We’ve enjoyed the 10 inch snowfall from last Sunday. Now, let it melt!

We forge ahead! This is a pretty interesting set of 10.

Tomato 41 - Tiger Tom - this absolute gem came in the same packet as Czech’s Excellent Yellow, sent by SSE member Jim Halladay of Pennsylvania in 1987. As with that variety, it was bred by a Czech tomato breeder and made its way into the Ben Quisenberry collection - then more widely distributed in the US. I love this tomato, and it found a place in my 2021 garden, as it had been some time since I grew it. I often recommend Tiger Tom to gardeners looking for a tomato with a refreshingly tart note to the flavor. The golf ball sized scarlet tomatoes show irregular vertical golden stripes. The flavor is intense and delicious. The main fault of Tiger Tom is that it cracks when fully ripe, or watered when approaching ripeness, it rains when ripe fruit are on the plant. It was quite a star in my 1987 garden. With the first ripe fruit coming in at 64 days, it was in the early category. I picked 170 tomatoes, at an average weight of 2 ounces, giving a plant yield of 21.5 pounds - in flavor it rated an A-, quite excellent.

Tomato 42 - Delicious - it is hard for me to believe that although I had this seed since 1987 (purchased at a garden center in a Page Seed Company packet), I’ve never grown it. Released by Burpee in 1964, it is best known for producing enormous scarlet red tomatoes. It originated from a Burpee-created cross between Jubilee and a large pink, from which they selected this huge scarlet tomato. Its claim to fame is that it was until fairly recently the variety that was grown by Gordon Graham to produce a 7 pound, 11 ounce fruit, the world record at the time. Prior to Gordon, the record was held by Clarence Dailey of Wisconsin with a 6 pound, 8 ounce specimen. I’ve never been a gardener interested in the earliest, or largest, tomato. I love tomatoes with stories and tomatoes that are delicious. Anyone trying to win tomato size/weight contests would be wise to try this.

Tomato 43 - Fireball - This was once an important commercial tomato, appearing in the 1950s, created by Harris Seed Company, as a determinate medium sized scarlet tomato with good yield and early ripening. Stokes and Harris and other companies really focused on scarlet determinate types beginning in the 1950s, probably because of ability to grow on short stakes, which allowed machine harvesting, used as tomatoes picked at barely breaker stage and gassed with ethylene to promote ripening. I grew Fireball in 1987 from a Page Seed Company packet purchased at a nursery. Starting to bear fruit in 68 days, I harvested a total of 58 tomatoes from the relatively compact, determinate plant, average weight being 5.6 ounces, giving a plant yield of 20.6 pounds. All I can say about the flavor was that it was a home grown tomato, garnering a B-.

Tomato 44 - Rutgers - This historic variety was a long time backbone of the tomato industry. Created by selecting from a cross between the famous tomato Marglobe and a Campbell Soup variety called JTD, made in 1928, Rutgers was released in 1934, aimed at New Jersey tomato processors (canners, sauce and ketchup makers). It has been further selected and improved over time, but my 1988 garden held the original type, which I purchased as a Page Seed Company packet from a nursery in 1987. Though some describe it as determinate or semi determinate, it certainly was indeterminate in my garden. It was quite late, beginning to bear ripe fruit in 87 days. The 33 tomatoes harvested averaged 9.8 ounces, 20 pounds for the plant, with the scarlet, slightly oblate fruit having a very good balanced flavor - quite “old fashioned” - and it received a B+. It is clear why Rutgers became such a popular, widely grown tomato.

Tomato 45 - Wolford Wonder - This was a specialty tomato introduced by Henry Field in 1987, supposedly sent to them by a customer named Max Wolford, who won a big tomato contest with a specimen. I purchased the seed from Field in 1988. This was my first experienced with heart shaped varieties, meaning my first look at the tall, wispy foliaged indeterminate growth that never really looks all that happy. Since then, I’ve learned to ignore the weak growth characteristics of paste and heart types. I suspect that this is a local selection of the 1920s Livingston variety Oxheart, itself possibly a mutation of the old pink beefsteak Ponderosa. In my garden, Wolford Wonder harvested quite early for the fruit size, 67 days. In my growing of the variety in 1989, I picked 28 tomatoes at an average weight of a pound, so the plant yielded an impressive 28 pounds of fruit. Alas, the texture and flavor didn’t wow me at all. The flesh was very solid, tending to dry, and the flavor mild tending to a bit bland. It would make a superb sauce tomato due to its meatiness and likely tendency to intensify flavors when cooked. I gave it a solid B. Seeds were saved but I never did grow it again.

Tomato 46 - Ponderosa - This is a truly historic variety, the very first named widely available large pink tomato, released by Peter Henderson company of New York in 1891. I purchased seeds for my trial from Harris in 1988, and that was the year I grew it. Alas, poor Ponderosa struggled with health, as a few plants were suspected of getting infected with Tobacco Mosaic Virus that year. I harvested my first tomato in 80 days, typically late for this size and type of tomato. The irregular oblate pink tomatoes were not plentiful, and I harvested 22 tomatoes at an average weight of 8 ounces, a mere 11 pounds of fruit from the struggling plant. This was another pink beefsteak type whose flavor was not to my liking, and it received a B. I never did grow it again, though seeds were saved. I love large pink beefsteak types as a rule and there are a lot that are truly delicious in my seed collection. Ponderosa is not one of them.

Tomato 47 - Abraham Lincoln - Continuing my search for the real Abraham Lincoln, I turned to the Tomato Seed Company in 1988. The result, that same year, was essentially identical to the 1987 version obtained from Shumway. The short indeterminate (I thought of them as semi determinate) plants produced in 67 days, far too early from the authentic version. I harvested 57 tomatoes at an average weight of 6 ounces, 18.7 pounds from the plant, with a flavor score of B+, pleasant enough, but not what I was hoping to find. The search for the real Abraham Lincoln thus continues. This imposter certainly is a pleasant, productive, good tasting medium sized, relatively early red tomato. I saved seeds but did not regrow it.

Tomato 48 - Goldie - I purchased this from the fascinating (and sadly, no longer in business) Gleckler Seed Company in 1988. They described it as a “150 year old” variety, which I really don’t buy. It is also thought to be synonymous with Dixie Golden Giant (we will come to that eventually), and another noted that it is a “yellow version of Giant Belgium”. I did grow it in 1989 and found it quite similar to Persimmon. It is a light orange, not yellow, tomato. For a large tomato it began to bear ripe tomatoes quite early, at 70 days. I harvested 27 tomatoes from the plant, average weight an impressive 14.9 pounds, giving a plant yield of 25.2 pounds. I found the flavor very good, not great, with a bit of a characteristic I find in some pink and yellow tomatoes also - musty, funky, dusty taste. It certainly is on the sweet and mild side - it did get a B+. I saved seeds but never did return to it.

Tomato 49 - Giant Belgium - Some day I will grow this tomato. A podcast host considers this his favorite tomato. Could it be this year? Next year? We shall see. I purchased it from the Tomato Supply Company in 1988. There really is no authentic history about the variety. It was listed in the Gleckler collection for years. It is unclear where they obtained it. Large pink tomatoes dating from the mid 1800s were Fejee (considered obsolete), Ponderosa (from 1891), Ferris Wheel (from 1894), and Buckeye State (Livingston, 1898). Giant Belgium could be one of these, or related to it, or could have come from Europe or elsewhere. Sadly, I never did grow those 1988 purchased seeds. Even after doing this for nearly 40 years, adventures await!

Tomato 50 - Better Girl F1 hybrid - Why of course there is a Better Girl - the presence of Better Boy made this mandatory! Interestingly, I’ve not managed to find any history at all of the variety. Even my seed source, Northrup King (as a packet, in 1987, from a plant nursery), is a bit spurious, they being known far more for box store packet sales than plant breeding. I did include this in my heirloom vs hybrid competition for my 1987 garden. First fruit came in at 65 days, making it on the early side, and it yielded very well, the 49 harvested tomatoes averaging 6.5 ounces. A plant giving me 19.7 pounds of fruit was a winner in my book and I found the flavor to be excellent, rating a solid A. Oddly, I’ve never grown Early Girl hybrid. Despite the excellence of Better Girl, it never did find a place in future gardens.

Another 10 tomatoes checked off the list - building momentum now! Each set of tomatoes has some really relevant, interesting ones to chat about. Until next time…