Off The Vine Volume 3, Number 1. "1996 Summer Tomato Growouts" by Carolyn

View from the Graveyard Fields hiking area along the Blue Ridge on Sept 22 2022

The last repost was my overview of my 1996 tomato garden - here is Carolyn’s. Reading it again was a joy. It is a gem!

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1996 Summer Tomato Grow-outs

Carolyn Male

This summer will be a summer of surprises since most of the varieties I’m growing are totally new to me.  As always, first priority goes to replenishing seed stocks of those varieties I offer through the Seed Savers Exchange (SSE).  This past spring I completely ran out of several varieties such as Omar’s Lebanese, Yellow Brandywine (Platfoot) and Dr. Lyle.  It’s true that I wrote a glowing report for Omar’s, but that’s because it was exceptional for me.  In the SSE Yearbook I also described one tomato as being “vile” and one person said she just had to have it to see what bad really was.  I hope, for my sake, it’s bad for her, too!

So, the first fifty of my growouts were for new seed stock.  Then came a small series of various crosses to be used to generate F2 varieties to offer to OTV subscribers next spring.  So far, the most interesting appears to be a Galina X Black Krim cross donated by Steve Draper and a possible Brandywine X Big Rainbow cross donated by Stanley Zubrowski.  We could use more F2s, so if you see a cross in your trials please save lots of seed for us if you can.  Velvet Red (angora foliage), Brianna, Pink Ice and several others were from Joe Bratka.  Chuck Wyatt wanted to be sure I tried Korean Love and Sojourner, so he sent me the seeds.  Steve Draper sent along the above cross and a few others including something labeled “Surprise”.  When I asked him a few weeks ago if Surprise was indeterminate or determinate, he professed to not know!  Ha!  I’ll get him next year.  Next there were about 40 varieties from various seed companies in France and from an SSE member in Sweden that I got from a friend in England.  Most of those I could spell, but then came a series from an American friend with names like Vesennij Micurinskij (my label reads “Ves”) and Slivovidnyj (my label reads “Sliv”).

Next came a series of 19 varieties I’m trialing for someone; seed will not be reoffered by me.  Then comes another series of 11 Russian varieties I’m trialing for someone else and I won’t be reoffering seed of these either.  This latter series came labeled with numbers only for identification.  So there’s no chance of seeing a label that says Humungous Heavenly Rich Red and saying “by gosh, it is!”.  And the total count at this point is 156 and I’m getting worried.  Of the varieties obtained from the USDA this year I have room for only Livingston’s Perfection and Peach Blow Sutton.  Arriving late, but not too late to sow are 22 varieties from Tom Wagner as explained in the last issue and in the current C and C’s column.  Of course I am just trialing these and no seed will be available.  So as you can see from the above, a good portion of my 200 varieties are varieties I’m excited to experience and trial for others, but will not be offering seed from these for obvious reasons.

Then I had to plant the varieties I’d be using in the 1850s Shaker reproduction garden I do; varieties such as King Humbert, Green Gage, Red and Yellow Pears, Early Large Red and Triumph.  The very last think I do is to look over the varieties sown and be sure I’ve got most of my favorites and to be sure I’ve got representatives from all color classes and shapes and foliage in case a field demonstration day is scheduled.  I cannot be without German Red Strawberry, Large Pink Bulgarian, Riesentraube, Aunt Ruby’s German Green, Orange Strawberry, Marizol Gold, Regina’s Yellow, Green Grape, Dr. Carolyn (my Galina ivory mutant), Sandul Moldovan, Russian #117, Golden Queen, Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom, Opalka and several others!  I’d like to thank Steve Draper for naming my Galina ivory mutant “Dr. Carolyn” and introducing it to the SSE.  It’s a bit embarrassing but it’s a good tomato!

And it appears that there might be a field demonstration day this year via the Cornell Cooperative Extension of a five county area in Eastern NY state; I’ll know for sure in mid-June.  Our regular readers will know that I have a commercial farmer friend named Charlie who allows me to transplant everything at his greenhouses and then he grows on the plants for me.  Charlie also prepares the fields for me and his “folks” do all the early cultivating and fertilizing for me.  I thought Charlie would be pleased when I told him about the possible field demo day, but he winced, badly.  You need to understand that Charlie tolerates heirloom tomatoes, he doesn’t like them…he humors me.  You also need to understand that Charlie’s fields are meticulous, with nary a weed anywhere.  That’s why he was wincing.  I have a good close personal relationship with weeds, he doesn’t.  Last fall we went nuts cleaning mine out because a photography crew was coming, and he wasn’t going to go through that again.  So, here’s what I got.  For the first time ever Charlie put weed retardant on MY field.  And for the first time ever the rows are commercial distances apart so we can cultivate longer into the season.  And for the second year in a row Charlie made the row marks for me with his plant setter.  Until two years ago the highlight of the season was watching yours truly try to make a straight 250 foot row so all the others would be straight.  I’m not very good at it, even using his furrow marks.  Now I have no problems with the rows being straight, but crawling along and planting nine rows each 250 feet long is not kind to my arthritic knees.  And I also got the soil saturated with this noxious chemical which costs about $600 per gallon and is supposed to protect against Colorado Potato Beetles for the whole year with just one application.  I won’t tell you the name for two reasons.  First, it’s available only to those with a certain class pesticide certificate and can only be used in those states and counties where it has been approved.  And second, I don’t know if it’s going to work yet.  I’ll need a few more weeks of observations.  I have too many plants to hand pick the beetles or use BT (San Diego) easily, and my beetles are so smart they head for the potato leaf plants first.  I tell you truly!  After planting a third plant this year I saw my first beetle.  It had a megaphone and was broadcasting the news that the nice lady was setting out breakfast, lunch and dinner for the whole crowd for the next few months.  OK, so I don’t grow organically.  I do let Charlie use chemicals.  You try taking care of 600-800 plants in a disease prone area…and I’m “up” on my disease prone areas after doing the research for the OTV Disease project.  Hope you’ll still love me knowing I personally don’t put the noxious chemicals on the tomatoes…I let Charlie do it!

One of my favorite times of the growing year occurs after I transplant my plants from Charlie’s greenhouses to my greenhouse for hardening off.  My greenhouse hasn’t had sash for 20 years.  My greenhouse has birch trees, blackcaps, nightshade, Queen Anne’s lace, perennial sweet peas and wild grapevine growing inside.  My greenhouse has falling down, rotting benches, except at one end which is roofed over where the old furnace sits stoically gazing at the old oil tank.  When I was a child all the furnaces in all the greenhouses burned coal and the conversion to oil was a big event.  It takes me several days to sort out the plants in the order I want and to label the extras to give away.  Those few days are heaven.  The light is filtered by the birth trees and it’s so peaceful.  No phones, radios, TVs, etc.  Occasionally my mother’s cat Boots, a Tiger cat with notches in his ears from various “life experiences” and a gimpy front left leg as a result of a luxated joint from fighting some critter, comes to join me.  We talk, but he always gets bored first and leaves.  I don’t take it personally; he’s a cat and needs to feel superior!

All the tomatoes were planted out in the last week of May.  The last row in the field has many varieties of watermelons, other melons, cucumbers, and peppers.  I am growing very few peppers this year knowing that I’d have so many tomatoes.  I have another smaller garden, about 50 X 70 feet, where I grow my beans, carrots, squash, Chinese greens, lettuce, kohlrabi, broccoli, peas, beets and the rest of the “vegetable stuff”.  I don’t “do” corn; that’s one of Charlie’s specialties so I finger prune what I need.  And this is the year I should get melons to eat.  Three out of four years they go down with various wilts/mildews before I get anything to eat.  This is the fourth year.  I believe in statistical averages.  I’ll let you know in October/November.

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See? A true gem - and a joy to read. It is sad to think that so many of those tomatoes Carolyn planned to grow but not reoffer will remain unknown to us all.

Latest specimen for the Dwarf Tomato Breeding Project - Glory F2, plant 1 regular leaf.

My Tomato Collection Tour, part 23. Tomatoes #301-350

Texas Star - unusual white version of Hibiscus coccinea - blossoming Sept 18

I decided to do a set of 50 because we are at the core of the Don Branscomb-sent varieties, of which I grew very few. Aside from those, a few gems appear - Potato Leaf Yellow and Yellow Brandywine, in particular, but also Madara. Much of the info below can be scanned quickly - but do pay attention to a few of my very favorites that finally appear!

Tomatoes #301 through #327, and #336 through #350, are a continuation of the varieties sent to me by Don Branscomb of California, unrequested, in 1990. when possible I will provide information, but for the most part, they remain total mysteries. Some of these were sent to Carolyn for grow out, but I’ve no idea how they did for her. I grew a few of the following, as indicated.

Tomato #301 - 11-Jul - no information available, not grown

Tomato #302 - Red Per - Did Don mean Red “Pear”? No info for the tomato as spelled.

Tomato #303 - Chico III - California-bred determinate paste tomato, listed in SSE and sold by a few seed companies.

Tomato #304 - Ridge - I grew it in 1991 - determinate plant, small round red tomatoes of no special flavor that had a cracking issue. No information anywhere.

Tomato #305 - Ropreco - Determinate heirloom sauce tomato sold by a few seed companies - quite obscure. I didn’t grow it.

Tomato #306 - New Sunnyvalle - I didn’t grow it, no information about it anywhere.

Tomato #307 - Mala - I didn’t grow it, no info anywhere.

Tomato #308 - Hank - Here is an odd tomato. I grew it in 1991 and it was a pretty wild looking bushy indeterminate tomato that yielded a ton of pink flat ribbed mini beefsteaks. Flavor was OK, on the sweet side. Tatiana Tomatobase shows and describes it.

Tomato #309 - Pan Ame - I didn’t grow it, no info - could be Pan American, a tomato listed by Maule in 1907 and available from the USDA - Don may have gotten it from there. Victory also sells it and offers a different description as a recently bred variety.

Tomato #310 - Lanera - Didn’t grow it, no info

Tomato #311 - Thai - Didn’t grow it, no info

Tomato #312 - Tonight - Didn’t grow it, no info

Tomato #313 - Packard - I grew this in 1991. Determinate plant, medium to large red globe, bland. SSE lists it as from Don, probably got the seed from me

Tomato #314 - Overland - Didn’t grow it, no info.

Tomato #315 - Speakeasy - I grew it in 1991 - determinate plant, medium cracking red globes, bland. No additional info.

Tomato #316 - Jan V - Didn’t grow it, no info.

Tomato #317 - Hill Top - Didn’t grow it, no info.

Tomato #318 - Turkey Chomp - This is quite an interesting tomato. In 1991 I got an indeterminate plant with medium to medium large slightly oblate red tomatoes with great flavor. Saved seeds gave an occasional potato leaf plant with yellow foliage, like Honor Bright, that gave the same kind of tomatoes. I named that selection Surprise.

Tomato #319 - Kewalo - not grown, already described earlier in my collection as a disease resistant red variety of medium size bred by the U of Hawaii.

Tomato #320 - Cross Bow - Didn’t grow it, no information.

Tomato #321 - Pike’s Peak - Didn’t grow it, no info

Tomato #322 - Large Jar - Didn’t grow it, no info

Tomato #323 - Hog - Didn’t grow it, no info

Tomato #324 - Kids - really? (I think I sent this to Carolyn) - no info, didn’t grow

Tomato #325 - Cat - another head scratcher! No info, didn’t grow

Tomato #326 - Land Ho - no info, didn’t grow

Tomato #327 - Kero - no info, didn’t grow

Tomato #328 - Burbank - I purchased this from Seeds Blum in 1990 and didn’t grow it. It was bred in California by the Luther Burbank company and released in 1914. It is supposedly a medium sized red tomato.

Tomato #329 - Dexter 1-11 - Another Branscomb variety, didn’t grow, no info.

Tomato #330 - Abraham Lincoln - From Mark Futterman, SSE member from California. Grew this in 1990, but sadly it was another example of the wrong/crossed variety, too small, and determinate.

Tomato #331 - Madara - obtained from Swedish SSE member SWED RO L in 1990 - I grew it several times and found it to be a fine, indeterminate productive yellow cherry tomato. It has some limited availability. I really do need to get some fresh seeds and regrow it!

Tomato #332 - Potato Leaf Yellow - I received this, along with the next three, from SSE member Barbara Lund of Ohio in 1990. I really loved this tomato and need to grow it again soon. It is potato leaf, large, oblate, and a pale orange, similar to Yellow Brandywine but not as tart. Barbara indicated that this may have been a somatic mutation from a pink tomato. I need to find her letter and confirm the history.

Tomato #333 - Yellow Brandywine - I grew this and the one above in 1991, having received each from Barbara Lund. This tomato was a bit larger and more oblate, and a bit more tart in flavor, but both are superb. I suspect this is an aka for the variety Shah, released by Henderson in 1890 as a color sport of their large pink potato leaf variety Mikado (which may in fact be Brandywine).

Tomato #334 - Yellow Stone - Another variety sent by Barbara Lund in 1990, this tomato when grown in 1991 gave a typical large fruited regular leaf beefsteak that was yellow with red swirls, just like Ruby Gold and so many others. The flavor was typically sweet, mild and “peachy”, not my favorite type of tomato flavor.

Tomato #335 - Yellow Beefsteak - the final of the four Lund tomatoes sent to me in 1990, this tomato, grown in 1994, showed itself to be crossed, giving medium sized unexceptional red tomatoes.

Tomato #336 - Red Jacket - Back to the Branscomb sent varieties of 1990 - didn’t grow, no info found.

Tomato #337 - Hardin - Branscomb variety - didn’t grow, no info.

Tomato #338 - Sekai Ichi - Branscomb variety - didn’t grow, no info.

Tomato #339 - Grossa - Branscomb variety, didn’t grow, no info.

Tomato #340 - Bon Jon - Branscomb variety, didn’t grow, no info.

Tomato #341 - Chico - Branscomb variety I assume is the same as Chico III - a red determinate California paste tomato.

Tomato #342 - Viljoule - Branscomb variety, didn’t grow, no info.

Tomato #343 - Red Kaki - Branscomb variety, didn’t grow, no info.

Tomato #344 - Las Talas - Branscomb variety, didn’t grow, no info.

Tomato #345 - Aurore - Branscomb variety, didn’t grow, no info.

Tomato #346 - Improved Pepper - Branscomb variety, assume it to be a pepper shaped stuffing tomato, didn’t grow, no info.

Tomato #347 - Hamra - Branscomb variety, didn’t grow, no info.

Tomato #348 - Manyana - Branscomb variety, didn’t grow, no info except it is listed in the SSE exchange as available from Calvin Wait.

Tomato #349 - Marmade Special - Branscomb variety, I assume this is a misspelling of Marmande, a flat, ribbed, determinate French red slicing tomato.

Tomato #350 - Cowen - Branscomb variety, didn’t grow, no info.

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Well, nothing too earth shattering among the Branscomb tomatoes except Turkey Chomp, and, perhaps, Hank. Potato Leaf Yellow, Yellow Brandywine and Madara are all fine to great tomatoes, however.

Finally! This white clematis was at our front mailbox when we moved into our Raleigh home in 1992. I got moved around and abused - but we brought a piece to Hendersonville, where it is happy once more! 30 year old plant showing off in late Sept 2022!

Off The Vine Volume 3, Number 1. "Craig's Picks for '96" by Craig

Zinnias still going strong on Sept 18

I enjoy going down memory lane to revisit what sorts of things I grew in my gardens back then. Just a quick scan pulls out a highlight - what I called “Cherokee Brick Red Cross” - now, of course, known as Cherokee Chocolate. I’ll reflect more after the article.

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Craig’s Picks for ‘96

by Craig

This is my favorite time of the gardening season. The seed requests from SSE members have just about dried up and the weather is near perfect for working the soil. In fact, nearly all of my garden is planted as I sit typing this article in mid-May. As usual, my original plan of limiting the number of varieties of tomatoes has gone out the window! The population in the soil will end up at around 90 types. There will also be about 30 pepper plants. I guess that I owe Carolyn that bottle of wine; she clearly knows me only too well!

This year, the decision of what to grow was the most challenging yet.  The past two years focused upon older commercial varieties that Carolyn and I “rescued” from the USDA seed storage facilities. This year I returned to concentrating on the true heirloom tomatoes. Over the past five years I have requested many varieties from the Seed Saver’s Exchange members. This is the year to see what they look and taste like in my garden. There is always room for some old favorites, of course, and even a sprinkling of oddities and mysteries. Yes, it will certainly be an adventure in the garden this summer. Hopefully, the deer who keep visiting the garden for nibbles (a habit that they developed last fall and continues through the spring) will find a better food source. It would be nice if my plants can avoid the foliage disease that was so prevalent last year, due to the cold and rainy June. So, I will arm myself with bars of red Lifebuoy or Irish Spring soap, or eggs, or kitty litter, or hair (all various deer-away ideas related to me by various other gardeners) and prepare to defend my tomatoes and peppers from the critters! Some consistently good weather would also be appreciated, but that factor is in hands much more powerful than mine.

Enough chatting; it is time to get down to the business of showing you how I lost my bet to Carolyn. Let’s start with my old friends, shall we? Among the tomatoes that I would not be caught dead without are Aunt Ruby’s German Green (large pale green), Yellow Brandywine (large smooth potato leaf gold), Polish (large potato leaf pink), Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom (large potato leaf bright yellow), Cherokee Purple (large dusky rose), Green (large amber green), Halladay’s Mortgage Lifter (huge pink), Brandywine (large potato leaf pink), Anna Russian (large, early heart shaped pink), and Sun Gold (gold cherry tomato) hybrid. Other more recent favorites that are now an addiction are three delicious yellow tomatoes, Orange, Azoychka, Golden Queen (the bright yellow version originally developed by Livingston in the late 1880’s), Mennonite (huge red/yellow bicolor), Indische Fleische, Great White, and Abraham Lincoln (the large, red, USDA accession). The tomatoes that I have not grown for some time, but will experience again this year, are Andrew Rahart’s Jumbo Red (very large red), Yellow Bell (bright yellow, indeterminate plum tomato), Gallo Plum (long red sauce tomato), Black Krim (for the appearance, being a dark, dusky rose, not the flavor, which is a bit odd to me), Soldacki (large potato leaf pink), Marizol Purple (large pink), Indian Reservation (large red/yellow bicolor), Grandpa’s Cock’s Plume (very large pink heart, and the weakest seedling I have seen), Giant Syrian (very large red heart), Price’s Purple (large, potato leaf dusky rose), Gregori’s Altai (medium to large pink), and Coyote (ivory colored cherry tomato, grows wild in Mexico).

This is the large list of heirlooms that I have collected over the years but will grow and taste for this first time in 1996. The list consists of Aunt Ginny’s Purple (potato leaf pink), Tap (I have both potato leaf and regular leaf seedlings, so of course will grow both; sent to me by James Garvey of PA, color unknown), Aker’s West Virginia (from Carl Aker, PA, color unknown), Page German, Druzba, Zogola, Sandul Moldovan, Manyel, Eckert Polish, Olena Ukrainian, Mirabelle, Russian 117 (these 9 from Carolyn’s Hall of Fame), Kellogg’s Breakfast, Green Zebra, Snowball, Amelia Rose, Whittemore, Plumsteak, Sojourner, Plum Lemon, Selwin Yellow, Leo Harper Yellow, Elfie, Arlene’s Poland, Pike County Heirloom, Adelia, Middle Tennessee Low Acid, Penny, Early Annie, Old Virginia, Bridge Mike’s, Guiseppe’s Big Boy, Brown’s Large Red, Red Brandywine, Deep Yellow German, Regina’s Yellow, Berwick German, Russian, Hungarian, German Heirloom, Rasp Red, German, Niemeyer, Brown’s Yellow Giant, Honey, Curry, Big Junn, and German Pink (the first tomato listed in the Seed Saver’s Exchange list, originally from Diane Whealey’s Aunt).

The short list of mysteries include recently appearing potato leaf versions of Bisignano #2, Madara, and Sun Gold F4 generation, Cherokee Brick Red cross, Robinson’s Red (sent to me as a bicolor, but this red one showed up the first year I planted it), and Purple Perfect X Price’s Purple F2. Finally, there are five new USDA accessions, including Perfection (one of the original Livingston pre 1900 varieties), Dwarf Perfection, Yellow Beauty, Chartreuse Mutant, and Peach Blow Sutton, of all things!  (Your guess is as good as mine for the last two!!). So, as you can see, I will have a lot of good eating this year if the weather cooperates. I cannot even think yet about all the cups of moldy, stinky fermenting seeds that lie ahead.  The fruit flies are planning on it, you can be sure! 

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It is amusing to read about my various unsuccessful attempts to ward off deer. Soap? Fat chance! I eventually went to an electric fence - but the only thing that truly worked over the long haul was the water scarecrow motion detector sprinkler.

The "must grow” list includes some that I no longer consider such - Aunt Ruby’s German Green, Green (which I renamed Dorothy’s Green) and Halladay’s Mortgage Lifter are fine varieties, but I am content to grow them only occasionally.

The list of those new to me include some that have become garden staples - Aker’s West Virginia and Red Brandywine in particular. There are many on that list that I really should revisit - there are some fine tomatoes in that list. That was really a fun garden, and it is interesting to see the variety list prior to my immersion into the dwarf tomato breeding project.

Some really pretty Royal Purple, on their way to dark red - on very happy plants on September 18.

My Tomato Collection Tour Part 22. Tomatoes #276 - #300

Sunrise at Ocracoke - from our 2002 Thanksgiving trip

Since we are getting to part of my collection where I’ve not grown many of the varieties out, I am expanding into chunks of 25. This is an odd bunch. I’ve grown very few, but perhaps the most important tomato of all in my collection, Cherokee Purple, finally appears as #287. Many of these were sent to me, unrequested, by a Californian tomato collector named Don Branscomb, and upcoming Parts are exclusively so. Considering I only grew 6 of the following 25 tomatoes, this won’t be a very large section.

Tomato #276 - Cancer - sent by Don Branscomb, 1990. I never grew it, but shared all of the Branscomb samples with Carolyn and I believe she did grow it. It is listed as a medium sized pink in the SSE Exchange.

Tomato #277 - Clearlake Pink - Another from Don Branscomb (who lived in Clearlake CA) - not grown by me, but listed in the SSE exchange. Supposedly an indigenous variety from that area - highly oblate ribbed mediums sized determinate pink.

Tomato #278 - Transparent Beef - Same source - not grown by me - Exchange describes it as a medium sized flavorful pink tomato.

Tomato #279 - Brandywine Mutate - another Branscomb variety of which nothing seems to be known. I have the seed, never grew it, and it more than likely won’t germinate.

Tomato #280 - Healani - Sent to me by George Pesta of WV in 1990 and not grown. A variety developed for various disease resistances by the University of Hawaii, and described as medium sized red tomato.

Tomato #281 - Kewalo - Also from George Pesta and not grown by me, and also a tomato bred for various tomato disease resistances by the U of Hawaii. It is a medium sized red tomato.

Tomato #282 - Star Trek - Sent to me by David George in 1990 as his own selection, and grown by me in 1990. It is an indeterminate medium to large red, good flavor, regular leaf plant. It is still listed as available in the SSE Exchange.

Tomato #283 - Ropreco Italian - from Don Branscomb 1990. Not much is known about this except it is a determinate red Italian typical paste tomato with various availability from smaller seed companies.

Tomato #284 - DX 52-12 - from Don Branscomb 1990. Bred by Alan Hamson for Campbell Soup, apparently a determinate medium round paste type of red color, offered in the SSE exchange.

Tomato #285 - Better Boy Hy Clone - from Don Branscomb 1990, and nothing appears to be known about it. Don Branscomb sent lots of these obscure mysteries!

Tomato #286 - Yellow Gold - Sent to me by J. D. Green along with Cherokee Purple (wow, what a piece of mail that was!). I grew it out in 1991 and it was a rampant, high yielding determinate plant with somewhat fine foliage and medium sized yellow lumpy plum fruit with some hollow spaces inside. It seems to have passed into oblivion.

Tomato #287 - Cherokee Purple - This is the most important tomato in my collection. Sent to me by John Green of Sevierville TN in 1990 with no name, subsequent conversations indicate he received the seed from Jean Greenlee of Rutledge, TN - her grandfather received them from the Cherokee Nation. I gave it its name and sent it to Jeff McCormack of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. He introduced it in 1993. It is simply a superb variety, producing 8-12 ounce purple tomatoes with a full, complete flavor.

Tomato #288 - Rocky - received from SSE member IL NI M in 1990 and never grown. Apparently “large bomb shaped red tomatoes, some tending to a heart shape, with ferny/wispy foliage. Rocky Mastro received seeds from an Italian friend in the 1960s who brought them back from a visit to Italy. Rocky gave them to George McLaughlin’s father in 1973 - he passed them on to George in 1983.

Tomato #289 - German Yellow - from MO PE R in 1990, grown in 1990 but was obviously crossed (I got medium hollow red tomatoes instead of orange or yellow). There are quite a few “German Yellow” listed in the SSE - who knows which, if any, are this one.

Tomato #290 - Russo Sicilian (Togetta) - from IA RO R in 1990. I didn’t grow this sample, but did grow Russo Sicilian as sold by the SSE. It was apparently brought to the US from Italy in the 1987 and given to Ann Fuller of Indiana. The regular leaf plants produce medium flat red tomatoes with distinct scalloping. I found it attractive when I grew the SSE commercial sample, but not necessarily enjoyable.

Tomato #291 - Micado Violettor - This and the tomatoes up to Bielorussia were sent to me by Paul Gardener of Australia in 1990. Paul described this one as striped or with two colors, but I didn’t find that. Hoping it was a form of the historic variety Mikado (Henderson, 1880s), I did get a large (rampant!) potato leaf plant that produced loads of smallish flat bland pink tomatoes.

Tomato #292 - Yellow Egg - Also from Paul Gardener and not grown out. Listed in the SSE exchange with no description.

Tomato #293 - Ambition - From Paul Gardener, not grown. It is listed in the SSE exchange as available but with no description.

Tomato #294 - Jahmatto - From Paul Gardener, not grown. No description can be found anywhere.

Tomato #295 - Bielorussia - From Paul Gardener, not grown. No descriptions can be found anywhere.

Tomato #296 - Canner 95 - Here we resume the Don Branscomb varieties. The SSE Exchange lists a tomato “95” that was sent by Territorial Seed - apparently the typical red paste canning tomato for the PNW. I never grew it and there is no additional info that I can find.

Tomato #297 - O 457 - From Branscomb, 1990, and utterly obscure. I didn’t grow it out.

Tomato #298 - Elisa - from Don Branscomb, 1990. I grew it in 1991 - it was determinate, with medium sized average tasting red tomatoes that cracked badly. No info seems to exist anywhere.

Tomato #299 - Valdy - from Don Branscomb 1990, never grown, no info available.

Tomato #300 - Deep Globe - from Don Branscomb, 1990. Never grown, no information available anywhere.

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Pretty uninspiring set of tomatoes shown above. The jewel of the bunch is Cherokee Purple, of course. I do wish that Yellow Gold were still around to try again - it was quite odd and interesting.

The next set of 25 will be similarly uninteresting, as they were all sent by Don Branscomb, and I grew but a few.

My mom and dad in 2004 taking a beach walk at Ocracoke

Off The Vine Volume 3, Number 1. "How Are Tomatoes Folklore?" By Dr. Bill Ellis

Sunset 10 years ago on an Ocracoke trip

This is a wonderful, charming contribution to our newsletter. Dr. Ellis sent me a tomato that I still love today - Polish. He and I had a pleasant phone conversation some years ago - sadly, I believe he has passed on, but I’ve not been able to find out the details. To show his rather remarkable credentials and areas of focus, his Penn State CV is shown here.

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How Are Tomatoes Folklore?

Bill Ellis, PhD

“I didn’t know that was folklore!”  This is one of the most common remarks I get from students or community groups when I talk about my academic field.  For most people, the term “folklore” means something romantic surviving from a simpler past age.  It stirs up images of Paul Bunyan, barefoot mountaineers picking banjos, and outlandish rituals for ensuring luck and love.  “We” don’t think of ourselves as possessing folklore.

But such images themselves represent the survival of older, simpler ideas about culture.  When the academic study of folklore was created in the 19th century, it was a reaction to rapid changes occurring in American culture.  The increasing visibility of non-Anglo cultures, the growth of mass media, and physical and economic mobility of Americans, all this led to social leaders to believe that “folklore” was dying out and with it our sense of national identity.

What really happened was that our identity changed, and continues to change.  And so our folklore changes; now stories that would have been told over backyard fences are circulated over the Internet, and what might have been “charming” in a previous age reappears as “alternative medicine” in ours.

But whether in the present day or in the past, the nature of folklore remains the same; it is knowledge that the members of a small group choose to preserve for reasons of their own.  And such it is the part of culture controlled by families, work circles, neighborhoods, and any other clusters of people who enjoy sharing information.

Anything can be the topics of activities or storytelling, so there can be many kinds of folklore about tomatoes.  How we grow a tomato could be a favorite family or regional activity.  What we say about them could embody some kind of local history.  But how can tomatoes be folklore?  Most intriguingly, the tomato varieties we pass on embody a kind of folk creation.  Understanding the choices we make when we use and preserve tomatoes can help us appreciate their diversity – and our own.

How We Grow Tomatoes

 “How to you plant tomatoes?” I once asked an old-timer in the Hazleton area.  “In the ground” he blandly responded.  Of course, he also had so many planting tips on how to get the best out of his home-started seeds that following them took much of his retirement leisure time – which is precisely why he enjoyed tomato growing.  Anyone who has contacted a master gardener has appreciated the wealth of information they carry, ranging from exactly when to start seeds (Tax Day, or April 15 here) to when to put them out (not till Memorial Day!) to whether to stake or cage them (sharp disagreements block by block).

Or when to pick a tomato – this varies from variety to variety.  Brandywines, for instance, need to be picked just as they blush, or they will get mealy and blank on the vine.  But other varieties such as Dr. Neal need to be left untouched until they are good and ripe – provided the crows let you! (cover the big ones with panty hose, unwashed if available – and they won’t peck them).

On a larger level, the starting and nursing of one’s own patch of tomatoes can embody rituals of complex significance.  When I sold some plants at a community flea market, one buyer quizzed me specifically about exactly when my Polish tomato would ripen its first fruit.  As it turned out, he and his neighbor had a running contest on who could produce the first ripe fruit, and he was always looking for some variety that was a week earlier than last year’s (a dirty trick – spade around the roots of your most vigorous plant, cutting some of its feeders; the plant will react to this stress by rushing its fruit to ripeness).

Obviously, when the tomato comes ripe, different families will integrate it into their Foodways in diverse ways.  One local family proudly claims that its tomato sauce is not like anyone else’s since it is made only from its family’s own breed of paste tomatoes.  Probably the same could be said of my own sauce, which I make only once every three years when I grow out my White Potato Leaf variety, and make about four quarts of greenish-white, fruity sauce for special occasions only.  Or then there’s a raw, “grew in the garden” style (with a little salt? Or sugar? Or nothing?) that my little girl became so addicted to one summer that she actually broke out in a rash from over-indulgence.  The German (or big pink) varieties popular in this area, however, are sometimes a little bland, so my wife’s mother would jazz them up by cutting them up in chunks, then adding a little vinegar, an equal amount of sugar, and a generous amount of black pepper.  “Sweet and sour tomatoes” now are a regular part of our summer Foodways.

Other areas show even more choices; sun-dried?  Made into jam?  Fried green?  I wouldn’t be surprised to find the leaves used as a seasoning in some areas.

What we Say About Tomatoes

But when Foodways develop around certain varieties, then we naturally want to talk about what this tomato is and where it came from.  Names become pegs on which to hang such information.  A name, of course, could be misleading; if you assumed that every “German” tomato in the Hazleton area was the same, you’d be surprised when you grow them out together.  The term “German” simply means “non-commercial” or “home-started” as the Pennsylvania Dutch descendents held onto this skill the longest.

Some more specific names tell you what to expect:  Tompepper looks like a bell pepper and is hollow inside for stuffing.  Riesentraube sets fruit just like the German says, in “a big bunch of grapes”.  Lutescent does turn “brownish” at one stage of ripening.  Others give a hint of history or geography:  McKinley, Madagascar, Big Sandy.  I named my best paste tomato variety “The Conyngham Sewer Tomato” to honor the tough survivor I found growing in gravel just downstream from our antiquated system’s relief vent.

But with names also come Stories about Tomatoes.  When we grow a tomato with a name like Mortgage Lifter, it’s impossible not to remember the heroic “Radiator Charlie” who paid off his house by breeding and selling this strain.  And tomatoes themselves become the subjects of stories.  Long-time members of the Seed Savers Exchange recall the intensity with which people sought the legendary “Pruden’s Purple”, a potato leaf tomato with a black fruit, allegedly still grown in the Kentucky mountains. (A variety with this name emerged, but alas it was pink not black – yet the crusade continues with many “black” tomatoes being imported from Russia and grown with bated breath.)

And who hasn’t heard the story about so-and-so who proved that the Lycopersicon or “wolf peach” was not poisonous by eating a bushel of them on the steps of the such-and-such courthouse?  Alas for the story, a time can’t be traced when tomatoes weren’t grown and bred eagerly for taste, so the well-traveled legend is just that.  But it seems to have touched an agricultural nerve, as many of the tomato’s nightshade cousins are in fact poisonous (although Aunt Minnie once made a pie of them and said they were good…)

Witness the fuss when a NASA source warned that the fruit grown from seeds exposed to cosmic rays aboard a satellite might revert to “wild” state and produce poisonous fruit.  If anything, the “NASA” tomato seeds were the more widely circulated, grown, watched, and eagerly eaten to see if a “killer tomato” had been produced.  These gardeners were, in their way, continuing the legend by risking their lives to prove the “wolf peach” is still really a “love apple”.

What Tomatoes Are.

Finally, the thing itself constitutes a kind of folklore.  Anyone who has gardened recognizes that seed swapping is a complex ritual in which more than seeds are exchanged.  People who are interested in growing a variety I have probably share my fascination with diversity and with history, and probably also are like me suspicious of “superior” commercial varieties that require you to buy fresh seed from the same company year after year.  And those people’s seeds probably express their own unique preferences in tomato taste, habit, adaptability.  When we grow each others’ tomatoes, we grow a bit of each others’ personalities.

Hence it’s at first a little flattering to have local farmers pass on a bit of their prized varieties.  I feel included and trusted.  Then I get phone calls about Tax Day: “You’re starting some of those German tomatoes, aren’t you?  Well, could you start about 18 plants for me, too, while you’re at it?”  Eventually I recognize I’ve not only been included, I’ve been indoctrinated, and fitted into an ongoing community role.  On some level, I’ve been transplanted and cultivated too, thorough the agency of the seeds I’ve shared.

Another widely traveled legend concerns a variety said to have been found inside an ancient tomb.  In the nineteenth century, for instance, there was a fad of growing “mummy wheat”, allegedly an ancient variety grown from a seed found inside an Egyptian mummy several thousand years old.  In our time, the story is apt to refer to a tomato or bean variety allegedly found sealed inside a pot by prehistoric Indians.  Horticulturalists assure us that such stories have to be apocryphal, as seeds remain viable for only a limited time regardless of how they are sealed up.

Yet that in itself may be part of the fascination of seed saving.  Germplasm, as a kind of genetic information, is something that has been handed down from prehistoric times.  Any tomato variety, by necessity, has to trace back to pre-Columbian times, however many gardeners have touched it in the meantime.  And having a rare or unique variety pass through our hands is, on some level, a responsibility:  its survival depends on our willingness to select, grow, and pass it on to others.

On some level, this action is just like that of hearing a new story, committing it to memory, and retelling it for a new audience.  Only “performing” a tomato requires a season’s commitment, from putting the seed carefully in the dirt on Tax Day to drying the new season’s seeds and putting them in envelopes for the next round.  If we lose our commitment, the old seeds die and with it some bit of genetic information dating to mummy times.  If we renew it, then we are the vessels who make sure that one generation’s tomatoes survive to another generation.

And that is what folklore is all about.

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Wasn’t that a great read?! I am so pleased to be able to share it with you all.

Buddy and Mocha playing fetch in the water at Springer Point, Ocracoke, an October 10 years ago

Off The Vine Volume 3, Number 1. "C & C's Corner" by Carolyn

15 years ago! September! at Ocracoke Island on vacation - sitting at the beach overlook with Buddy and Mocha

Here we are - embarking on the third volume. There are probably a bit over 20 articles to repost from Volume three (numbers 1-3) - then just single Volume 4 (number 1), with a handful of articles - that is when we called it quits. Yet we are about to slip into September - it looks like the OTV republish will wrap up at the end of the year. I hope those of you reading these has enjoyed them as much as I have.

Here is another of Carolyn’s introductory columns. They are always fun! There will be more fun articles in this issue - Carolyn mentions Bill Ellis (who sent me one of my favorite tomatoes, Polish), and Andrew Smith, a superb tomato historian.

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C and C’s Corner

Carolyn Male

We would appreciate it if you would read this column first because I introduce to you our articles and their authors.  Also, please remember that the masthead on page two of each issue tells you how to contact Craig and me and states the current subscription and back issue costs.

If your mailing label has 31 (Volume 3, #1) after your name it’s time to renew your subscription to Off The Vine, we hope you’ll stay with us.  I also circle in red the 31 and write below y our name in red that this is your last issue as I have done since our first issue.  Renewal notices will not be sent out so after you’ve read this issue please send your renewal, clearly marking it as a renewal, before the next issue is published (October/November ’96).  Subscription prices for three issues is $7 for US residents, $8 (US) for Canadian and Mexican residents and $9 (US) for all other foreign addresses.  If our non-US subscribers send checks, please be sure they are based on a US account or I will have to return them to you.  Canadian postal money orders in US funds are just fine for our Canadian readers.  If there is an error on your address label please let me know.

Since we have many new subscribers since the last issue I’d like to explain a bit about us and Off The Vine.  We would like to publish one issue in February/March, so you can order our F2 etc seeds, one issue in May/June and one issue in October/November.  But we do not have a rigorous publishing schedule.  Craig and I both have “day” jobs and publish Off The Vine because of our passionate interest in heirloom tomatoes.  Craig has a PhD in chemistry and works at GlaxoWellcome, a pharmaceutical company in Raleigh, NC, while I have a PhD in microbiology and am a college teacher in Albany, NY.  Neither of us has professional training in publishing.  We’ve learned a lot in the past two years and are still learning.  We both want Off The Vine to be informal and fun, and interactive.  So if you can handle a somewhat erratic publishing schedule and are comfortable with an informal style, we’re happy to have you with us!

We have two guest authors in this issue.  Dr. Bill Ellis has written an article on tomato folklore which I know you’ll enjoy.  Bill is an associate professor of English and American Studies at Penn State University, Hazleton Campus.  He is widely published on contemporary folklore and has led workshops on seed saving at meetings at the American Folklore Society and the Middle Atlantic Folklore Association.  He has been a member of the Seed Savers Exchange since 1983 and has added several varieties of tomatoes to the SSE network, including Polish, Dr. Neal, and African Beefsteak.

Andy Smith, our second guest author, is writing his second article for us.  In Volume 1, #2, he wrote an article about tomato history which derived from his book entitled “The Tomato in America; Early History, Culture and Cookery”.  This excellent book can be ordered from the University of South Carolina Press at 1-800-758-2500.  The ISBN number is 1-57003-000-6 and the cost is $24.95 plus $3.50 for shipping.  He has completed a new book about ketchup called “Pure Ketchup: A History of America’s National Condiment”, which will be published by the Univ. of South Carolina Press in September.  His article in this issue stems from research he’s doing on the sequel to his history book which is tentatively titled “The Profitable Tomato:  History, Culture and Cookery.  Time-wise it picks up where the first book stopped and will cover the time period of roughly 1860-1920.  It should be available late next year and of course I’ll give you the details when they become available.  When we decided that Andy would write about Alexander Livingston for this issue, I put him in contact with Jim Huber, an Off The Vine subscriber and SSE member who has a strong interest in all matters relating to the Livingston Seed Company.  Andy recently visited Reynoldsburg, OH, and has described that visit in his article.  He tentatively plans to speak at the Tomato Festival held there each September.

Craig and I have each written articles about our 1996 summer growouts, as we do each year.  Craig interviewed Rob Johnston of Johnny’s Selected Seeds and I wrote an article which introduced our OTV disease project.

Now for a few updates from our last issue.  Jeff Dawson, former Garden Director at Fetzer Vineyards, wrote an article about marketing heirloom tomatoes.  Due to a recent corporate decision to deemphasize and scale down the gardens, as well as to eliminate the test kitchen, Jeff has made a move to Kendall-Jackson Winery in Santa Rosa, CA, where he is now Garden Director.  His challenge is to create new gardens at Kendall-Jackson but he will still be maintaining his five acre plot in Sonoma.  It sounds like a wonderful opportunity and we wish him “blossoming” success!

I also wrote about Tom Wagner, hybridizer of Green Grape and others, and solicited input on support for his activities.  I’d like to thank those folks who responded and I’m happy to report that Tom appears to now have substantial backing to further his efforts.  As promised, he sent me 22 of his new varieties for trial; it was too late in the season to share with Craig so I have them growing in my zone 5 area to see how they do and I will report back to you in the fall issue.

And I can’t thank Pat Millard enough for processing your requests for the F2, F3, etc seeds which were offered in the February issue.  Each week he emailed a summary so I knew who requested what.  Upon review of those lists it looks like we even had some non-OTV members requesting seeds.  That’s interesting!  Forty six folks made requests, 156 packets were sent out with a total of 1195 seeds.  I am in awe of the precision of his data.  I’m the person who this year misplaced two of the three copies of the Tomato Growers Supply catalog sent to me by Linda Sapp (she knows me too well), one copy of Johnny’s Selected Seeds, one copy of Harris Seeds, and one copy each of Pine Tree and Shepherd Seeds.  You’d never understand.  I file by pile and then the piles merge and create an avalanche; it isn’t a pretty picture.  The most requested seeds, in order, were OTV Brandywine, the White Queen cross, the Yellow Oxheart cross and the Purple Perfect X Purple Price cross.  Craig would like to know about his Sungold and Cherokee Purple crosses and I really want to know if OTV Brandywine at the F5 stage is stabilized.  If so, Craig and I will introduce it in the 1997 SSE yearbook.  And I’d like to know what the White Queen did for you.  A postcard will do.  Same for Dr. John Navazio for the 12 of you who requested his varieties.

Chuck Wyatt emailed me a marvelous comment from someone on the Compuserve  Garden Forum.  The person was complaining about having trouble growing tomatoes and wanted to know where he could get “that heirloom brand” he’s heard so much about.  So what am I doing growing out 200 varieties of tomatoes when I could be growing out “the heirloom brand”!  Knowing several folks who participate on the Compuserve Gardening Forum I’m sure they gently set him straight on the heirloom brand request.  And speaking of email that brings me to the Internet and that brings me to the Web.  Neither Craig nor I have the time to do any serious public relations work for Off The Vine so we’ve decided to do a web page.  Hopefully in a month or so if you type in Off The Vine in any of the major search engines you’ll find us.  If any of you have ideas for connecting URLs please email them to me.  Thanks in advance!

Late last fall I received a phone call from a Steven Shepherd in CA who said he was writing a book about tomatoes, but it wasn’t really about tomatoes, and wanted to confirm that we were still publishing Off The Vine so he could include it in the references.  After I hung up I sat there trying to figure out what kind of book he was writing that used the tomato patch in the front yard as the focus for integration and interaction with his neighbors.  I didn’t “get it”.  And uncorrected proof of his book arrived a few weeks ago and now I’ve “got it”., and it is wonderful!  In reading the book I feel I am part of the neighborhood and now I understand how the tomatoes are the focus.  Steven is not an expert on tomatoes, he doesn’t try to be, but there are some good tidbits in there about tomatoes (his father is a plant pathologist).  When I called him to congratulate him on such a wise and good book about good people, I told him I wouldn’t grow one of those varieties he grew!  We laughed!  Please read it, it will make you feel good about life…and tomatoes.  It’s called “In Praise of Tomatoes:  A Year in the Life of a Home Tomato Grower”, by Steven L. Shepherd.  The ISBN Number is 0-06-017484-6, the probably publication date is July 1996, and the probable price is $20, and the publisher is Harper Collins.

Let’s try a question and answer column.  I think it would be fun and informative.  You ask the questions, Craig and I will provide the answers, if we can, or ask the appropriate folks for the answers.  As our regular readers know, we don’t want to get involved with tomato culture of specific diseases because there are so many fine publications that do that.  Other than those exceptions, fire away!  Please send your questions to me, and Craig and I will select a few for the next issue of Off The Vine.  And again I’m asking for your input in terms of contributing long or short articles about heirloom tomatoes and related issues.  We’ve wanted Off The Vine to be interactive from day one.  We need your perspectives.  Recently I received a letter from Kathleen McClellend who said that she was no longer publishing “The Historical Gardener” because she couldn’t get enough quality articles in a timely manner.  It was a wonderful publication and I’m so sorry to see it go.  But we share her dilemma.  Don’t be shy; some of you write very well.  Curtis S. in Texas may be able to tell us how he identifies killer bees from non-killer bees….how about it Curtis?  And I can think of several more of you who have written interesting material in letters when you send in your renewals.  Let me know what you’re thinking of writing about first and Craig and I will decide if it is something that fits in with our philosophy.

Lastly, I’d like to again thank Jeff Fleming for doing the address labels for us.  Just when I thought I had a handle on our “old way” of doing them he’s come up with a new version which I think is a terrific improvement.  Give me a year or so and I’ll eventually figure out this one also!  Folks, I am not a computer guru; I do the basic stuff and pray nothing bad happens to my computer at home.  Computer problems at work are usually easily and quickly solved by a group of gurus. 

Craig and I hope you’ll have a wonderful, productive growing season and we’ll report back in October/November.

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Another characteristic, fun read. So many names from the past - so many memories.

September 2007 - beach view at Ocracoke

Into September we go - state of the garden, plans, and projects

Marlin posing under the Bougainvillea, for some reason.

Whether it is my age, or the love Sue and I have for living here in Hendersonville, or all of the wonderful hiking opportunities, time seems to be racing by faster than ever. It seems to be just yesterday that I was planning what to grow in 2022 - and here we are, most seeds saved, observations made, and most of the wonderful tomatoes but a fond memory.

This morning I made the rounds of the yard with my phone, snapping pictures of things that caught my eye. Most were flowers, with a few late planted dwarf tomatoes and colorful bell peppers, finally producing well in what was a rather odd growing season. The gallery below captures the flowers - you can click left or right to view all of the images. There are rubdeckia, buds on mum country girl, a selection of different salvias, sedum, a nice dahlia ,balloon flower (somehow still blooming) and more. The butterflies, bees and hummingbirds are all very happy with our flower gardens this year.

The bell pepper plants are finally doing what I had hoped, and you can see lots of colorful bells hidden in the foliage. The eggplants continue to thrive, as does Green Columnar basil. Even the 5 remaining Glory F2 dwarf tomato project plants have fruit that should give me at least one idea of size, color and flavor of each selection.

Please ask anything about any of the pictures in comments to this blog.

Koda and Marlin about to have a romp near the flower garden

As far as plans and projects - the planning will take place starting now, leading up to January. I will determine how many strawbales and container, how many and which tomatoes, eggplants and peppers, melons, cukes, beans and summer squash. I suspect it will be quite a different selection when compared to my first three gardens here.

With regard to projects - I’ve received a lot of seed requests, and hope to start filling them within the next few weeks. The dwarf tomato project will continue to wind down. The main project will be completing the book on the project, which will take up most of my time between now and next spring. The main challenge will be finding time in the mornings (when I write best) to do so - meaning more carefully scheduling our up to now highly impromptu morning hikes. I will also be continuing to publish Off The Vine articles (aiming to finish the reposting of the entire series by the end of the year), and blog posts on my tomato seed collection (which has now been resumed).

That should keep me out of trouble!

A pic from 2004 - Zoe (elderly black lab mix rescue, rear), Buddy (block head chocolate lab rescue with his tongue out), and at the time new puppy - my sweet girl - Mocha, pure bred given to us by someone (!), with those green eyes!

My Tomato Collection Tour Resumes - Part 21. Tomatoes #251-#275

Triple Falls in DuPont Forest - captured early Sept 2022

It’s September, the garden is put to bed, Off The Vine posts continue - and it is also time to resume the trip through my tomato collection. I will be taking it in bigger bites, because there will be much less to say about quite a few from here on in - I was building my collection, but not being quite so discriminating.

Tomato #251 - Mexico Midget - so many cherish this variety, sent to me in 1990 by Barney Laman of California when he was in his mid 80s. He got this variety, which he called a “joke” due to its tiny size, from his brother, who acquired it in his hay delivery runs between Texas and Mexico. For such a tiny (as in pea-sized) tomato, it packs a wallop of flavor. The main issue is that any seed company selling it is selling crossed seed (probably originating with the SSE, who started selling packs of seeds that produced fruit significantly larger and less flavorful - and still do). The issue is that it is an odd variety that doesn’t germinate as well as other tomato varieties. I found that the way to remedy this is to add actively fermenting juice from a different variety to the Mexico Midget seed goop, then let it ferment for a few days. Problem solved!

Tomato #252 - Jim’s Red Delight - this was sent to me unrequested by Jim Kohl in 1990. I’d have to find the letter that accompanied the seeds or more details. I recall it being listed at some point in the SSE yearbook, but it isn’t listed in the exchange any longer. I never did get to grow it.

Tomato #253 - Rutgers Select - sent to me by SSE member MO VI N in 1990, I never managed to grow it out. It is obviously a selection from the old 1930s variety Rutgers, a very important tomato across America for many decades.

Tomato #254 - Harbinger - another variety from MO VI N sent in 1990 and another I’ve not grown. Reportedly an English variety from 1910, it is apparently a medium sized, round red tomato that was very likely used for greenhouse growing in a country where outdoor tomatoes are a challenge.

Tomato #255 - Orange Queen - this is the last of the trio of tomatoes from MO VI N sent in 1990, and not grown out by me. It is likely an older Stokes variety. I suspect it is similar to Jubilee, Sunray or Valencia, with medium sized mild flavor orange tomatoes.

Tomato #256 - Portuguese Large Plum - sent to me as a personal favorite of Patty Carman of New York in 1990, I never did get to grow this out. I would have to locate the letter to find out the description, but it is very likely a long red paste tomato such as Opalka.

Tomato #257 - Large Italian Paste - also sent to me by Patty Carman in 1990, I don’t have the description of this variety handy, but suspect it is also an Opalka-type long red paste tomato. I never did grow it out.

Tomato #258 - Russian Sweet #2 - sent to me by SSE member Lloyd Duggins of Indiana in 1990, the seeds didn’t germinate for me when I tried to grow it out. I would have to search for his letter to find out the description of this variety, but can imagine it being a large fruited pink beefsteak type.

Tomato #259 - Deep Yellow German - also sent to me by Lloyd Duggins of Indiana in 1990, I did grow this out in 1996. My garden log states that this was a 4-8 ounce golden colored tomato with very good productivity and flavor.

Tomato #260 - Pepper Tomato - sent to me by NY KI K in 1990, I have no description for this, but imagine it is a somewhat bell pepper shaped medium sized scarlet tomato that tends to be quite hollow. I never did grow it.

Tomato #261 - Cornish - another of the family heirloom tomatoes sent to me by Charlotte Mullens of WV in 1990, I did grow this in 1990. It is a medium sized red tomato sent to Charlotte by Florence Cornish. I don’t recall it being particularly outstanding.

Tomato #262 - Toensfeldt - also from Charlotte Mullens and sent to me in 1990, I did grow this out in 1990. It was a compact determinate medium sized red tomato of no special attributes.

Tomato #263 - Texas Pink - another 1990 acquisition from Charlotte Mullens, I never did grow it. In SSE listings it is described as a typical large pink beefsteak type. Charlotte must have received it from Barbara Lund of Ohio - Barbara got the variety as a seedling in Ohio in 1984.

Tomato #264 - Bower - the last of the Charlotte Mullens tomatoes, I grew this in 1990 and found the medium sized red tomatoes to be pleasant but not outstanding.

Tomato #265 - Mexico - this is the start of a set of tomatoes sent to me by NY BE R in 1990. I did grow it in 1991. My description is for large scarlet fruit with fair flavor, but not memorable.

Tomato #266 - Dinner Plate A - another from NY BE R sent in 1990, Dinner Plate in general is a mess of a variety, described as heart shaped or beefsteak, pink or red. I grew this in 1991 - the regular leaf plants gave medium to large scarlet slightly oblate tomatoes that were delicious.

Tomato #267 - Dinner Plate B - also sent to me in 1990 by NY BE R, this was a totally different animal! Completely unlike Dinner Plate A (except in color), the very spindly, weak looking plant produced big, fat scarlet plum type fruit with great flavor when grown in 1991.

Tomato #268 - German - part of the group sent to me by NY BE R in 1990, I grew German in 1991 and wound up with large, good flavored scarlet red tomatoes. There are so many tomatoes with the name “German” or variations that it is impossible to know if this tomato is still being grown and shared.

Tomato #269 - Peking - this tomato, sent to me in 1990 by NY BE R, never did get grown out. It is still listed with the SSE as a smooth red high yielding tomato. Its history is unknown.

Tomato #270 - Aztec - yet another tomato from NY BE R in 1990, I really enjoyed this medium sized, smooth scarlet round tomato. The flavor was really fine and I believe I sent it to Johnny’s for inclusion in their catalog some years ago. It apparently is a Don Branscomb introduced variety (Don was a significant tomato collector in the 1980s, often mining the USDA seed banks). It is now quite obscure.

Tomato #271 - Siberia - yes indeed - another from NY BE R, sent in 1990, and never grown. Reports are of it being a compact, small fruited, very early red variety. Several tomatoes have similar names.

Tomato #272 - Orange Steak - One more from NY BE R, sent 1990, I never did get this to germinate, which was disappointing. Absolutely nothing is known about this variety; I assumed it was a large beefsteak type of orange coloring.

Tomato #273 - Landry’s Russian - this is the last of the 1990 sent NY BE R varieties. It seems to be a Canadian heirloom with medium sized round red tomatoes.

Tomato #274 - No Name (which I renamed Pink Sweet) - I received this tomato from Hazel Turner of Tennessee in 1990. It is a fine tomato - No Name didn’t seem appropriate, and it being pink and sweet - voila! - the name. Hazel said that she acquired seed from an 84 year old man who had it for 20 years. It is a large pink beefsteak type, regular leaf, with some ridges and green shoulders, but superb flavor.

Tomato #275 - Syrian Globe - I received this tomato from PA WH R in 1990. It was unusual in being determinate in growth habit, with medium sized round red tomatoes. The flavor was nothing to write home about, and the texture quite firm. It seems to have passed on into obscurity.

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I actually only grew out 12 of these 25 tomatoes. The best by far is No Name, which I decided to call Pink Sweet. Aztec and Dinner Plate A and B were quite good also, but in general, this was not a stellar set of tomatoes.

High Falls, DuPont Forest, captured on an early Sept 2022 hike with Sue

Off The Vine Volume 2, Number 3. "Growing 600 Types of Tomatoes in Ethel, Missouri; population 100" - interview of Calvin Wait by Craig

A favorite bicolored portulaca on our deck as August comes to a close

I was excited to interview Calvin Wait, a fellow SSE member with a very large collection of varieties. He and I are still somewhat in touch (especially when I was on Facebook), and he gardens still.

By the way - this article brings Volume 2 to a close. The next post will bring us into Volume 3 - those three issues, then an abbreviated Volume 4 Number 1, should take us to the end of the year, and all of Off The Vine will have seen the light of day at last!

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Growing 600 Types of Tomatoes in Ethel, Missouri; Population 100 - about tomato enthusiast Calvin Wait

by Craig

We tomato enthusiasts who are avid Seed Saver Exchange members sometimes use our name codes as a kind of shorthand when referring to each other. It is easiest when the letter code is pronounceable, such as when I lived in Pennsylvania and was “PALEC”, or the co-editor of OTV, who is “NYMAC”. While there are many, many members of the SSE who offer a variety of tomato seeds each year, “MOWAC” is one of the most ambitious, with over 600 listings in the 1995 Yearbook. Carolyn and I felt it was high time to find out more about him. Oh, yes, his name is Calvin Wait, and he lives in the “city” of Ethel, Missouri, population about 100 according to the sign in town!

Calvin, like many gardeners, has to squeeze his passion for growing tomatoes and many other crops around a job. He runs a two color press for a publishing company, often working the midnight shift. I am always reminded of this when trying to telephone him, only to find that he is either asleep, or about to go to work. By the way, I did find out a little bit about Ethel. It is in the north central part of the state. The nearest place with lots of people is Columbia, which is about 90 miles away. Calvin is not much of a traveler, and has never ventured further east than Illinois. His main hobby is indeed gardening, and he also likes to listen to music, particularly rock and roll. I did not ask him if this kind of music is good for his tomato plants, however.

Last year was a gardening disaster in Ethel because of the nearly constant rain from June on. When it is not raining, Ethel seems like a good place to raise tomatoes. Calvin plants them out in nice sandy loam soil in mid-April, typically. He likes to use Wall-O’-Water devices on a few early varieties to get a jump on things, getting those in the ground in mid March. Calvin has gardened all of his life. He probably caught the gardening bug from his mother, who raised “the usual things” and canned the fruits of her labor. He recalls seeing red, orange, and yellow tomatoes as a boy, and remembers his mother growing Rutgers in her garden. Rutgers was introduced in the 1930’s and is still commonly grown. As you  can imagine, tomatoes are his favorite vegetable. He became interested in growing heirloom vegetables in the mid-1980’s. This interest started from an ad in the local newspaper for the first edition of the Seed Savers Exchange Garden Seed Inventory book. After obtaining a copy of the book, Calvin joined the SSE and decided to switch to mainly heirlooms. His first experience with really out of the ordinary seeds was with those of Glecklers seed company. They have always specialized in the unusual and unique. He bought from them tomatoes such as Giant Belgium, a large pink fruited variety. After joining the SSE and starting to acquire varieties from other seed savers, his participation in offering seeds grew with each passing year. Calvin claims that he is very open minded about the hybrid versus heirloom dilemma, and has successfully grown both in his garden. He did say that he focuses on open-pollinated tomatoes because the hybrids he has tried, except for Sun Gold orange cherry, have been very disappointing in performance and flavor. They are easily surpassed by the heirloom varieties he grows.

Calvin maintains 5 small garden plots that together total about half an acre. He plants and maintains the gardens himself. He practices as much crop rotation as he can manage. He claims that things grow with little disease problems except in summers like last year, when the excessive rain really made a mess of things. He does not own or use a greenhouse, but starts his seeds in his house on a light stand. He aims for about 80-100 different varieties of tomatoes each year. He grows more than one plant of his favorites, so that he cares for about 150 plants each summer. Calvin uses a rototiller to add granular fertilizer in the fall, and mulches with straw during the growing season. He once had a hog farm, and observes that the tomatoes grow best in the area where the hogs were kept. He uses 5 feet tall home made tomato cages, constructed from concrete reinforcing wire, to support his plants. He does not prune suckers, but sometimes thins the fruit clusters if too many tomatoes have set. This seems to keep the size of the fruit larger than if he lets all of the tomatoes on a cluster develop. Sometimes he uses a copper spray to lessen the foliage diseases if the weather is wet. Aside from tomatoes, he grows many other crops on a more limited basis. He does grow a fair number of heirloom Sweet Potatoes as well.

Of course I asked him what his favorite and not-so-favorite tomatoes were. He really did not have many on his “never grow again” list, except for some hybrids such as Supersteak (I agree!). His favorites were another matter, and we discussed them by color starting with pink tomatoes. Calvin really likes a tomato that he named Pink Italian Beefsteak. It is a selection from the hybrid Beefmaster, and he has been growing it for the past 5 years. He also really loves Honey, Stump of the World, Rose, Louisiana Pink and Purple Potato Leaf. When I asked him about many seed savers’ favorite tomato, Brandywine, he said that he likes it fine, but he does not find it better than the pink varieties described above. He also likes some of the pink heart shaped tomatoes, such as Anna Russian, but finds them tricky to grow. They are slow to get going and are weak seedlings, though they really grow and produce well once they are established. As far as the red tomatoes, Calvin mentioned Red Italian Beefsteak, which he also selected from the hybrid Beefmaster, Berwick German, Egyptian, Reisentraube, Healani, and Costoluto Genovese. Of the true bright yellow tomatoes, Calvin really enjoys growing and eating Hugh’s, Mirabell, and Transparent. He likes the orange varieties Mandarin Cross (though listed as a hybrid he finds that it grows true from saved seed) and Sunray. He is not a great fan of the flavor of the large red/yellow bicolored tomatoes, describing them as too mild or bland. He thinks that Northern Lights and Pink & Lemon are the best of that type he has grown. The only white tomato that got his vote is Great White, and the greens are represented by Garden Lime and Green Zebra. He also said that as soon as we hung up the phone he would probably either think of other favorites, or change the ones he told me about. Carolyn and I can sympathize with this! It really depends upon the day if someone asks any tomato enthusiast about their favorite tomato. Their lists change from year to year.

Calvin does not believe that he has experienced much crossing, either in seed he has saved or seed he has received from others. He does think that mix ups have occurred, and told me about the mice that often scatter seed he is drying in his house. He wondered if similar things happen when someone sends him a yellow tomato, and it comes out red. When I asked where his heirloom tomato passion is heading, he mentioned starting his own seed company. The intentions are there, but it hasn’t happened yet! As he said, ”I won’t quit my day job! If I can get to it, and it works out, great.  But if it does not, it won’t be the end of the world”. Sounds like a good philosophy to me!

Carolyn and I have been getting tomato seeds from “MOWAC” for many years now. He writes great descriptions in the SSE yearbook. The tomato enthusiasts in the SSE should order seeds from Calvin. They will receive seeds that germinate well, grow true to the description, and taste great! We wish him many, many years of seed saving and sharing. 

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I enjoyed my various phone calls with Calvin, and am pleased that he continues to garden and enjoy growing tomatoes. No longer being connected with him on Facebook, it seems a good time for a phone call - it is long overdue. Reading what I wrote above reinforces how many of us who caught the heirloom tomato bug have parallel stories. We also end up with way too many varieties on our hands!

View of the late August garden - mostly peppers and eggplant, with a few dwarf tomatoes

Off The Vine Volume 2, Number 3. "Taking Your Tomatoes to Market" by Jeff Dawson

silver spotted skipper resting on my knee on our deck

I had completely forgotten that Jeff Dawson wrote an article for our newsletter - he delved into the world of heirlooms right around the time that Carolyn and I were. He currently is on the board of the SSE, does some tomato breeding, and is a consultant to some biodynamic California vineyards. Jeff is responsible for the following tomatoes: Black Zebra, Copia, Orange Russian 117, and Dawson’s Russian Oxheart.

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Taking Your Tomatoes to Market

Jeff Dawson

Growing heirloom tomatoes for the restaurant market is a wonderful way to support a tomato enthusiast’s habit.  The dramatic colors, unique shapes and heavenly flavors which inspire us to grow these exotic varieties of tomato also appeal to the restaurant chefs who recognize these qualities, not found in commercially available tomatoes.

I started Grandview Farms on the half-acre plot of land in Sonoma County, California, located one hour north of San Francisco.  In 1988 I planted a variety of crops as a shot-gun effort to test the market for organically grown produce. 

After the first season, vine ripened tomatoes were obviously a product in demand.  Marketing to local restaurants and markets in the county proved to be a financially successful venture.

During a large produce tasting which involved many farmers from the San Francisco Bay area, I had the opportunity to taste the Green Zebra and Marvel Stripe tomatoes.  These two varieties opened my eyes to a new world of possibilities.  They were visually appealing with flavors that were completely new and exciting.  This was the beginning of my search for varieties that were not available on the commercial market.

As my farm grew to five acres in size, its production far exceeded the local demand.  I was forced to look to San Francisco restaurants, an hour drive south, as an outlet for the produce I was growing.  This market is very competitive, as there are many small to medium sized growers such as myself selling in this area.  To compete in this market, I realized I had to come up with something no one else had.

With the discovery of the Seed Savers Exchange, I found a wealth of varieties that were old, but not yet tested in the commercial market.  Over the next six years, I tested over 200 varieties of tomatoes, looking for something new and different.

Varieties to be put into production had to perform not only to my standards, but also to the standards of the chefs who would be using them.  These chefs expect a very high level of quality which forced me to work on improving my own farming techniques and the quality of my own product.  The restaurants that I worked with were a valuable resource for finding o ut which varieties could be incorporated into the many different styles of cuisine.

An early success story was when selling salad mix to Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant, Postrio, I had a bumper crop of roma tomatoes which I tried for weeks to get them to purchase, knowing they used them on a weekly basis.  Finally, when they agreed to a small order as a sample, the chef checking the order claimed that they were a little smaller than what they were used to.  He seemed doubtful that there would be another order.  The next morning I received a call from the same chef wanting to order 500 pounds of the same roma tomatoes twice a week for the rest of the season!  The taste and freshness of the product so impressed the chef that he needed to look no further for his supply.

The next year I tested 15 different paste varieties and discovered Amish paste, Rocky, Chinese and Jumbo Roma.  These varieties then became a part of the menu at Postrio and other restaurants.

The seasonal tomato salad is a staple on most restaurant menus during summer.  This creates a unique opportunity to supply colored slicing tomatoes.  My tests began to include the green varieties such as Evergreen, Garden Lime, Green Zebra, Green Pineapple and Aunt Ruby’s German Green; the white varieties such as Great White, Potato leaf White and Big White, Pink Stripes; and the so-called black varieties such as Black Krim, Cherokee Purple and Black Prince.  I worked with yellows, oranges, bicolors and pinks, trying to find fruit which performed well in the garden and had the color and taste qualities the restaurants were seeking.

Many restaurants also used a fair quantity of red slicing tomatoes.  It is always best to plan on planting up to 10 percent of your total tomato crop to red or pink slicers.  Russian 117, Pink Sweet and hybrids such as Whopper or Celebrity have worked well for me.  These varieties can be the bread and butter for any tomato growing operation.

Different colored cherry tomatoes, picked separately or mixed together in flats, sell very well.  My favorites are Galina, Riesentraube, Green Grape and Sungold.  These flats are very colorful and are called Toy Box cherries.  It is very easy to get a chef’s attention by walking into the back of a restaurant kitchen with a case of multicolored heirloom tomatoes.  The real challenge is to maintain their attention by developing a relationship that benefits both the grower and the chef.  By planning with chefs during the offseason, desired varieties can be identified, menus can be planned, and verbal or written contracts can be made.

Retail grocery stores are also a potential market for the small tomato grower.  First, I suggest trying to sell the red slicing tomatoes and paste varieties that a produce buyer is most familiar with.  These buyers can be easily won over with a taste of a vine ripened, red heirloom tomato.   Once a grower has proven that he/she has the ability to provide a consistent supply of quality fruit, buyers become more than willing to try more unusual tomato varieties.  Care must be taken not to sell dead ripe tomatoes to a retail market as the grower must allow for some shelf time.

When calling on potential markets, restaurants or grocery stores, be sure to provide a sample which is large enough to be used or sold.  A three or four tomato sample is not adequate, this small amount is easily misplaced or forgotten.  A full case sample is enough to sell in a market and get the public’s response, or for a restaurant to prepare a dish on its menu. 

Farmers markets are also a possible outlet for the small tomato grower.  These markets have sprung up locally throughout the US.  Many growers use these markets to sell all of their production.  I know some farmers who will sell at seven different markets a week during their peak season.  This is another area where growers can receive opinions about their varieties from regular customers.

Growers should look at all their potential markets before planting tomatoes on a commercial level.  Diversity is the key to success, both in the varieties you grow and the market to which you sell.  Consider selling to a combination of restaurants, local grocery stores, and farmers markets as a means of supporting the desire to enjoy and grow more heirloom tomatoes.

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Jeff’s thinking was ahead of its time, as much of what he wrote has come true - heirloom tomatoes at farmers markets and even grocery stores and great popularity of them with creative chefs. He makes many useful points in this interesting article. It is interesting to note some of the varieties that he mentions - some continue to be my favorites even now, decades later.

One of the coleus on our flower garden