Goodbye 2023! I am ready to turn the page...

Christmas Eve 2023

I am sitting here listening to one of our two favorite radio stations, WXPN (Philadelphia - the other is WNCW, Spindale NC - our days are often spent moving back and forth between the 2). Sue is sitting in the sunny, corner chair knitting. Koda, Marlin and Betts are here and there on various dog beds or sofas. The Christmas tree is still taking a bit of water, but its days are numbered. It is Sunday, December 31 - a perfect time for reflecting upon a busy 2023, and look forward to a hopefully calmer 2024.

2023 saw a slew of local garden talks and remote Zoom events. It was a year of a lot of tomato growing and busy gardening, both in my back yard and at the nearby Veterans Healing Farm. It was a year of a lot of wonderful hikes, an unfortunate late fall broken wrist for Sue (she healed well and we are back at it). We did more kayaking than usual, discovering Jocassee and Keowee in South Carolina, as well as Santeetlah in western NC. We also finally got to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to do some hiking.

December walk on the Blue Ridge Parkway (which was closed)

It was a milestone year that finally saw the official end of the Dwarf Tomato Breeding project. Spanning 2005 until 2023, it has been a memorable, fun and impactful 18 years and continues to produce new varieties, with a slew showing up in the Victory Seeds catalog recently, and a few more to come next year. The book describing the project is still pending, but I hope to dive in very soon (it will be self published). It is a story that must be told.

It was a wonderful year filled with books, movies and music. We are wrapping up our 4th year in Hendersonville, which we only love more with each day. 2023 saw the 43rd wedding anniversary of Sue and I, and our special enduring friendship is always the best part of every single day.

I will follow this up very soon with a blog post that will look forward into 2024. All I will say about that is that the next week will (finally!) see a lot of seed packing and sending. I’ve been remiss - I’ve been lazy, but this year demanded a mental break from gardening. The calendar is about to flip, and I will be ready for 2024.

Sue and I at the lights festival at the WNC Arboretum in December

Garden Updates Completed - So, What's Next?

Thanksgiving cactus happily blooming for the first time in our 4 years living here - they’ve finally adjusted!

Since my last set of blogs - including the big ANNOUNCEMENT entry - I’ve really enjoyed the pace slowing down a bit. The leaves are mostly raked, gardens mostly cleaned out, and flowers we want to keep going were dug up, potted and are living in the garage.

For various reasons, I decided to delay my knee replacement surgery for a year. This ended up being timely - Sue fell on a hike a few weeks ago and broke her wrist. She had surgery the next day and is recovering well. I am enjoying serving as her nurse (something she would have had issues with if I kept my early Dec knee replacement date!)

Aside from that recent drama, I’ve really embarked upon the reorganization and simplification of my seed collection with gusto. All peppers and eggplant seeds aged 10 years or more were thrown away. All tomato seeds aged 15 years or more were likewise tossed. This was not an easy thing to do, but it felt necessary. With far smaller gardens and far less seed saving, the significant seed disposal makes this refocusing of my gardening efforts seem very real. The main exception is that for now, at least, I retained the entire set of seeds that comprise the Dwarf Tomato Breeding project - the oldest of which are from 2006, hence will soon be 18 years old. The seed pruning task will be complete in another few days. I will also have a neat office for the first time in months - just in time for gardening Zooms to begin again in December.

Lots of rearrangement of my seed collection - this is still a work in progress

Up next will be fulfilling of seed requests. My aim is to get all seeds sent out by Christmas - mid January the latest depending upon the size and complexity of the requests (they are all sitting in a folder in my Gmail account). I won’t accept any additional requests until next fall, and even then, I won’t have very much seed for any but a few requests.

Once seed requests are complete, I will turn to writing and self publishing a book on the Dwarf Tomato Breeding Project. That will be quite a task, with pictures being one of the main challenges. Beyond that…we shall see, but it will likely involve dealing with all of the garden materials I’ve amassed over the years - including letters and old seed catalogs. And, of course, some gardening and hiking and kayaking will help fill 2024. We also have our first trip back to Ocracoke Island planned for May; it is our very favorite place to kayak.

Sue very popular with the treat jar

2023 Post-Season Garden Summary - Part #5. Veterans Healing Farm Greenhouse Dwarf Tomato Project varieties

Portulaca still hanging in there on the deck

Finally! The garden may be long gone for 2023, but my summary blog posts took some time to complete. The following information closes the door on my tomato reports. Here is the final summary update, focusing upon the dwarf varieties from the Dwarf Tomato Project that were grown in the Veterans Healing Farm greenhouse. As with my last update, pictures will be scarce - I took some videos, but not pictures of individual plants or tomatoes. I will be as descriptive as possible.

NOTE - all plants are from Victory Seed Company packet seeds unless otherwise noted.

Dwarf Sweet Sue - This is exactly what Dwarf Sweet Sue is supposed to be - loads of medium sized nearly round bright yellow tomatoes with a pink blush as they mature. Superb flavor. This is superior to the plant I grew in my back yard, and is a standard for the variety. Seed saved as T23-72.

Dwarf Irma's Highland - T22-31 - One of the true tomato machines in the greenhouse, it was a prolific producer of chocolate colored cherry tomatoes with a nice mild, balanced flavor. It is on the tall side for dwarfs, behaving nearly like an indeterminate, due to Mexico Midget in its blood. Seed saved as T23-73.

Dwarf Firebird Sweet - I just love this variety and it did very well in the greenhouse. The medium sized pink tomatoes were heavily striped with green and gold - the deep crimson flesh was delicious. The Beauty family just kept giving and giving to our project! Seed saved as T23-74.

Dwarf Elsie's Fancy - A sister tomato to Dwarf Walter’s Fancy (Walter and Elsie Gibbs are my maternal grandparents), the heavily variegated potato leaf plant produced a heavy yield of medium sized bright true yellow tomatoes (vs Walter’s ivory fruit). Flavor was excellent. Seed saved as T23-75.

Dwarf Purple Heart (Fruition Seeds packet) - It is a shame that both Dwarf Purple Heart plant (two sources) demonstrated a high susceptibility to foliage disease in the greenhouse. Before meeting its demise, it produced a heavy yield of medium to large strongly heart shaped purple fruit with delicious flavor. Seed saved as T23-76

Dwarf Choemato - The plant struggled. Some medium oblate yellow/red streaked tomatoes were produced, but I didn’t manage to get any for seed saving before the plant was pulled. The tomato seemed to have fusarium wilt. I did save seeds from this from the plant I had in my back yard.

Dwarf Eagle Smiley - T21-51 - Though this plant nearly took over the greenhouse with its sprawling nature and extreme productivity (and delicious flavor), the color was an unexpected ivory, rather than bright yellow. We may have a new selection to work on and release. Justin, my friend who did most of the work on Eagle Smiley, has some of the ivory fruited seed to work with. Seed saved as T23-78.

Dwarf Snakebite - This plant was not in a great location and struggled mightily with disease, but did manage to produce some decent medium sized pink tomatoes. It has been much better in different seasons and locations. Seed saved as T23-79.

Dwarf Parfait - The plant seemed like it would never catch on, but it eventually thrived, producing large green fruit of surprising size - when cut, showed an orange core - with superb flavor. This is definitely a unique tomato deserving to be more widely grown, with a color tending to Uluru Ochre, but with more green. The tomatoes are nearly heart shaped. Seed saved as T23-80.

Dwarf Russian Swirl - It has been years since I’ve grown this, and it really surprised me with its productivity, earliness and beauty - smooth medium sized or larger oblate yellow tomatoes with generous red swirling. I loved it - more people need to know how excellent this is. Seed saved as T23-81.

Lucky Swirl (Fruition Seeds packet) - This plant struggled mightily with fusarium, early blight and possibly collar rot. Though some large yellow/red swirled tomatoes were produced, I didn’t manage to harvest any prior to plant death - so didn’t save seeds. I did get saved seeds from the Victory seed source (reported later in this blog).

Dwarf Idaho Gem - What a surprise - this plant (a substitute for one that died due to collar rot) produced large pale green (clear skin, green flesh) tasty tomatoes, rather than the hoped for bright yellow. It needs some more selection work (Victory was notified of my surprising result). Seed saved as T23-83.

Dwarf Mahogany - I planted a replacement plant, as the original came down with collar rot - was rerooted and grew well in my back yard garden. The plant in the greenhouse produced some tomatoes, but I didn’t manage to harvest any for seed saving.

Dwarf Langston - #7592 - This was a late replacement for a pulled plant. Though it grew well and produced tomatoes, I didn’t manage to get any from the plant for seed saving prior to the end of the season. I did grow it successfully in my back yard garden, and have saved seeds from that.

Dwarf Shimmering Beauty - #7758 - This was a greenhouse replant, replacing one that died. The medium to medium large tomatoes were light and dark green striped, with green flesh and a swirl of pink inside - it seems like it is ready to be released as a new variety - joining its other colorful relatives from the Beauty family. Seed saved as T23-86.

Maralinga - This replant (replacing one that died of collar rot) did great - and produced an excellent yield of delicious oblate chocolate colored tomatoes. It is one of those many varieties from our project that deserve to be more widely known and grown. I like it far better than the more popular Tasmanian Chocolate, which has the same coloring. Seed saved as T23-87.

BrandyFred - I never really paid enough attention to this one, but wow - it was impressive! Heavy yield of medium to large oblate purple fruit that were delicious. Yet another DTP variety deserving more attention. Seed saved as T23-88.

Banksia Queen - I finally got around to growing this one - I was part of the development team on this early on. The plant is on the tall side - the yield is very good, tomatoes medium to large, oblate, often a bit irregular - bright yellow with nearly white interior, just delicious - a nice hint of tartness. Seed saved as T23-89.

Coorong Pink - This is simply a very nice, very good tomato - high yield of smooth, medium sized pink fruit with an excellent, balanced flavor. Certainly deserves more attention. Seed saved as T23-90.

Dwarf Sarah's Red - This is my first time growing it in some years. I expected slightly larger tomatoes, but for those looking for a scarlet red saladette type, this fits the bill - yield is heavy and flavor is pleasant. Seed saved as T23-91.

Chocolate Lightning - I love this variety but it can be cranky with productivity. I found it’s favorite home - in the ground in the greenhouse! It was a tomato machine, with lots of gorgeous chocolate medium sized tomatoes with greenish gold stripes, and a deep crimson interior. Flavor excellent. Bravo for Chocolate Lightning this year! Seed saved as T23-92.

Dwarf Hannah's Prize - This was one of the few misfires/surprises in the greenhouse. Rather than large red oblate fruit, the tomatoes were gorgeous - scarlet red with fine, jagged golden stripes - with excellent flavor. It resembled Dwarf Beauty King in color. I think it deserves to be stabilized and released - perhaps called Dwarf Hannah’s Stripes? Anyone want to work on it? Seed saved as T23-93.

Dwarf Pink Livijia - Though a bit overwhelmed in its location by the neighboring indeterminate plant, it did quite well and produced tasty oblate medium sized pink tomatoes. I suspect that this is an underrated variety with great promise. Seed saved as T23-94.

Adelaide Festival - This plant produced an abundant crop of medium to medium large oblate purple tomatoes with greenish stripes. The flavor was excellent. I didn’t manage to get a ripe fruit for seed saving before all were distributed, and the plant pulled.

Dwarf Goldfinch - This plant was heavily shaded. The few tomatoes that were produced were of an incorrect color (scarlet red). I didn’t save any seed, but wish to regrow this highly regarded variety soon.

Dwarf Beauty King - This variety, like Chocolate Lightning (same family) can be a bit skimpy with yield in some seasons. It clearly loved the greenhouse conditions, as it produced its medium to medium large, smooth, scarlet tomatoes with gold stripes and superb flavor prolifically! Seed saved as T23-97.

Dwarf Black Angus - This was one of the few disappointments in the greenhouse. Rather than the hoped for medium large purple tomatoes, the plant produced small to medium oval pink tomatoes with ho hum flavor. A bit more work is needed to cull out some misfires in the seed, and I alerted Victory to this. Seed saved as T23-98.

Dwarf Golden Tipsy - This tomato has been renamed - it was formerly known as Dwarf Golden Gypsy. It did great in the greenhouse, producing delicious medium sized bright yellow tomatoes with pale yellow flesh, full flavored with a hint of tartness. This is simply a superb variety. Seed saved as T23-99.

Loxton Lass - Similar to sister tomato Loxton Lad, this has the most interesting growth habit - very short, lots of blossoms, then fills out over time. Medium orange fruit were prolifically produced - flavor quite nice, on the sweet side. I hoped to see a clear distinction between Lass and Lad, but that was not clearly accomplished. Seed saved as T23-100.

Dwarf Purple Heart - This plant performed just as the Fruition sample - high yield, early production, medium to large purple hearts - and early demise due to extreme foliage disease issues. Seed saved as T23-101.

Lucky Swirl - I suspect that this variety doesn’t get as much attention as it deserves, but for those wanting a productive large fruited, sweet tasting yellow/red bicolor, this is excellent. I did quite well in the greenhouse. Seed saved as T23-102.

TastyWine - The plant did well - healthy, good yields good flavor - a medium sized oblate pink. I would have liked to see larger fruit size - perhaps it needs a bit more selection work. Victory was notified. Seed saved as T23-103.

Wilpena - My first experience growing this variety was a very positive one. The potato leaf plant produced a good yield of medium to large tasty oblate scarlet red tomatoes. Seed saved as T23-104.

Summer Sunrise - I love this variety! The potato leaf plant produced lots of medium or larger smooth, oblate bright yellow tomatoes with a hint of pink blossom end blush. Flavor is outstanding. Seed saved as T23-105.

Summertime Green - This is quite a distinct dwarf, with dense, heavy growth, late fruit set, with tomatoes well embedded into the plant. The tomatoes are quite large, green in and out, with superb flavor and excellent productivity. This was one of our first project releases, and still one of the best - it seems Dwarf Emerald Giant gets more attention, perhaps because it is potato leaf. Seed saved as T23-106.

Rosella Purple - One of the most popular dwarfs, Rosella Purple did quite well, with a good yield of medium sized purple tomatoes with great flavor - and the typical few misshapen fruit. Seed saved as T23-107.

Dwarf Blazing Beauty - Though this produced very well and tasted great, the color was a bit more pale orange than I recall when it was in development. A bit of selection may be necessary by Victory to bring this back to the original release form. The flavor has delightful tartness. Seed saved as T23-108.

Dwarf Grinch - I need to grow this tomato more often. Fruit size is medium to large, smooth and green (clear skin) with green flesh when ripe and a hint of pink in the center. The flavor is excellent. This is a sister tomato to Dwarf Goldfinch. Seed saved as T23-109.

Saucy Mary - This got my vote as tomato machine of the greenhouse. The healthy plant produced a profusion of medium sized or larger plum shaped (oval) smooth tomatoes that were striped in varying shades of green and gold, with green flesh. I don’t know how popular this is, but it is just a great variety. Sue’s Aunt Mary would be so proud of new namesake tomato! Seed saved as T23-110.

Dwarf Wild Spudleaf - This is one of my go-to varieties for productivity and flavor. The attractive potato leaf plant produced lots of medium sized smooth delicious purple tomatoes. Seed saved as T23-111.

Dwarf Perfect Harmony - This is a sister tomato to the scarlet Dwarf Harmonic Convergence. The smooth medium orange tomatoes are delicious with a hint of tartness. The variety did well in the greenhouse. Seed saved as T23-112.

Rosella Crimson - T20-58 - Though this plant produced a heavy yield of medium to medium large pink tomatoes, some of irregular shape, of excellent flavor, I didn’t manage to harvest a fruit for seed saving before the plant was pulled.

Dwarf Suz's Beauty - If there is a DTP variety deserving to be more widely grown and known, it is this one. The plant did extremely well in the greenhouse, producing a heavy yield of medium sized yellow tomatoes with heavy red swirling. The flavor is excellent. This is yet another winner from the diverse Beauty family. Seed saved as T23-114.

Rosella Crimson - This is one of our original releases, and one of the varieties that proved our concept of excellent tomatoes on short plants. I always thought that this variety, when happy, resembles Brandywine in flavor. It also can struggle a bit with foliage disease. It did reasonably well in the greenhouse. Seed saved as T23-115.

Kodiak King - This one is for those that like their tomatoes really big - the scarlet tomatoes can reach over one pound, with a nice balanced flavor. It did quite well in the greenhouse. Seed saved as T23-116.

Sweet Scarlet Dwarf - Always one of my favorites from our project, it is also on the late side. The medium to medium large oblate scarlet tomatoes have very full, rich flavor, with a refreshing hint of tartness. This is one of the stars of our project. Seed saved as T23-117.

Willa's Cariboo Rose - The productivity of this somewhat obscure release from our project just blew me away. The medium sized pink tomatoes formed in big clusters. Flavor is fine - balanced toward the sweet side. This is one impressive DTP variety. Seed saved as T23-118.

Dwarf Walter's Fancy - Gorgeous plant with dark green foliage with white variegation on the foliage and stems. It really loved growing in the greenhouse, producing a high yield of medium sized oblate ivory tomatoes of excellent taste. Seed saved as T23-119.

Dwarf Zoe's Sweet - It was interesting to see how the chartreuse leaf gene “stretches” the plant upward, making it behave like a short indeterminate type. The pale green leaves were lovely and distinct, and the tomatoes were oblate, medium to large and nice and sweet - very much like one of its parents, Mortgage Lifter. Seed saved as T23-120.

Loxton Lad - This variety really pushes out the blossom clusters early, when the plant is quite short - yet continues on throughout the season. The medium sized orange tomatoes are very tasty - this is an underrated variety. Seed saved as T23-121.

Dwarf Wild Fred - Grew as hoped for, producing medum to medium large oblate purple tomatoes with excellent flavor. Seed saved as T23-122.

Dwarf Choemato X Dwarf Walter's Fancy F1 - creation of the Chewy family - new cross - I did a few crossing demos for my VHF tomato team. For this one, I took pollen from Dwarf Walter’s Fancy and applied it to a flower from Dwarf Choemato. The cross appeared to take - a tomato formed, which was allowed to ripen, and seed was saved. We will call this the Chewy family. The best possible outcome would be a potato leaf, variegated leaf dwarf with yellow/red bicolored delicious tomatoes. When the hybrid seed is grown out, it will be a potato leaf, green leaf dwarf with solid yellow tomatoes - that’s my guess. I will be looking for volunteers to explore this new family. Seed saved as T23-123.

Dwarf Blazing Beauty X Dwarf Walter's Fancy F1 - creation of the Orangey family - new cross - My second demo cross hopefully created what I will call the Orangey family. The best possible outcome would be potato leaf, variegated leaf dwarfs with orange, tasty tomatoes. When the hybrid seed is grown out, it will be a potato leaf, green leaf dwarf with orange tomatoes - that’s my guess. I will be looking for volunteers to explore this new family. Seed saved as T23-124.

Dwarf Zoe's Sweet X Dwarf Walter's Fancy F1 - creation of the Zoe family - new cross - My third demo cross hopefully created what I will call the Zoe family. The best possible outcome would be variegated chartreuse leaf, variegated leaf, dwarfs with an array of possible colors - I expect pink, white and yellow at least - with good size and excellent flavor. When the hybrid is grown out, it will be a potato leaf, normal dark green leaf dwarf with pink tomatoes - that’s my guess. This will be the easiest to prove that the cross took. I will be looking for volunteers to explore this interesting new family. Seed saved as T23-125.

BrandyFred X Polish F1 - creation of the Brandy family - new cross - My fourth demo cross hopefully created what I will call the Brandy family. I am not certain that I harvested the fruit that contains the hybrid seeds, but it will be easy to find out. The best possible outcome would be a potato leaf dwarf with excellent yields of large pink or purple tomatoes with superb flavor. When the hybrid is grown out, if I chose the correct fruit, the result will be indeterminate potato leaf plants with pink tomatoes. I will be looking for volunteers to explore this new family - the focus on this will be flavor. Seed saved as T23-126.

And so - that’s it. All of my 2023 garden results summaries are published. As to what’s next - first, catalog in samples of seeds recently received. Then, start the process of fulfilling seed requests that are sitting in my Google seed request folder. A big job then follows that - organizing my seed collection, which will also involve tossing any seed samples that are older than 20 years (I may revisit this and move the date up to 15 years). Once all that is done - then the process of writing the Dwarf Tomato Project book begins!

Scene of the harvest - the 2023 garden, following removal of all plants and strawbales. The dogs no longer have their maze to play hike and seek in!

2023 Post-Season Garden Summary - Part 4. Veterans Healing Farm Greenhouse Indeterminate Varieties

August view of the VHF greenhouse plants

Moving right along with my updates, I will now discuss the indeterminate varieties that we grew in the Veterans Healing Farm greenhouse. Alas, my picture taking was not good at all, so this and the next blog will be more about descriptions and my ratings and reviews.

Fairytale Fee - #7893 - Plant died with either collar rot or pith necrosis prior to bearing any fruit.

Fairytale Elf - #7881 - This was a tomato machine and one of the best of the Kleverhof varieties. The medium sized, slightly plum shaped fruit were light and dark green striped on the outside, and green fleshed on the inside, with a nice mildly sweet flavor. Seed saved as T23-128

Fairytale Snack - #7878 - I grew this in my home garden as well as in the greenhouse and performance was the same - lots of 1 ounce flattened, ribbed, partly hollow snacking tomatoes that ripened orange and had a pleasant sweet flavor. Seed saved as T23-129

Fairytale Glanz - #7879 - very prolific bearing large pink cherry tomatoes with gold stripes, quite firm, mild flavor. Pretty, but not really a flavor winner. Seed saved as T23-130

Fairytale Fruit - #7911 - prolific, healthy, and a real surprise! The fruits varied in size from 3 oz to hear one pound, and oblate to round to a few approaching heart shapes. Color was yellow with red swirls, flesh tender and pleasant in texture. The flavor was quite outstanding - certainly one of the best bicolors i’ve eaten. This one is highly recommended. For my palate, this is the best of the Kleverhof releases. Seed saved as T23-131.

Fairytale Angel - #7895 - certainly the most prolific of the Kleverhof varieties, as well as one of the most beautiful, the small plum shaped tomatoes ripen nearly pure white with a true light violet shading on the shoulder. The flavor is mild and on the sweet end of things. Seed saved as T23-132.

Lillian Rose - T22-15 - This is what I was hoping for in growing Lillian Rose. The one in my back yard was more pink, larger and oblate - this one was pink with some yellow, more round, and more delicious. I consider this a lead for the new variety. The potato leaf plant is indeterminate but on the more compact end of things, and the high yield was produced quite late in the season. Seed saved as T23-133

Big Sandy - T22-67 - This grew identical to the one in my back yard - medium to large scarlet red beefsteak type tomatoes with an excellent flavor, produced prolifically. Seed saved as T23-134

Monticello Mystery Tomato - T19-112 - The mystery of this is that it originated from a seed found in excavated soil near the kitchen location of Monticello and shared with me in 2013. The highly irregular, wrinkled, ribbed and ridged tomatoes can grow quite large, up to one pound. The flavor is quite good. This tomato gives us a peek into what tomatoes looked like growing in the mid 1800s as they made their way here from Europe. Seed saved as T23-135.

Polish - T22-7 - Reliably excellent, the potato leaf plant produced large pink tomatoes with outstanding flavor, just as expected. Seed saved as T23-136,

Cancelmo Family Heirloom - T20-15. The very tall, spindly plant produced medium to large meaty pink heart shaped tomatoes with an excellent flavor. Seed saved as T23-137.

Giant Syrian - T21-16 - The very tall, spindly plant produced medium to large scarlet red heart shaped tomatoes with excellent flavor. Seed saved as T23-138.

Monticello Mystery Tomato - #5125 - Growing identically to that from saved seed listed above, this was grown from seed given to me by the staff at Monticello back in 2014. Seed saved as T23-139.

Andrew Rahart’s Jumbo Red - T19-13. The plant grew fine, producing large scarlet red tomatoes. Alas, I wasn’t available to do a harvest when it was on the vine and ready to pick, so all of the tomatoes ended up being given away. I didn’t get a chance to save any seeds.

Fritsche Family - #7797 - This favorite from many years ago didn’t disappoint. The tall vigorous plant produced a heavy yield of medium sized nearly round pink tomatoes with an excellent flavor balanced to the sweet side. It is likely a family selection from one of the popular tomatoes of the time, such as Livingston’s Beauty. Seed saved as T23-141.

Cherokee Green X Caitlin’s Lucky Stripe F2 RL - T21-11 - I don’t have good records on this - “pink with gold stripes” and didn’t note size or flavor. It came to ripeness in the avalanche of so many others. Seed saved as T23-142.

Hugh's - T13-13 - This plant grew enormously and yielded heavily. The monstrous pale yellow tomatoes were oblate in shape and approached 2 pounds. The flavor is mild, sweet and pleasant. Seed saved as T23-143.

Giant Syrian - T13-138 - This was one of the first plants to suffer from disease, apparently pith necrosis, and the plant was pulled. I did snip a 6 inch growing tip that seemed healthy and rooted it at home. It grew in the strawbale in my yard that was used for snap bush beans, and ended up producing a heavy yield of medium to large scarlet red heart shaped tomatoes that came on too late to vine ripen. They were brought indoors, put into a bag with a ripe apple, and seed was saved as T23-140.

Stocky’s - #7747 - This rare variety was sent to me by a gardening friend in New Zealand. The spindly plant produced a good yield of large pink heart shaped fruits. I didn’t care for the flavor, which was too mild for my palate - the tomatoes were also very solid with few seeds. It would make a splendid sauce tomato. Seeds saved as T23-145

Marlowe Charleston - T22-68 - This variety is supposedly a potato leaf, pink fruited heirloom from West Virginia. My friend Adam gave me a fruit from the plant he grew in his 2022 garden. The seedlings were all regular leaf - the tomatoes medium sized, smooth, pink and very tasty. It has been clearly crossed along the way, but this regular leaf, smaller fruited version is a fine tomato. Seed saved as T23-146

TBT - #7780 - Here’s a fun mystery. A gardening friend sent me seeds of this variety - TBT stands for “The Best Tomato”. Curious, I decided to grow it and was amazed to see the size of the fruit. The large pink slightly heart shaped variety was the largest in the greenhouse, approaching 2 pounds. It was very meaty and firm, with few seeds, and a mild sweet flavor. It is supposedly a West Virginia heirloom and could be related to another huge variety growing in the greenhouse, McCutcheon, given to me by my friend Adam. He is working to untangle the history and relationship of the two varieties. Seed saved as T23-147

Kosovo - Tomato Growers Supply packet - Various friends have been suggesting I give this tomato a try for some years, so I finally got around to it. The plant didn’t produce as many tomatoes as I’d hoped, likely because it became shaded between other plants in the greenhouse. The tomatoes are heart shaped, medium sized or larger, pink and quite tasty, but I think it did not nearly show its best this year. Seed saved as T23-148

Hugh's - T21-30 - This magnificent tomato excelled in the greenhouse, providing huge pale yellow, sweet tomatoes approaching 2 pounds - and lots of them. Seed saved as T23-149

Nepal - T21-17 - This fairly ordinary scarlet red, nearly round medium sized tomato has been a favorite since I first grew it in 1987. It did very well growing in the greenhouse. Seed saved as T23-150

Abraham Lincoln from USDA - #7745 - My search for the Abraham Lincoln as described in the 1923 Buckbee catalog continues - this wasn’t it. The plants did not have a bronze tint, and the scarlet tomatoes were just medium in size. Seed saved as T23-151

Cherokee Purple Peregrine Farms selection - #6896 - I enjoyed growing out seeds from my friend Alex Hitt’s Peregrine Farms garden. He first received the seeds from me just after I named the variety and it has been a specialty of his ever since. I was curious to see if he selected for various traits that rendered it slightly different from the version I’ve been growing. I was delighted to find that it seemed quite identical to the ones from my saved seed. Production and flavor were excellent. Seed saved as T23-152

Eva Purple Ball - T16-75 - I wanted to regrow this favorite I first received as a seedling from Carolyn Male many years ago when I gardened in Raleigh. It produced very well, providing lots of medium sized smooth round pink tasty tomatoes. Seed saved as T23-153

Yellow Brandywine - T21-35 - I love Yellow Brandywine and it didn’t disappoint this year in the greenhouse - the oblate, 1 lb orange fruit were delicious with a nice tart tang. Seed saved as T23-154

Ferris Wheel - T21-25 - This long time favorite from the Salzer Seed Company (1894) has been a favorite ever since I rescued it from oblivion, from the USDA seed collection. It produced well in the greenhouse, providing lots of medium large to large oblate delicious pink tomatoes. Seed saved as T23-155

Aker's West Virginia - T21-27 - The plant grew well and produced large scarlet red tomatoes, but I didn’t get to harvest fruit for seed saving prior to harvest for giving the tomatoes away locally. No seed saved.

Andrew Rahart’s Jumbo Red - T21-20 - This large scarlet red beefsteak type that I’ve grown for many years did very well, providing medium large to large tasty tomatoes. Seed saved as T23-157

Casey's Pure Yellow - T20-14 - This favorite bright yellow excelled in the greenhouse, with an excellent yield of large, tasty tomatoes. It has been a favorite for quite a few years. Seed saved as T23-158

Lillian's Yellow Heirloom - T20-10 - This favorite of mine clearly enjoyed being grown in the Veterans Healing Farm greenhouse. Yield of the large, oblate, super delicious bright yellow tomatoes was excellent. Seed saved as T23-159

Lucky Cross - T20-4 - Quite a few Lucky Cross selections were grown in the greenhouse and all did great. This plant from recently saved seed produced a lot of large yellow tomatoes with red swirls and an excellent flavor. Seed saved as T23-160

Stump of the World - T20-12 - This produced as expected - large oblate tasty pink tomatoes on a potato leaf plant. Seed saved as T23-161

Large Lucky Red - T21-39 - This scarlet red, large fruited variant that showed up in a Lucky Cross planting performed as hoped - the tomatoes are really tasty! Seed saved as T23-162

Anna Russian - T21-29 - This long time favorite did very well, producing lots of medium sized pink hearts with a delicious balanced flavor. Seed saved as T23-163

JD Special C Tex - T19-2 - This is one of my favorite purple varieties - quite similar to Cherokee Purple except a bit more oblate. This plant did very well. Seed saved as T23-164

Cherokee Chocolate - T22-2 - This grew as anticipated, producing lots of medium to medium large oblate chocolate colored, delicious tomatoes. Seed saved as T23-165

Estler's Mortgage Lifter - T22-8 - Though the size was not as large as I hoped for, productivity of this historic, sweet, pink fruited variety was just fine. Seed saved as T23-166

Indian Stripe - T19-9 - The plant produced a very good yield of medium large, oblate, delicious tomatoes. Seed saved as T23-167

Brandywine - T18-4 - This performed as hoped - very good yield of spectacularly flavored pink oblate tomatoes. Brandywine never disappoints in terms of flavor - only occasionally in terms of yield. Seed saved as T23-168

Cherokee Purple - T22-3 - The plant produced a good yield of medium to large purple tomatoes that were true to type. Unfortunately, I didn’t get fruit for seed saving prior to the team harvesting and donating the tomatoes. No seed saved.

Blue's Bling X Polish F3 - T22-17 - My lead selection from my recent cross, which I will call Polish Bling, produced lots of medium large purple oblate fruit on a potato leaf plant that had white variegation. Flavor was excellent. Seed saved as T23-170

Hege's German - T16-78 - The plant did not do very well and when I did harvest a tomato it appeared to be scarlet, rather than pink. I never did get back in time to double check this, so no seed was saved from this plant.

Don’s Double Delight X Cancelmo Family Heirloom F2 RL - T21-8 - I didn’t get to harvest any tomatoes from this plant and didn’t visit the farm in time to see what the tomatoes looked like. No seed was saved from this plant.

Captain Lucky - T22-9 - This is simply a superb, prolific variety - the plant in the greenhouse was the equal to the one in my back yard. The green tomatoes with a pinkish purple blush and swirl are among the best tasting tomatoes of my entire gardening experience. Yield was outstanding. Seed saved as T23-173

Cancelmo Family Heirloom - T17-13 - This spindly, wispy plant (as expected) produced quite early and was prolific. The medium to large pink hearts were delicious. Seed saved as T23-174

Lucky Cross - T11-8 - This represents one of three older selections of Lucky Cross, and I grew them out to see if I could have a way to bump up the flavor (the most recent selection I typically grow seems to have lost some of the flavor intensity). The reselection mini project was a success - all three were just delicious. Seed saved as T23-175

Lucky Cross - T11-50 - This is another of my reselection work - see above for details. This plant did just great with lots of delicious large yellow tomatoes with red swirls. Seed saved as T23-176

Dester - T12-19 - The plant produced large oblate delicious pink tomatoes, as expected. Sadly, I didn’t get to the farm to harvest fruit for seed saving at the time it was available - all tomatoes were harvested and donated, so no seed was saved.

Hugh's - T14-27 - See the entry a bit above - this performed equally - huge bright yellow delicious tomatoes balanced to the sweet side. Seed saved as T23-178

Big Sandy - T13-130 - High yield, nice size, and delicious scarlet red tomatoes - this West Virginia heirloom should be more widely known - and grown. Seed saved as T23-179

Giant Syrian - T12-20 - The spindly plant with wispy foliage produced lots of medium to large scarlet red, delicious hearts. It is good to have fresh seed from this plant produced from 11 year old seed. Seed saved as T23-180

Lillian's Yellow Heirloom - T12-15 - Having tomatoes from 11 year old seed of this favorite variety makes me happy - the plant produced lots of large pale yellow superb tomatoes. Seed saved as T23-181

Indian Stripe - T11-94 - I was delighted to get 12 year old seed to germinate - the plant produced tomatoes that are very similar to Cherokee Purple, as expected. The medium large purple fruit were delicious. Seed saved as T23-182

Cherokee Chocolate - T12-72 - I was pleased to get 11 year old seed to germinate, allowing me to get fresh seed - the tomatoes were as expected - medium large, delicious and chocolate brick colored. Seed saved as T23-183

McCutcheon - T22-20 - This tomato, which may be related to TBT (see above), produced huge pink nearly round tomatoes with excellent flavor. Could it be also related to Mortgage Lifter? Seed saved as T23-184

Lucky Cross - T11-14 -see above - this is the third of my reselection effort for this favorite variety. It did great - potato leaf plant with lots of large oblate yellow tomatoes with red swirls - and outstanding flavor. Seed saved as T23-185

Gallo Plum - #7749 - One of the tomatoes I got from West Virginia gardener Charlotte Mullens in 1990 (along with Big Sandy and the family’s Mortgage Lifter), I finally returned to growing this excellent scarlet red large fruited paste tomato. The lanky, wispy vines produced lots of tomatoes that resemble a frying pepper, similar to varieties such as Opalka. The flavor is excellent. Seed saved as T23-186

Dester - T18-2 - This variety, a favorite, grew as hoped for - good yield of large pink oblate tomatoes with superb flavor. Seed saved as T23-187

Cancelmo Family Heirloom - T16-98 - The tall spindly plant produced a heavy yield of large, pink heart shaped tomatoes, as expected. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to the greenhouse to harvest a few fruit for seed saving in time prior to the plant being completely harvested. No seed was saved.

JD Special C-Tex - T12-8 - This variety produced as expected, with a very good yield of medium to large, oblate, firm purple tomatoes with an excellent flavor. With the same color and very similar flavor to Cherokee Purple, this by comparison produces a more flattened, oblate tomato. Seed was saved as T23-189.

Little Lucky - T20-18 - this was a replacement plant and due to its highly shaded location (surrounded by more mature, taller plants), never did produce any tomatoes before going down to disease.

Dorothy's Green - #7746 - the greenhouse plant was equivalent to the one in my back yard garden. This former favorite produced a high yield of irregular, oblate, medium to large fruit with green flesh and a yellow skin. The flavor is very good. The propensity to produce irregular fruit is quite prominent in this colorful variety. Seed was saved as T23-191.

Cherokee Green X Caitlin’s Lucky Stripe F2 potato leaf - T21-11 - I was delighted to get a good sized oblate pink tomato with excellent flavor and no sign of stripes. It isn’t a high priority lead, but an excellent eating tomato. This Seed saved as T23-192.

Don’s Double Delight X Cancelmo Family Heart F2 potato leaf - T21-8 - My record keeping is not good for this one - all I have on my seed envelope is potato leaf heart, with no indication of color or striping. Seed saved as T23-193

Ferris Wheel X Striped Sweetheart F2 - T21-2 - I didn’t mark down leaf shape - the medium sized pink tomatoes were very good flavored at best, not excellent. Seed saved as T23-194

Don’s Double Delight X Cancelmo Family Heart F2 regular leaf - T21-8 - This ended up producing large red hearts, but I didn’t note the flavor. Seed saved as T23-195.

Summary - This was a LOT of work - and it generated a lot of information. What was best about the experience of growing in the Veterans Healing Farm greenhouse was working with a team - getting to share these wonderful varieties. The array of colors and sized and flavors, and richness of history, really opened the eyes of my volunteers.

It was also very valuable to get fresh seeds from some quite old seeds of many of my favorite varieties. Overall I was pleased with the results. The main issue was learning that different diseases can hit tomatoes grown in this way. The production was over a very concentrated period, and the plants needed to be pulled far sooner than we would have liked.

Me with some of my wonderful tomato team - Joanne, Phillip and Grace

2023 Post-season Garden Summary - part 3. Back Yard Garden Grow Bag Dwarfs and Indeterminate varieties

Hummingbird still around on October 11, enjoying a salvia on our deck

It’s been quite awhile since my last 2023 garden update - but, better late than never! This blog entry will focus on the various dwarfs grown in proximity to the strawbales in 5 gallon grow bags, as well as cherry tomatoes grown in grow bags against our side fence. The next entry will focus on indeterminate tomatoes grown in the Veterans Healing Farm greenhouse.

Please note that picture taking of the dwarf varieties was not particularly disciplined, so you will have to rely on my descriptions.

Also note that the dwarfs I grew in my yard and at the Veterans Healing Farm were mostly from Victory or Fruition Seed Company packets. I wanted to check out the varieties that are being sold to customers to compare with what the DTP sent the companies.

Grow Bag Dwarf Varieties

Dwarf Peppermint Stripes - Victory Seed Company packet source for seeds. I haven’t grown this since I found and named it some years ago. It was delightful - medium sized oblate green fruit with stripes of green and pink, with green flesh and a bit of pink on the interior. Flavor outstanding. Like all selections from the Beauty family, the flavor and colors are wonderful and this deserves to be much more widely grown. Saved as T23-48

Wherokowhai - Victory Seed Company packet source for seeds. It has been years since I grew this, and it was a favorite for quite a few years in my Raleigh gardens. Alas, it struggled with early onset of foliage fungal disease here. Fruit set was very good and I got a few medium sized oblate yellow/red bicolor tomatoes. I need to give it another chance - perhaps in a straw bale. Saved as T23-49

Dwarf Shimmering Beauty - #7758 seed source. This is a personal project I’ve worked on for years in the DTP. It is from the diverse Beauty family, and my goal was a very tasty tomato with light and dark green stripes on the outside, green flesh inside. It worked out well this year- the tomatoes had good size, excellent flavor, had the light/dark green stripes - the green interior flesh had a hint of pink, but that’s fine. This will be off to Victory Seeds for release in a year or so if all goes well. Seed saved as T23-50

Dwarf Mr. Snow - Victory Seed Company packet seed source. Always one of my favorite releases from our project, it was simply not a good season for it here. The plant struggled with disease - the few tomatoes I got were the correct shape and color and flavor, but not as large as typical. The Victory sample was accurate. When this variety grows well, it really is one of the very best. Seed saved as T23-51

Uluru Ochre - upper right.

Uluru Ochre - Victory Seed Company packet seed source. I simply love this tomato. The color is so surprising, being the first “black orange” ever observed. It was one of the very best flavored tomatoes of the season. I did note that it has a very tender texture, which some gardeners may find not quite to their liking. Productivity and health were great. The Victory seed sample grew perfectly to expectations. Seed saved as T23-52

Dwarf Sara’s Olalla Emerald - #7755 seed source. This will be released by Victory in a few months. The potato leaf plants produce lots of medium small, smooth, nearly round fruit that have green flesh when ripe and clear skin, making the color change when ripe a bit tricky to see. The flavor was well balanced and tasty. It is a worthy member of our DTP family - named after my daughter Sara. Seed saved as T23-53

Dwarf Choemato - Victory Seed Company packet source. I finally gave this one a try - a nice large oblate potato leaf red/yellow bicolor. It was simply wonderful (typical of the Ivalde family releases). It produced very well. This is one of our dwarfs that deserved to be known and grown much more widely - it is a superb variety. Seed saved as T23-54

Dwarf Awesome - Victory Seed Company packet source. This is another variety that I finally got around to trying, and my goodness, I am glad I did. It really is a regular leaf version of Dwarf Choemato (or maybe it is that Dwarf Choemato is a potato leaf version of Dwarf Awesome). Both are from the Ivalde family. It has the same type of wonderful flavor as Dwarf Gloria’s Treat. The fruit were produced prolifically, the plant was healthy throughout the season, with the oblate red/yellow swirled tomatoes growing as large as one pound. Seed saved as T23-55

Dwarf Swirly Heart - #7896 seed source. This one didn’t work out. The intent was that this would be a regular leaf version of Dwarf Gloria’s Treat - a large red/yellow heart on a regular leaf plant. It clearly is not yet stable, as it produced oblate pink tomatoes. Back to the drawing board for this one. Seed saved as T23-56

Dwarf Big Valentine - Victory Seed Company packet source. I finally grew out a variety that I actually selected and named some years ago. The potato leaf plants are on the tall side for dwarfs, and produced medium to large pink hearts with a simply delicious flavor. The Victory sample grew true to type. Seed saved as T23-57

Dwarf Sonrojo Monster - Victory Seed Company packet source. Essentially a regular leaf version of Dwarf Big Valentine, this regular leaf dwarf produced truly large heart shaped pink tomatoes that were absolutely delicious. I love this tomato! The Victory sample grew true to expectations. Seed is saved as T23-58

Dwarf Betts’ Beauty - #7898 seed source. My hopes for this were for a regular leaf dwarf tomato producing medium to large pink oblate fruit. The tomatoes suffered from blossom end rot and the size was not what I was looking for - so back to the drawing board for this. Seed seed saved as T23-59

Dwarf Gloria’s Treat - Victory Seed Company packet source. I love this variety - a potato leaf dwarf on the taller side, it was a prolific producer of delicious medium to large sized yellow hearts with red swirls. The Victory sample grew to expectations. Seed saved as T23-60

Dwarf Marlin’s Slicer - #7897 seed source. This one didn’t come out the right way - it is still a work in progress. My hope was for large oblate pink tomatoes on a potato leaf dwarf. What resulted was a heavy yield of pink hearts that were medium sized, but delicious. Back to the drawing board for this one too. Seed saved as T23-61

Dwarf Emerald Giant - Victory Seed Company packet source. Always one of my favorite dwarfs, it didn’t disappoint this year. Medium to large green when ripe tomatoes (with clear skin) have a full, delicious flavor. The Victory sample grew true to expectations. Seed saved as T23-62

Dwarf Confetti - Victory Seed Company packet source. Like Peppermint Stripes, this is one of the Beauty selections I found and named years ago, but haven’t grown since its release. I was really missing something - this is a wonderful tomato that belongs in every garden. The medium sized smooth oblate tomatoes are yellow with pink stripes outside, yellow flesh with pink swirls inside - prolific and delicious. Seed saved as T23-63

Dwarf Langston - #7592 seed source. Several years ago a DTP volunteer found and named this variety from the Sleazy B family (Carbon X Dwarf Champion). I finally got around to growing it out and was delighted to find medium sized oblate purple tomatoes that were delicious. It is quite similar to Dwarf Wild Fred which came out of the Sleazy A family (Carbon X New Big Dwarf). I will likely send some samples around to get a wider set of feedback. It is a named variety that is essentially ready for release. Seed saved as T23-82

Dwarf Sweet Sue - Victory Seed Company packet seed source. One of my very favorite dwarfs, the Vicrory sample gave two different varieties (I will discuss the one grown at the Veterans Farm in a future blog). The plant in my yard produced tomatoes that were too large and oblate for my expectations for this variety, though they were certainly delicious. I sent feedback to Victory that they may wish to do a reselection. Seed saved as T23-65

Dwarf Chilli Chick’s Wonder - T21-38 seed source. This has proven to be a challenge to get stabilized. It seems to want to be indeterminate - I planted lots of seeds saved from a dwarf plant, but only a few dwarf seedlings showed up. The medium sized tasty pink tomatoes didn’t impress me as much as when grown in 2021. Originally called Capri Show Stopper, we are not through with this one yet - so release could be a few years away. Seed saved as T23-66

Dwarf Phyl’s Ivory Beauty - #7759 seed source. This one will be soon released by Victory. It is a nice ivory colored variety that I named for my mom. The regular leaf plants are very productive, tomatoes are medium or mediums small, smooth and have a lovely flavor. Seed saved as T23-67

Lilly F4 selection

Dwarf Lilly Family Selection F4 - T22-26 seed source. I created the Lilly family by applying pollen from Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom to a flower on Dwarf Speckled Heart. I grew out the hybrid, and last year, a regular leaf dwarf seedling from the hybrid. That plant produced medium sized, round pink tomatoes with gold stripes. Seed from that tomato, T22-26, was grown this year, and I was delighted to find an avidly flowering dwarf regular leaf plant that produced medium to large pink hearts with gold stripes, with a nice meaty texture and excellent flavor. The tomato is shown above. This is clearly a very promising lead. I am going to call it Dwarf Lilly’s Heart - and will pass seed on to DTP participant Denise Salmon so that she can see what she gets. It is a promising future release, that’s for sure. Seed saved as T23-68

Dwarf Charisma (chartreuse leaf Dwarf Jade Beauty) - T22-70 seed source. My Growing Epic Tomatoes friend Kay Waters discovered a chartreuse leaf plant from Victory Seed Company Dwarf Jade Beauty. It was green fruited and tasty, and she sent me seeds to see if the unusual foliage characteristic persisted, as well as the fruit color - we are looking to confirm whether this is a mutation or a cross. T22-70 is seed saved from a plant I grew from seed she sent me last year. I found a plant that was clearly on the chartreuse side of foliage color as a young seedling, though perhaps not quite as distinctly as Dwarf Zoe’s Sweet. The plant was quite shaded by a nearby indeterminate variety. The more pale hued leaves did persist throughout the season. The tomatoes were in the 2-4 ounce range and tasty, with clear skin and green flesh. I consider this still a work in progress and a bit of a mystery, but thus far no one working on this selection has found any fruit color aside from green - indicative of a leaf color mutation. Seed saved as T23-69

Dwarf Harmonic Convergence - #7756 seed source. I finally got round to growing this recent DTP release. Early on it seemed to struggle with disease, but showed staying power - it was pretty heavily shaded by nearby indeterminate plants. The tomatoes ripened quite late, were oblate, scarlet red and in the 8-10 ounce range. Not surprisingly, they were quite tasty and similar to Sweet Scarlet Dwarf. I found it to be among our best scarlet fruited varieties from the DTP - I would need to grow it again to get a better sense of its potential. seed I used was from Bill Minkey. Seed saved as T23-70

Dwarf Mahogany - Victory Seed Company packet seed source. This is a rescue adventure - the original plant at the Veterans Healing Farm came down with collar rot. I cut the plant off above the damage area, rooted it in water, and planted it in a grow bag here. The plant thrived - and produced a good crop of medium sized oblate chocolate tomatoes with really nice well balanced flavor. I hadn’t tasted this since my friend Lee, the person who discovered the variety, brought his most advanced selection to a Tomatopalooza festival tasting. I like it much better than Tasmanian Chocolate in terms of flavor. The Victory seed produced what was hoped for. Seed saved as T23-71

Grow Bag Indeterminate Cherry Tomatoes

Coyote - T17-173 seed source. This is one of my cherished varieties - not so much because It is among the best flavored, but because of how I received it. I was given a wand of tomatoes on the vine by Maye Clement during my display at the PA Hort Harvest Festival event in Philadelphia in the late 1980s. I think of it as an ivory colored “version” of Mexico Midget - certainly a currant tomato, weedy and prolific. The flavor has a peculiar note resting under the predominant sweetness that is slightly off-putting to my wife and I, but many love the flavor. The plant was prolific, despite residing in a low sun location at the edge of my driveway along the fence. It has been too many years since growing it, so I am delighted to have fresh seed. Seed saved as T23-37

Pink Princess - #7865 seed source. Seed was sent to me by Growing Epic Tomatoes student Peter Schipelliti - he raved about the flavor. As a pink cherry tomato, that also made it a bit unique. The plant grew well, tended to produce a bit later than typical cherry tomatoes, but it was against the fence, hence a bit sun starved. I really liked the color - pink with just the slightest hint of a peach overtone. I thought the flavor was quite good - one of the better cherry tomatoes I’ve eaten, but alas, not up to the complexity of Sun Gold. Seed saved as T23-38

Sun Gold F1 - Johnny’s Selected Seeds packet seed source. Of course Sue and I loved this tomato - we have since first growing it in the late 1980s. Weirdly, this was one of the more diseased plants of 2023. It was in a sun starved location against the fence, but battled fusarium right from the start. It was stubborn, as despite the disease, it hung in there for the season, though with reduced production. I didn’t save seeds.

Coyote - T13-122 seed source. Refer to the entry for Coyote from T17 saved seed, above. I was thrilled to get 2013 saved seed to germinate well. The two Coyote plants performed identically. Seed saved as T23-40

Fairytale Fairy - #7893 seed source. This seems different from the catalog description on the Kleverhof seed site. For me, the tomato grew as chocolate colored cherry tomatoes with green stripes and very small seeds - flavor not particularly great and quite firm in texture. I can’t confirm that I kept all of the Kleverhof varieties straight - there could have been an identification mix up on my part. Seed saved as T23-41

Fairytale Gold - #7894 seed source. This is another of the Kleverhof company creations generously shared with me. It produced loads of elongated orange tomatoes - clearly a Roma type - that had dense flesh and very good keeping qualities. I found the flavor on the bland side, typical for tomatoes of this shape. The growth habit seemed to be determinate. Seed saved as T23-42

Fairytale Snack - #7878 seed source. Yet another Kleverhof variety, this prolific plant gave lots of flattened large cherry type fruit that were orange - the interiors were partially hollow. For me, the flavor and texture were not particularly pleasing. Seed saved as T23-44

Ruthje - #7718 seed source. This variety was shared with me from Jeannine Cabossel - a DTP participant. It is described on line as producing larger red cherry tomatoes, some with a point on the bottom. My plant got diseased quite early with what appeared to be fusarium wilt. I did get a few tomatoes prior to its demise, but it did not particularly impress. It seems to have been released for greenhouse growth. Seed saved as T23-45

Egg Yolk - T22-48 seed source. This is always a favorite - certainly not Sun Gold like in flavor intensity, but nice, balanced toward sweetness, with a nice meaty texture making it perfect for grilling or use in salsas. It was healthy all season and produced prolifically despite growing in a sun-poor location. Seed saved as T23-46

Mexico Midget - T21-67 seed source. This tomato - which I consider a delicious tomato-producing avidly volunteering weed - did its usual thing this year, providing delicious tiny red cherry tomatoes in a position with hardly any sun exposure. Seed saved as T23-47

Flower Garden Volunteer Red Cherry - appeared in our main flower garden. What a nice surprise! When I saw a volunteer tomato plant in our flower garden I assumed it would be Mexico Midget. The tomatoes it produced were more the size of Sweet Million - it was Susan who tried a few told me of their delicious flavor. I’ve no idea what it (I guess I can thank a bird, squirrel or rabbit for “planting” the seed there). I saved a small amount of seed as T23-177 for anyone who wishes to take a chance and give it a try.

Summary - the vast majority of Victory Seed Company seeds for the dwarfs grew to expectations, which delighted me to see. A few that I hadn’t grown in years, or at all, proved to be outstanding. I think all tomato lovers should give Dwarf Confetti, Dwarf Peppermint Stripes, Dwarf Choemato, Dwarf Awesome, and Dwarf Sonrojo Monster a try - they are among the best of the dwarfs, though they do not get nearly the attention they deserve.

I will now get on to the next blog, covering the indeterminate varieties grown at the Veterans Healing Farm. It may take a week or so to get to it.

Fall colors at the WNC arboretum late October

2023 Post-season Garden Summary - part 2. Back Yard Garden Straw Bale Indeterminate Tomatoes

Final harvest from the back yard garden, late August 2023

Let’s dig into the tomato updates. I am going to split the back yard tomatoes into straw bale indeterminate varieties, with the next update blog focusing on grow bag cherry tomatoes and dwarfs.

Straw Bale-grown Indeterminate varieties

Cancelmo Family Heirloom X Green Giant F4

Cancelmo Family Heirloom X Green Giant - F4 selection #7789 - I created the hybrid in 2020 by applying pollen from Cancelmo Family Heirloom onto a blossom on Green Giant. I grew the hybrid in 2021 and sent some seeds to my garden pal Alex Moring. He grew the F2 seed and selected a potato leaf, slightly heart shaped purple tomato with excellent flavor. I grew one plant from Alex’s seed this year - it was a vigorous very productive potato leaf plant. The first fruit harvested in 79 days from transplant. The tomatoes showed a bit of enhanced tendency to blossom end rot, and were a nice purple in color with a bit of green mottling in and out. This is a promising selection that needs a bit more work, and deserves to be eventually named and released. Seed saved as T23-1.

The three Cherokee Purple X Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom F4 selections in the garden - 7838 above, 7808 lower left, 7785 right edge

Cherokee Purple X Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom - F4 selection #7838 - potato leaf - In 2020 I took pollen from Cherokee Purple and applied it to a flower on Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom. I saved seed from the fruit that developed and grew the hybrid in 2021. It was just spectacular - a regular leaf, large, prolific pink that was the best tomato in my garden that year. I sent out some seeds to gardening friends from that hybrid - and last year I grew two plant from saved seed - a regular leaf, and a potato leaf. The regular leaf was tasty but even though it was a prolific bloomer, very few set fruit. The potato leaf was quite unique - relatively compact growth and medium to large fruit that were mostly pink but showed some yellow as well. They were delicious. Lillian Rose was born - and I sent out lots of seed from that, as well as grew two of them (see below for the one that I grew here). Three people grew out seed saved from the hybrid, enjoyed the outcomes and sent me seeds. The one I will describe here was a potato leaf selection made by my garden friend Justin Sieglaff - sent me seed which was recorded in my collection as 7838. I grew one of the potato leaf plants this year - it grew well and yielded prolifically. First harvest in 81 days from transplant, the tomatoes were more round than oblate, quite large (up to 20 ounces), and when perfectly ripe, quite delicious. The flavor was not quite up to the level of excellence as the hybrid, but being a pink fruited potato leaf from this particular family, it is likely worth pursuing as a future release. I would want many other gardeners to give it a try. Seed is saved as T23-2.

Sgt Peppers, showing antho on the shoulders

Sgt Peppers - #7810 - I was sent seeds of this interesting variety by my UK tomato pal Lance Turner. It is apparently a selection made between the antho tomato Oregon P20 and German Red Strawberry. This is a bit surprising, as crossing two red tomatoes should lead to a red tomato - yet Sgt Peppers is a pink tomato with shoulders that have strong dark blue antho pigmentation when the fruits are exposed to the sun. The plants are typical for a heart shaped variety, being quite floppy and droopy, and grow upward quickly. Fruit set is excellent. First fruit was harvested in 78 days, making it one of the first harvested. Fruit size varied widely, between 3-16 ounces, most being in the 6 ounce area. The fruit is very meaty, firm, with a balanced flavor that I quite enjoyed; in fact this is the best antho variety I’ve tried. Seed is saved as T23-3.

Abraham Brown

Abraham Brown - #7863 -This is a variety that was created by Millard Murdock of Flat Rock, NC via a cross with his variety Black Magic. It is a very prolific potato leaf variety producing smooth, nearly round chocolate colored tomatoes that are consistently in the one pound range. The texture and flavor is excellent. First ripe fruit was harvested in 88 days, making it one of the later tomatoes to ripen in my garden. This is a highly recommended variety that belongs in more gardens. Seed is saved as T23-4.

Polish - #T22-7 - I’ve grown Polish often, so won’t go into great detail. It is a variety sent to me by Bill Ellis in 1988 that has been a favorite in my gardens many times. The vigorous potato leaf plant was very productive, with first fruits ripening in 84 days. The slightly oblate pink tomatoes are in the 1 pound range. Flavor was just delicious, as always. Seed is saved as T23-5.

A very ugly, first havested World War II top center

World War II - 7222 - This variety may be the biggest surprise of my 2023 garden. Seeds were sent to me a few years ago by Geny Laroche of New Hampshire - its origins are from Europe, following World War 2, when it made its way to the US. With first fruits ripening in 79 days, the regular leaf plant was one of the most vigorous in my garden and was the heaviest yielder. It was also the last tomato to provide tomatoes, maintaining its health until I cleared out the garden. The tomato size ranges from 8 to 16 ounces or a bit larger. The pink fruit are delicious, with a nice texture and well balanced flavor. It is one of the best regular leaf pink tomatoes I’ve eaten. I hope to get seeds to Victory Seed Company for future listing in their catalog. Seed is saved as T23-6.

Big Sandy upper and lower right (two different seed lots used). Two tomatoes on the left will be part of the Vet Farm updates

Big Sandy - #T12-10 - It was so nice to grow this variety for the first time in many years. A West Virginia heirloom shared with me in 1990 by Charlotte Mullens, it is a classic scarlet red medium large tasty beefsteak type which would make a great main crop, standard variety. The regular leaf plant was vigorous, healthy, and prolific. Tomatoes average 12 ounces, and are quite smooth and regular. The flavor is classic well balanced scarlet beefsteak. There is some thought that “Big Sandy” stands for “Big Sandwich”, meaning slices cover the bread. I’ve seen it listed in some tomato texts as a pink tomato, but this one is definitely scarlet red. First ripe fruit was produced in 81 days. It is also one of those tomatoes that does not show a dark green shoulder, so is nicely uniform in color when it fully ripens. Seed is saved as T23-7.

Lucky Cross - #T11-19 - In 2011, I grew four different selections of Lucky Cross, with T11-19 rated as the best flavored (as in superb). I grew the other three selections at the Veterans Healing Farm and will report on those in a future blog. My reason for doing this was recent unhappiness with how my more recent selections were performing. The vigorous potato leaf plant that came from T11-19 was very productive for Lucky Cross. Color was excellent - rich yellow with lots of red marbling. Fruit size was in the 12-16 ounce range. I loved the flavor, so I consider this reselection work to be a great success. Seed is saved as T23-8.

Bisignano #2 - #T14-67 - This is another favorite variety I’ve had since 1987 that hasn’t fared very well in recent Raleigh grow outs. I was happy to find that it excelled in my 2023 Hendersonville garden. The plants are very fast growing and typically weepy/floppy and spreading, typical for indeterminate paste types. Fruit set was excellent, and the mostly plum shaped scarlet red fruit were in the 6-8 ounce range. It was a late tomato, with first fruit in 97 days from transplant. Flavor is rich, intense and just excellent. This is as good a salad tomato as it is a sauce tomato. The variety was originally brought to the US in the 1940s from Italy by Mr. Bisignano. My SSE source obtained the seeds from him. I was delighted with this tomato in 2023. Seed is saved as T23-9.

Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom - #T11-47 - I returned back to 2011 saved seed to grow one of my favorite tomatoes this year. It didn’t disappoint, with a vigorous healthy potato leaf plant providing a very good yield of large oblate pale yellow tomatoes with a typically superb flavor, starting 93 days from transplant. There’s nothing more that needs to be said about this most incredible tomato. Seed saved as T23-10.

Ferris Wheel X Striped Sweetheart - F2 selection - #T21-2 - potato leaf - In 2020 I took pollen from Ferris Wheel and applied to a blossom on Striped Sweetheart. I grew out seed from the tomato that resulted in 2021. Last year I finally started exploring the possibilities and chose to grow one each of a potato leaf and regular leaf seedling. This entry discusses the potato leaf plant results. Harvest began in 88 days from transplant, with the fruit varying in size from 3 to 8 ounces, very oblate, pink and somewhat irregular in shape, completely devoid of stripes. Flavor was really excellent, but there was really nothing in this selection worth pursuing. Seed is saved as T23-11.

Ferris Wheel X Striped Sweetheart - F2 selection - #T21-2 - regular leaf - See the entry above for the story behind this mini project. The regular leaf plant produced very attractive pink nearly round tomatoes strongly striped with gold, starting in 88 days from transplant. Sadly, the tomatoes were quite small, in the 2-3 ounce range, and had a tendency for blossom end rot. Flavor was very good and it was very productive. Yet, because of small fruit size, this may not be worth any further effort. Seed saved as T23-12.

Brandywine

Brandywine - #T11-60 - I decided to go back to old seeds to get Brandywine back into my garden. It was a great decision. Brandywine is always a flavor favorite and it didn’t disappoint. It was very late for me this year - 97 days from transplant. The one pound average pink tomatoes produced on the potato leaf plant were superb to eat. Seed is saved as T23-13.

Cherokee Purple X Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom F4 selection - #7808 - Continuing the story from the entry above, my friend Lance Turner also grew seed saved from the hybrid and grew out a regular leaf seedling. The plant produced very large pale yellow oblate tomatoes that had a hint of pink in the center, and few seeds. Lance sent me some seed, in my collection as 7808, which I grew this year - the regular leaf plant produced its first ripe tomato in 84 days. This very productive selection produced pale yellow tomatoes with a trace of pink in the core. I found the flavor to be excellent - well balanced, with good intensity, and I rated it a solid 8. I believe that this is a selection that warrants more work, toward a future release. The seed is saved as T23-14.

Cherokee Green X Earl - F1 hybrid - #7788 - My friend Alex tried his hand at crossing pollen from Cherokee Green onto the superb variety Earl. Alex sent me some hybrid seed to grow from the cross. The regular leaf plant yielded very heavily, first fruit in 81 days from transplant. The oblate scarlet red fruit were in the 12-16 ounce range with excellent flavor. This should be a fun cross to play with in the F2 and beyond. Seed is saved as T23-15.

Green Giant - #T20-20 - No surprise here. The vigorous, prolific potato leaf plant produced 12-16 ounce smooth fruit that stays green when ripe (it is a clear skinned green when ripe). Flavor was typically excellent. Fruit started ripening in 80 days from transplant. This is simply a great, unique tomato. Seed is saved as T23-16.

Cherokee Purple (left, center) and Cherokee Chocolate (right)

Cherokee Purple - #T11-11 - I love to go back to grow Cherokee Purple from seed lots that are as close as possible to seed I received from J D Green in 1990. T11-11 is from T01-3, which is from T93-2, which is directly from #287, seed sent by Mr. Green. It is always interesting to see how relatively compact Cherokee Purple is when compared to most indeterminate varieties. It is also fascinating to see how attractive and regular the tomatoes are, as shown in the picture above. The first ripe fruit was harvested in 79 days from transplant. Productivity, plant health and flavor were all typically superb. Seed is saved as T23-17.

Cherokee Chocolate - #T11-18 - Similar to with Cherokee Purple, I like to go back in time for my Cherokee Chocolate plants. T11-18 is from T96-9, which is from T95-47, the initial appearance of the chocolate colored selection. Typically taller than Cherokee Purple, the fruit is slightly more oblate, very prolific, with first fruit in 83 days from transplant. Flavor was wonderful, as expected. Seed is saved as T23-18.

Dorothy’s Green showing the often irregular blossom ends - yellow skin, green flesh

Dorothy’s Green - #7746 - Here is another variety that I really enjoyed when growing in Raleigh that I ended up forgetting to regrow before the seed died. I asked for and received a seed sample from Neil Lockhart over the winter and looked forward to seeing how it did. It is the same color as Cherokee Green (yellow skin, green flesh), but far more irregular and oblate, with most fruit having distorted blossom ends. It is wildly productive, with first fruit in 81 days from transplant. Flavor was very good, not excellent. It was also one of the few plants to suffer disease issues, with apparent pith necrosis taking it down in the middle of the season, but not until it produced a lot of tomatoes. Seed is saved as T23-19.

Earl - #T21-5 - I just love this tomato. It is vigorous, prolific, with first ripe fruit in 83 days from transplant. Fruit size is in the 12-16 ounce range, but can grow larger. The smooth, oblate pink fruit have some green shoulders, and the texture and flavor are both superb. It has the flavor of Brandywine but is more reliable in yield. Seed is saved as T23-20.

Little Lucky - #T20-18 - I am always happy when Little Lucky is in my garden. It produces a lot of tomatoes that are best suited for use in salads, due to the 3-4 ounce size. The yellow/red bicolored tomatoes are full flavored and delicious. First fruit were harvested in 81 days from transplant. This was an excellent performance for Little Lucky this year. Seed is saved as T23-21.

Cherokee Green - #T19-17 - This variety has given me some trouble over recent years, occasionally showing up as crossed seed (scarlet or chocolate colored tomatoes). This year it was fine - tall and vigorous with first ripe fruit in 79 days from transplant. Fruit size varied from 10-16 ounces, with smooth oblate shape and delicious green flesh. The skin is yellow. This was another of the very few varieties in the garden that seemed to suffer pith necrosis, and was the first plant to die, following a heavy yield. Seed is saved as T23-22.

Lillian Rose from Vet farm, lower right - and from my garden, Lucky Cross from my garden upper left, Lillian’s Yellow lower right, upper left.Uluru Ochre (upper right) and Summer Sunrise (lower right) part of other updates.

Lillian Rose F4 selection #T22-15 - This is part of the Cherokee Purple X Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom project, with this the sole named variety from this cross to date. Lillian Rose last year in my garden was a potato leaf, medium large pink fruit shaded with yellow and with superb flavor. I grew two plants this year, one in my garden, one at the Veterans Farm greenhouse (which was the best of the two). For the selection in my garden, first fruit was harvested in 96 days, so it was quite a late variety to ripen. The plant is quite compact for an indeterminate. It was very productive, and the fruit were quite large - 16 oz average - smooth, oblate and a lovely pink color (as seen in the picture above). The flavor was excellent, similar to the ChP X LYH hybrid, except on a potato leaf plant. This isn’t THE Lillian Rose candidate, but deserves to be released with a different name after a bit more work. It is actually very similar to the pink ChP X LYH that Justin sent me, as described in one of the earlier entries in this blog. The high quality of all of these selections from the cross should not be a surprise - two great parents should produce great offspring! Seed is saved as T23-23. This

Bing upper left, Polish upper right, Lucky Bling lower right (Yellow Brandywine lower left, part of the Vet Farm Greenhouse update to come

Little Lucky X Blue’s Bling - F4 selection = #T22-13 - Potato leaf, variegated leaf - this and the tomato below are continuations of work out of a hybrid I created by crossing Blue’s Bling with Little Lucky. I was very pleased with the plant health and production - the tricolored tomatoes (yellow with red and green) started to ripen 93 days from transplant, making this quite a late a variety. Fruit size ranged from 12-16 ounces, smooth oblate in shape with no issues with catfacing or blossom end rot. The seeds exhibited green gel, interior fresh medium yellow with some red marbling, and superb, complex, full flavor which I rated 8.5 out of 10. The working name for this selection is Lucky Bling - Alex Moring, among others, grew out this selection. Saved seed is T23-24.

Little Lucky X Blue’s Bling - F4 selection - #T22-16 - Regular leaf, variegated leaf - this is related to the work above - working to finish a regular leaf selection with variegation. The plant health and production were fine - the tomatoes tended toward a typical bicolor (yellow with red swirls outside and in). The pleasant, balanced flavor didn’t quite have the “zing” that the potato leaf selection described above possessed. Still, it is a selection worth pursuing - the working name is Rufus Rainbow, named for my friend, fellow gardener, former NC politician Rufus Edmiston. I need to acquire the feedback from others who grew this one out. Saved seed is T23-25.

Cherokee Green X Caitlin’s Lucky Stripe - F2 selection - #T21-11 - potato leaf plant - In 2020 I applied pollen from Cherokee Green into a blossom on Caitlin’s Lucky Stripe. I grew seed from the fruit that came from the cross in 2021, and it is that seed I planted this year, looking at possibilities of this cross for the first time. I was just delighted with the result. Starting in 84 days from transplant, loads of round 3-4 ounce smooth tomatoes were produced. The tomatoes had yellow skin with faint stripes, the flesh was bright green, and flavor superb. It is a bit small, but the flavor demands that work continues on this as an attractive future release. What a delightful surprise! Seed is saved as T23-26.

Cherokee Purple X Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom - F4 selection - 7785 - This is the third and final part of the story of selections from this cross started above. Another garden friend who received F2 seeds, Mary Revelle, discovered a regular leaf, yellow fruited tomato that she really liked, and sent me seeds which are in my collection as 7785. I grew one plant, regular leaf, from that seed and was delighted with the result. The first fruit harvested in 82 days after transplant, The tomatoes from this plant were more round than oblate, smooth, large to very large, some in the 24 ounce range. The bright yellow tomatoes showed a faint pink blush in the center. Flavor was outstanding - among the best flavored tomatoes of the season. This is certainly a candidate for further work and a future release. The seed is saved as T23-27.

Don’s Double Delight X Cancelmo Family Heirloom F2

Don’s Double Delight X Cancelmo Family Heirloom - F2 selection - #T21-8 - In 2020, I applied pollen from Don’s Double Delight onto a blossom on Cancelmo Family Heirloom. I saved seeds from the resulting tomato, and grew it in 2021, saving lots of seeds. I finally got around to exploring the possibilities, and grew a potato leaf seedling in my garden. It was quite unusual in not producing flowers until quite high up the plant, and the flowers were of varying size. First fruits were not harvested until 94 days from transplant, making it one of the latest varieties I grew. It was well worth waiting for; the tomatoes were strongly heart shaped and strongly striped - crimson pink background with gold stripes. Size varied from 4 to 16 ounces, with most in the 8-12 oz range. The tomato was quite meaty, with an excellent, full flavor balanced toward the sweet side. It reminded me very much of Don’s Double Delight in flesh color and texture and flavor. This is a keeper and well worth pursuing as a new released variety. The seed is saved as T23-28.

Cherokee Chocolate X Stump of the World F4 selection sliced

Cherokee Chocolate X Stump of the World - F4 selection - #7795 - In 2020 I took pollen from Cherokee Chocolate and applied it to a flower on Stump of the World. I grew out the hybrid and sent saved seed around to some friends. Eddie Lambert grew out a number of F2 generation and really liked a green fleshed selection with deep amber skin. He sent me seeds and I grew one of the plants from those seeds this year. The regular leaf plant was very vigorous, producing a heavy yield of tomatoes very similar to Cherokee Green (perhaps a bit smaller in size, but identical in color). First fruit were harvested in 83 days. An early tendency for blossom end rot eventually vanished. Flavor was excellent. The plant did come down with disease in the mid season (seemed to be afflicted with pith necrosis). I liked the variety, but don’t consider it to be appreciably different, or better, than Cherokee Green. Seed saved as T23-29.

Purple Price (aka Price’s Purple) - #7800 - This is another former favorite variety that was lost to me (due to older seed that lost its viability). I requested a sample from Seed Savers Exchange, which allowed me to grow it again at last. I first received the variety from a fellow amateur tomato breeder named Tad Smith. This variety is the result of one of Tad’s first tomato breeding efforts. Tad crossed a pink potato leaf heirloom from Virginia with Purple Calabash. Once we achieved a purple colored tomato on a potato leaf plant, he worked to smooth out the fruit a bit, so did a cross with Ozark Pink. He did the breeding work at Price Hall at Virginia Tech, hence the name. What I remember is that Purple Price was a Cherokee Purple - colored tomato on a potato leaf plant, with excellent flavor. This year I confirmed my previous assessment. The 12 ounce oblate purple tomatoes were very tasty. First fruit was harvested in 80 days. Productivity was excellent. The only issue was that it was the first plant in the garden to become afflicted with septoria leaf spot. Removing blemished leaves kept it well in control. Though not in the same arena flavor-wise as Cherokee Purple, it is a variety well worth growing. Seed saved as T23-30.

Purple Dog Creek - #7816 - I acquired seed of this as a favor to my friend Adam, who enjoys growing local heirlooms. I decided to give it a chance in my garden. It is a Kentucky heirloom that originated in the community of Dog Creek, near Munfordville, Kentucky, obtained by Randy Sine of West Virginia. This plant was one vigorous monster, and was one of the most productive varieties in the garden. I harvested one fruit that was over 2 pounds, but most were in the 1 pound range. Fruit shape is quite smooth oblate, quite regular for the size - crimson pink in color. First ripe fruit was harvested in 76 days, making it quite early for a really big tomato. I liked the flavor and texture; it was a typical pink heirloom type in flavor, similar to but a bit better than German Johnson. Seed saved as T23-30.

Bing - #7333 - I decided to give Bing another chance this year, as I really enjoyed the size and flavor when I grew it a few years ago. The growth habit is a bit atypical, being highly branched and a bit “floppy” and hard to keep under control - it is a very avid sucker producer. The tomatoes are also unusual in being nearly round, quite large (up to and a bit over one pound in some cases), yet don’t have dark green shoulders as they develop. They are quite firm in texture with a very good or slightly better flavor - a very typical scarlet red beefsteak type flavor. It is quite a late variety, first fruit harvested in 92 days. The variety seems a bit disease prone in comparison to most other varieties. It didn’t perform as well this year as it did the first time I grew it. I still wonder if it could be a close relation to the historic variety Abraham Lincoln, released by the Buckbee Seed Company in 1923. Seed saved as T23-32.

Though labeled “Webber”, this is actually Parrish.

Parrish - #7864 - The seeds were given to me with the name “Webber” by my friend Adam Kirk - he acquired them from an elderly seed saver. It was a fairly unusual variety in having the palest green foliage of all of the plants in my garden and very round tomatoes with no dark green shoulders. The tomatoes ripened scarlet red and remained very smooth and very round - productivity was excellent and the flavor quite nice. First fruit was harvested in 83 days. Fruit size is very uniform in right around 8 ounces. I suspect this is a variety derived from red commercial open pollinated varieties in the 1920-1940 period, such as Rutgers or Marglobe. Adam did manage to find Webber in his growouts, which showed as a typical large yellow/red bicolor. I think that Parrish would work out as a fine canning tomato due to its productivity and smoothness. Seed saved as T23-33

The spectacular interior of Captain Lucky

Captain Lucky - #T22-9 - Captain Lucky did it again! It was the best tasting of the 2022 garden, and accomplished the same thing (to my palate) in 2023. It is a Millard Murdock variety that he created from an accidental cross between Lucky Cross and another variety. The potato leaf plant produced very well and was vigorous and healthy all season. The tomatoes started to ripen in 79 days from transplant and averaged 12 ounces. With a green and reddish purple exterior, the interior is mostly green, with a bit of crimson bleeding in. The flavor is magnificent - full, balanced, intense - just delicious. It’s not often that fairly recently acquired varieties end up in my overall top 10 list, but Captain Lucky managed to do so! Seed saved as T23-34

Zena’s Gift upper right, Little Lucky X Blue’s Bling regular leaf F4 - Rufus Rainbow - lower right.

Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom X Zena’s Gift - F1 hybrid - #7622 - This hybrid was created by my UK friend Lance Turner (of Tomato Revolution seeds). Zena’s Gift is an uncommon heirloom variety that produces large pink hearts. The hybrid that I grew was regular leaf (as expected) and very prolific, First ripe in 83 days, the tomatoes had a tendency to very slight heart shape and ran very large, up to a pound or more. The color was pink - the interior had faint hints of yellow. Seeds were few, the texture was firm and flavor pleasant and mildly sweet. When crossing heirlooms, the aim is not typically the quality of the hybrid - the “good stuff” happens when growing out saved seeds. This is likely a start point for some interesting leaf/shape/color/flavor combinations. Seed saved as T23-35.

Potato Leaf Yellow - #7799 - I was reminded why I loved this tomato so much when I first grew it in 1990. I received it from Barbara Lund of Ohio, SSE member, who sent it along with Yellow Brandywine. For some reason, I didn’t grow it very often (it seemed to struggle in Raleigh, whereas it flourished in West Chester PA). All of my saved seed lots were too old to germinate, so I requested it from the Seed Savers Exchange. They likely sent me seed from me years ago that they had frozen (this also happened when I requested the snap bean Marbel from them - kind of a perfect circle, really!). Potato Leaf Yellow was one of the best performers of my 2023 garden. The first ripe tomato was harvested 79 days from transplant. Yield was excellent - the pale orange oblate tomatoes were in the rage of 8-22 ounces, with most in the 1 pound range. My wife thought it was the best flavored tomato of the year - intense, refreshing, and well balanced. Though similar in color to Yellow Brandywine, it is clearly a different tomato in flavor and performance. Yellow Brandywine as a bit darker orange in hue, and is a bit more tart on the palate. I am so happy to have Potato Leaf Yellow as a living part of my collection once more. Seed saved as T23-36.

Potato Leaf yellow

That completes the first part of a four part 2023 tomato review. Next will be Dwarf Tomato Project varieties grown in 5 gallon grow bags in my back yard.

Array of ripe tomatoes sitting on the counter on August 1

2023 Post-season Garden Summary - part 1. Everything But the Tomatoes

July 25 shot of the melon bale - things were looking good on this date, at least

2023 saw a bit of a reorganization of the back yard straw bale garden. The last three years had the cukes, squash and beans to the left of the main tomato area. Shading at times of the day by the pine trees bordering our yard wasn’t optimal for these heat loving crops, so this year they were located to the right of the tomatoes. This seemed to work much better, and led to mostly success, with a few notable failures.

April 1 - this shows the garden layout for 2023. Front right is the quartet of bales for beans - one bale for melons sits behind. To the left is the quartet of bales for squash, with cukes behind.

This update will cover my results for the following crops - summer squash, cucumbers, melons, snap beans, peppers, eggplants, herbs, greens, garlic and potatoes.

Summer Squash - I chose 4 varieties; Eight Ball hybrid (a round dark green zucchini), Sunburst hybrid (bright yellow patty pan with a dark green “button”), Benning’s Green Tint (pale green maturing to white heirloom patty pan), and Zephyr hybrid (yellow summer squash with a pale green blossom end). The first three were new to us. I places a 3 inch deep area of potting mix onto the prepared bales and planted 3 seeds of each type. After the seeds germinated and the true leaves emerged, I removed one plant from each hill - this resulted in 8 squash plants, 2 of each type. They grew quickly and well, with the Benning’s Green Tint clearly the weaker growing of the four varieties. Flowering commenced, then fruit set. All of a sudden we went from eagerly awaiting harvest to a state of overwhelm. 8 summer squash plants for two people is simply too many plants. We enjoyed all four varieties, but struggled harvesting them when at perfect eating stage (quite small). The larger 8 ball were used to grate for chocolate zucchini bread. The patty pan and round types were typically cut into slabs and either grilled, or dipped in egg, then bread crumbs, then baked. The best variety for steaming by far was Zephyr - it is just delicious and has a nice firm texture. Overall, we rated Eight Ball and Zephyr the best for our particular needs, followed by Sunburst (a very good squash), with Benning’s Green Tint coming in last. Benning’s was relatively disappointing in yield compared to the other three, which were squash machines.

As far as plant health, only a few squash bugs showed up, which were quickly squished. Mildew was not a problem until mid August, when we were getting tired of eating them. The plants were not attacked by squash vine borer.

Next year we will likely go with one bale and 2 plants - returning to Dunja hybrid zucchini, and staying with Zephyr. It’s time to regain sanity and not overplant the summer squash.

Basket of summer squash (all four types represented), along with cucumbers, from early July.

Cucumbers - Once again, it was all about the hybrid Unagi. I dedicated one straw bale and planted two hills, 3 seeds each. The vines grew well, filled the tomato cages that I inserted onto the bales. The result was a nice yield of tasty cukes. We noted quite a few cucumber beetles - both the spotted and striped versions - so knew that the days of healthy vines were numbered. Eventually they died from likely viral disease spread by the pests. It was fine, as we had plenty. I still like the flavor of Diva a tiny bit more, but the Unagi were fine and likely lasted a bit longer before plant death.

A midsummer harvest of Marbel, Goldilocks and Celine snap beans

Snap Beans - These were definitely a highlight of the 2023 garden. Into a pushed-together quartet of straw bales covered with a thick layer of potting mix were direct seeded, double rows of Marbel, Goldilocks and Celine beans. Marbel is a long time favorite and a bean I brought back from obscurity a few years ago. It is a filet bean that is picked young, long and slender - it has distinct purple stripes that vanish upon cooking. when picked very slender they are stringless, with a lovely texture and rich flavor. Goldilocks is a bright yellow wax filet bean that was the best of the three in terms of yield and flavor. Celine is quite new and unique - it is the first dark purple wax bean, having yellow flesh. When cooked the purple color fades to a dusky wax bean color. The yield is not quite as heavy as Goldilocks, and the bean size not as long. Despite the odd cooked color, the flavor is delicious. I highly recommend all three (though Marbel is not yet available in seed catalogs). If all goes well, Victory Seeds will remedy that in a year or so. There are other snap bean types I enjoy that I will return to in the future - Maxibel, Fowler, Jade, and Roc d’Or in particular. I was going to pull the plants and plant a second crop, but the first planting gave us all we needed.

Melons - I prepared one strawbale for melons (it has been years since growing them - and I’ve not grown them successfully since early on in my Raleigh dirt garden). After bale prep, I added a thick layer of potting mix and direct seeded three types - Minnesota Midget, Eden Gem, and a hybrid from Johnny’s called Lambkin. I inserted two wire tomato cages over the hills. The melons germinated well and filled the cages, and also set fruit well. Alas, by the time the melons were sizing up and approaching ripening, disease hit - likely viral, spread by the spotted and/or striped cucumber beetles. The melon growing experience failed, and I will likely not repeat it.

Potatoes - my garden friend Bill Minkey sent me a few samples of five different potatoes - Romanze, French Fingerling, Magic Molly, Peruvian Purple and Chris Blue. All were planted in 20 gallon plastic containers in spent straw from last year’s strawbales. Bill gave me sufficient material to plant four pieces of each. The vines grew vigorously and well, finally starting to die back a few weeks ago. I ended up with a decent harvest of each, with French Fingerling the best producer by far, and Peruvian Purple giving the lowest yield. They were fun to grow, did well, but I can’t say that the flavor is any better than store bought Yukon Gold, so this was probably my only - and last - try at growing potatoes.

Lettuce in our raised beds

Greens - This was not a major effort this year, but went typically well. For lettuce, I focused on a few varieties that we really enjoy - Cherokee, Magenta (both red Batavia types), and Green Ice. Seeds were started early indoors and seedlings moved into our raised beds. We harvested plenty for our salads until they bolted from the increasing heat. I also grew a mustard, a kale and a collard - the mustard bolted quite quickly, but we enjoyed a nice harvest from the collard and kale - they shared our larger raised bed with the lettuce. I also started some rainbow chard - it is in the same bed and still going strong. If I can get sufficiently motivated I will get some lettuce seeded for fall into early winter growing.

Turmeric - When working in the greenhouse at the Veterans Healing farm, I noted that some of last year’s turmeric was emerging around some of the tomato plants. I dug a piece of the root and brought it home to plant in our elevated raised bed. It is growing well - at some point I will carefully dig the root to see how it is doing, and perhaps pot some up and keep in the garage this winter, for plant out next spring.

Ginger - With turmeric up and growing I got the idea to plant some ginger (a first for me). I purchased a nice fresh piece at the grocery store and broke it into several pieces, which were planted in potting mix in clay pots. It took a month or so, but small green growth emerged from each piece. These were moved into the raised bed after removal of the lettuce and other greens. It is growing well in three areas, and is nearing a foot tall. At some point I will dig the pieces, break some off to cook with, and pot up the rest for keeping in the garage over the winter.

Garlic - I planted approximately 20 cloves of garlic from the prior season in September, 2022, at the back of the raised bed. It grew well and by June of this year started to look ready to harvest (lower leaves yellowing), just after scaping (which we harvested - delicious to cook with). Each clove produced nice firm bulbs of varying sizes - these were dug, gathered into two bunches, tied with twine and hung in the garage to try. We are just starting to use it in our cooking. I will plant some of the cloves in a few weeks in the raised bed. This is an easy and satisfying crop to grow.

Basil - I started four types of basil from seed - Genovese, Devotion, Prospera (the latter two newer varieties bred for resistance to downy mildew), and a dark purple variety called Caramel Chianti. All germinated well - we grew several plants of each in our raised beds, as well as a few containers. The Genovese became afflicted with what appeared to be Fusarium. All of the others continue to do fine. We have a lot of frozen pesto from last year, so didn’t need to process any this year. My Greek Columnar rooted cuttings from last year didn’t survive the winter, and I couldn’t locate a seedling to grow this year.

Peppers and eggplants, early September

Peppers - Three straw bales and a few grow bags supported our reduced pepper efforts this year. I focused on the varieties I am developing from Islander hybrid - White Gold, Carolina Amethyst, Fire Opal, and Royal Purple - as well as Shishito, Chocolate Bell, Orange Bell and a Jalapeno given to me by a gardening friend.

It was another challenging year for peppers - a few of the varieties were plagued by insects chewing holes in the leaves, as well as slugs. All varieties caught on well, but the sweet bells tend to rot prior to turning ripe colors. Cooler late summer weather alleviated this issue somewhat. Carolina Amethyst grew out as the same color as Fire Opal, so more work is needed. The Shishito yielded heavily and is trouble free, still thriving. Alas, the Jalapeno must have been one of the defanged selections - it has no heat at all!

Eggplants - Strawbales and growbags hold the small selection of eggplants, all from my selection work - Midnight Lightning, Twilight Lightning, Skinny Twilight and Mardi Gras. They did - and continue to do - very well. They present less problems for me than bell peppers.

Next up will be the first of the 2023 tomato summaries. There will be several of them - there is a LOT of info to gather and present.

late August view of the flower garden

Anyone see those last two months? Big time update is long overdue!

All that remains of the garden, pic taken September 1

I know that a blog entry is long overdue. If I were to describe what transpired in July after my July 5 blog - and all of August - the best word would be “blur”. A companion word would be “overwhelm” - and while we are at it, let’s add a dash of “hot!”.

Something I’ve noticed about my behavior once I get behind in things - I just get even more behind. It gets hard to even contemplate catching up - part procrastination, but also just as much a desire to hide! There is some guilt in there too. At one point, my email inbox was well over 100, most of those unanswered emails gardening questions.

What made this particular growing season unique was the size and complexity of the effort. Having the greenhouse at the Veterans Healing Farm was such a wonderful experience. But, tending 115 plants there (with the help of a truly stellar volunteer crew) and 70 plants here stretched me to my 67 year old, bad kneed limits.

I did get it all done, somehow. Nearly 200 packets of saved seeds sit on my office shelves. There are folders of pictures on my laptop, a set of weekly Instagram Live videos available to watch in the proper tab on my IG profile. Two tomato tastings were rousing successes. I am enjoying less frenetic days, as Sue and I work in our hikes and kayak trips.

View of the garden on July 17

Just writing this blog means I am serious about summarizing the season. I will do this in several parts - first will be anything aside from tomatoes (squash, beans, melons, cukes, potatoes, peppers and eggplants). The next will be a detailed summary of my tomato results from my back yard (I may split that into two parts - it depends how long it turns out to be). Finally will be a summary of the Veterans Healing Farm results (which again may end up being two parts - 115 is an awful lot of plants).

I will be working on these in the evenings and hope to get the entire set of updates posted within a few weeks. After that, I hope to be finalizing plans to write my third book with Storey Publishing, focusing on the Dwarf Tomato Project effort. One more major future milestone for me that will definitely impact my 2024 garden - I will get a new left knee on December 5!

Getting things ready for the Veterans Healing Farm tomato tasting at The Buzz on August 16.

Here's what's growing in the Veterans Healing Farm greenhouse

Veterans Healing Farm greenhouse - view from the side

On May 5, 115 tomato plants were settled into six rows in the greenhouse of the Veterans Healing Farm in Horse Shoe, NC. Each plant is unique - either by variety, or seed lot used to create them.

The varieties growing in the greenhouse are split between released Dwarf Tomato Project varieties and indeterminate heirlooms. The two outer rows are exclusively dwarfs. the inner four rows contain a few dwarfs at each end with the rest of the rows indeterminate types.

Unless otherwise noted, the dwarf plants are all from Victory Seeds - this is a great opportunity to compare the varieties as offered by Victory with the original intent of the project.

Following is a list of the dwarf varieties:

1. Sweet Sue

2. Irma’s Highland (yet to be released)

3. Firebird Sweet

4. Elsie’s Fancy

5. Purple Heart (from Fruition seeds)

6. Choemato

7. Eagle Smiley

8. Snakebite

9. Parfait

10. Russian Swirl

11. Lucky Swirl (Fruition seeds)

12. Idaho Gem (affected with Collar Rot - replaced mid June)

13. Mahogany (affected with Collar Rot - replaced mid June)

14. Langston (replaced Tanager, which had collar rot)

15. Shimmering Beauty (replaced Orange Cream, which had collar rot)

16. Maralinga (affected with Collar Rot - replaced mid June)

17. BrandyFred

18. Banksia Queen

19. Coorong Pink

20. Sarah’s Red

21. Chocolate Lightning

22. Hannah’s Prize

23. Pink Livija

24. Adelaide Festival

25. Goldfinch

26. Beauty King

27. Golden Tipsy

28. Black Angus

29. Loxton Lass

30. Purple Heart (Victory)

31. Lucky Swirl (Victory)

32. TastyWine

33. Wilpena

34. Summer Sunrise

35. Summertime Green

36. Rosella Purple

37. Blazing Beauty

38. Grinch

39. Saucy Mary

40. Wild Spudleaf

41. Perfect Harmony

42. Rosella Crimson (my 2020 saved seed)

43. Suz’s Beauty

44. Rosella Crimson (Victory)

45. Kodiak King

46. Sweet Scarlet Dwarf

47. Willa’s Cariboo Rose

48. Walter’s Fancy

49. Zoe’s Sweet

50. Loxton Lad

51. Wild Fred

Several of the tomatoes are from Kleverhof, a European Seed Company - all from their Fairy series. Some of these are determinate

1. Fairy Fee

2. Fairy Elf

3. Fairy Snack

4. Fairy Garnet

5. Fairy Fruit

Now, the indeterminate heirloom varieties

1. Lillian Rose (the replacement plant for Fairy Monster - this is an F3 selection from Cherokee Purple X Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom)

2. Big Sandy - 2022 saved seed

3. Monticello Mystery Tomato from saved seed

4. Polish - 2023 saved seed

5. Cancelmo Family Heirloom - 2020 saved seed

6. Giant Syrian - 2021 saved seed

7. Monticello Mystery sample 5125

8. Andrew Rahart’s Jumbo Red - 2019 saved seed

9. Fritsche Family Favorite

10. Cherokee Green X Caitlin’s Lucky Stripe F2 regular leaf selection

11. Hugh’s - saved in 2013

12. Giant Syrian - 2013 saved seed

13. Stocky’s Italian

14. Marlowe Charleston

15. TBT

16. Kosovo

17. Hugh’s - 2021 saved seed

18. Nepal

19. Abraham Lincoln - sample from the USDA

20. Cherokee Purple - Peregrine Farms strain

21. Eva Purple Ball

22. Yellow Brandywine

23. Ferris Wheel

24. Aker’s West Virginia

25. Andrew Rahart Jumbo Red - 2021 saved seed

26. Casey’s Pure Yellow

27. Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom

28. Lucky Cross

29. Stump of the World

30. Large Lucky Red

31. Anna Russian

32. JD Special C Tex - 2019 saved seed

33. Cherokee Chocolate - 2022 saved seed

34. Estler’s Mortgage Lifter

35. Indian Stripe - from 2019 saved seed

36. Brandywine

37. Cherokee Purple - 2022 saved seed

38. Blue’s Bling X Polish F3 selection

39. Hege’s German Pink

40. Don’s Double Delight X Cancelmo Family Heirloom F2 regular leaf selection

41. Captain Lucky

42. Cancelmo Family Heirloom - 2017 saved seed

43. Lucky Cross - from seed T11-8

44. Lucky Cross - from seed T11-50

45. Dester - from 2012 saved seed

46. Hugh’s - from 2014 saved seed

47. Big Sandy - from 2013 saved seed

48. Giant Syrian - from 2012 saved seed

49. Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom - from 2012 saved seed

50. Indian Stripe - from 2011 saved seed

51. Cherokee Chocolate - from 2012 saved seed

52. McCutcheon

53. Lucky Cross - from T11-14

54. Gallo Plum

55. Dester

56. Cancelmo Family Heirloom - from 2013 saved seed

57. JD Special C Tex - from 2012 saved seed

58. Little Lucky (replaced the Kleverhof variety Fairy Angel, which had collar rot)

The above represents a lot of seed collection management and gardening research and development. Reporting results will be really fun - we are about a month or so away from that, though.

A look down a few of the rows in mid June

The garden is planted, the stakes are in - here's what I'm growing...

Banging in the last of the 6 or 8 foot stakes for the tomatoes

A few more weeks somehow snuck by. It’s been both delightfully busy, and delightful - some talks, lots of gardening, and an appearance on a great long-time NPR radio show and podcast, Science Friday. You can listen to the episode here - Ira Flatow asked me about the Dwarf Tomato Breeding Project.

Let’s get right to it. On May 8, the following seedlings were planted in straw bales.

Tomatoes - Sgt. Peppers, Abraham Brown, Polish, World War II, Big Sandy, Lucky Cross, Bisignano #2, Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom, Brandywine, Green Giant, Cherokee Purple, Cherokee Chocolate, Dorothy’s Green, Earl, Little Lucky, Cherokee Green, Price’s Purple, Purple Dog Creek, Bing, Webber, Captain Lucky, Potato Leaf Yellow (heirlooms), Cancelmo Family Heirloom X Green Giant F3 selection potato leaf, Cherokee Purple X Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom F3 selections (four different ones, including a name selection Lillian Rose), Ferris Wheel X Striped Sweetheart F2 - a potato leaf and a regular leaf selection, Cherokee Green X Earl F1 hybrid, Little Lucky X Blues Bling F3 selections - one potato leaf, one regular leaf, Cherokee Green X Caitlin’s Lucky Stripe F2 potato leaf selection, Don’s Double Delight X Cancelmo Family Heirloom F2 potato leaf selection, Cherokee Chocolate X Stump of the World F3 selection, Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom X Zena’s Gift F1 hybrid (all results of crosses between indeterminate heirloom varieties).

Peppers - Chocolate Bell, Orange Bell, Shishito.

Eggplants - Mardi Gras, Midnight Lightning, Twilight Lightning.

Bush Beans (direct seeded) - Celine, Goldilocks, Marbel.

Melons (direct seeded) - Minnesota Midget, Lambkin, Eden Gem.

Summer Squash - Eight Ball, Sunburst, Bennings Green Tint, Zephyr.

On May 16 or May 18, the following were planted in 5 gallon grow bags.

Tomatoes - Coyote (two plants - from 2013 and 2017 saved seeds), Pink Princess, Sun Gold hybrid, Fairy Fee, Fairy Gold, Fairy Elf, Fairly Snack, Ruthje, Egg Yolk, Mexico Midget (all indeterminate varieties), and dwarf tomatoes Peppermint Stripes, Wherokowhai, Shimmering Beauty, Mr. Snow, Uluru Ochre, Sara’s Olalla Emerald, Choemato, Awesome, Swirly Heart, Big Valentine, Sonrojo Monster, Betts’ Beauty, Gloria’s Treat, Marlin’s Slicer, Emerald Giant, Confetti, Langston, Sweet Sue, Chilli Chick’s Wonder, Phyl’s Ivory Beauty, Lilly F3, Charisma (chartreuse leaf Jade Beauty possible mutant), Harmonic Convergence.

Peppers - Royal Purple, White Gold, Carolina Amethyst, Fire Opal, Jalapeno.

Eggplants - Skinny Twilight.

This will be a fascinating - and delicious - garden! If all goes well, I will be sampling 70 tomatoes, 8 peppers and 4 eggplants. Add the 115 tomatoes from the Veterans Healing Farm (which I will report on in the next blog)

Don’t forget - I will be talking tomatoes at the Hendersonville Public Library this coming Tuesday evening, June 13, at 5:30 - there is no charge to attend.

The Strawbale garden with grow bags.