It’s February 17, and the bulbs are saying hello (despite lots of sub-freezing nights lying ahead)

How I’ve enjoyed taking you all on a tour of my tomato collection. We’ve reached our first big milestone - the first 100, with this as the last installment on the way to that figure91.What are we waiting for? Here goes!

91. Whopper F1 hybrid - purchased from Parks Seeds in 1988 and grown that year. Whopper was actually the very first tomato I successfully grew from seed, in 1982, in our graduate student garden in West Lebanon, NH. I also grew it from seed for our first Pennsylvania garden, in Villanova, in 1984. In 1988, the first ripe fruit were picked in 73 days from transplant. I harvested 49 tomatoes at an average weight of 6.2 ounces, giving a plant yield of nearly 19 pounds. The flavor was very, very good, receiving an A-. This was the original “Whopper” - a few years after, Parks started selling “Whopper Improved”, which I never did acquire and grow.

92. Chalk’s Early Jewel - obtained from Edmund Brown, Missouri, SSE transaction, 1988 but not grown until 1991. I wasn’t all that impressed with the size or productivity; I expected a bit more than a small to small medium sized scarlet tomato that was prone to radial cracking. The history of this variety is that it was 10 years of selection work by James Chalk of Norristown, PA, after he crossed Livingston’s Perfection with Hubbard’s Curled Leaf in 1889. The variety was released by Moore and Simon of Philadelphia in 1900. It is a parent of the very popular (in its time) tomato from Stokes Seeds, Bonny Best, from 1908. I note that Mike Dunton got his sample of Chalk out of the USDA - I would like to give this a try again some day, from his seeds. It does illustrate that the favored tomato type of that time period was medium sized and scarlet red, with an emphasis on smoothness.

93. Hungarian Italian - purchased from Seeds Blum in 1988, and grown that year in our Berwyn PA garden. It was clearly determinate in growth habit and began fruit production in 78 days from transplant. We harvested but 24 tomatoes, which averaged 3.5 ounces. The total yield of 5 pounds was very low for a determinate paste type - I seem to recall it struggled with disease. The fruit were quite hollow and dry, and my flavor rating was B- (which in retrospect was generous). There seems to be no real history available for this variety.

Cover of the 1908 Stokes catalog - the introduction date and company for Bonny Best

94. Bonny Best - purchased from Pine Tree Garden Seeds in 1988. I never did get around to growing this historically important tomato. It is featured in the Stokes 1908 catalog as a real breakthrough, supposedly selected by George Middleton from a field of Chalk’s Early Jewel. From tasting notes, it seems to be for those who enjoy a more tart element to tomato flavor. I suppose this tomato deserves a spot in my garden some day, due to its historical significance.

95. Hugh’s - obtained from Archie Hook, SSE member from Indiana, in 1989 and grown that year (and many since). Everything about Hugh’s elicits a “WOW”. It is massively vigorous and tall, often setting the first cluster nearly 5 feet up the plant. It is also on the late side, first harvest coming in at 81 days. The real wow factor was the harvest of 35 tomatoes averaging 19.5 ounces - well more than one pound. The plant yield of 42.7 pounds was one of the highest of my experience. The bright yellow, oblate fruit have a delightfully mild, sweet flavor. I rated it an A-. I grew it last year with equivalent success. It isn’t quite Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom in total flavor balance and intensity, but is right up there with the very best yellow fruited tomatoes. Actually, it is highly rated no matter what the color of the tomatoes. As far as history, there is a possibility that Mr. Hook started with a large yellow variety, such as Yellow Colossal, and that Hugh’s is a superior selection of that variety. From Mr Hook’s general geographic area, the Isbell Company released a large, bright yellow tomato called Isbell’s Golden Colossal in 1915, and the Burgess Company Colossal Yellow in 1927. No matter what the history, this is a true gem of an heirloom tomato.

96. Georgia Streak - also obtained from Archie Hook and also grown in 1989. Sharing the garden with Hugh’s (described above), this vigorous indeterminate variety began to bear fruit in 68 days from transplant, which is surprisingly early for such a large tomato. I harvested 21 fruit at an average weight of one pound, giving a total plant yield of 16 pounds. The bright yellow tomatoes were swirled in and out with crimson red. I gave the flavor rating a B+, but it really is no different from the other big yellow/red tomatoes of my early gardening experiences, such as Ruby Gold, Pineapple or Mortgage Lifter, Pesta Strain. They do resemble a peach more than a tomato to my taste buds. Mr Hook received seeds from someone originally from the south. There really is no way to completely trace the history of the many named yellow/red bicolored types.

97. Square - obtained from Grace Seed company in 1988. This variety may well be cultivar VF-145, produced at UC Davis as a disease tolerant paste type that didn’t roll off the processing conveyor belt. I never did grow it, but feel like I didn’t really miss anything. I predict a typical rather dry, flavorless Roma type.

98. Tice’s Yellow Better Boy - obtained from California SSE member Jim Donovan in 1988. I grew it in 1989, and it resembled Golden Oxheart very much. The indeterminate vines began to ripen fruit in 67 days from transplant. I picked but 13 tomatoes, averaging 9.4 ounces, giving a plant yield of about 7.5 pounds, definitely on the low end of the yield spectrum. The flavor was OK - mild, sweet, B+ is the grade I gave, but far behind the similar looking Golden Oxheart. This tomato was smooth and round and a nice medium orange. There is no real history for this variety - all I know is that it is tomato #1522 in the SSE germplasm bank for tomatoes. Since I never grew it again, it didn’t make much of a lasting impression.

(99 and 100 and 101 were both used for saved seeds - Red Robin and Abraham Lincoln and Bisignano #2, respectively).

102. Pixie F1 hybrid - obtained from Burpee in 1988. I never did grow this variety, which, from reading on the web, were a hybrid form of a compact dwarf or microdwarf variety with small scarlet fruit. Burpee seems to have discontinued producing this hybrid in 2000

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This ends the first segment of the tour through my tomato varieties. We will pick up with #113 in the next blog - #103-#112 were all vial numbers used for saved seeds. Before we get into the second hundred, my next blog in this series will be an overall assessment of the first 100 - the key points, the can’t-live-without the varieties that are still important to my gardens to this day.