset. It is home to Alan-Dee Dairy, the Margaret Ellis Community Gardens, the Wiscasset Primary School Garden, and a University of Maine Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Demonstration Garden. For more information, please visit the website, email info@morrisfarm.org or call 207-882-4080.