My tomato collection tour, part 24. Tomatoes #351-#425

Perennial mum Country Girl growing in our flower garden, pic from early October.

This is another oddly numbered set. #352 to #386 were used for saved tomatoes (their alternate numbers are T90-1 to T90-45. #399 is T90-46. #407 is T90-47. #431 and 432 are T90-48 and 49. This is the last time I used sequential numbers for saved seeds, so things will make more sense from here on in.

Of this set, there are but a few of interest. Let’s dig in!

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Tomato #351 - Firesteel - this was actually sent to me by Don Branscomb in 1990, and it is already in my collection as tomato #122. It is a medium sized red tomato released by DeGiorgi in 1939, and I grew it in 1989.

Tomato #386 - H733 - sent to me by B. George in 1991, I never grew it and can’t find a bit of information on it.

Tomato #397 - Bilder - This was sent to me by Dick Deason in 1990 - I’d received it from Charlotte Mullens in 1990 but it was crossed. That was listing #246. I grew the seed from Dick in 1991, and it was a potato leaf plant giving good flavored large pink tomatoes.

Tomato #398 - Alyx Little Sun Yellow Cherry - I was sent this tomato by Charlotte Mullens of WV in 1990. I grew it in 1991, and got an indeterminate regular leaf plant with a high yield of good flavored small yellow cherry tomatoes. It is still listed in the Seed Savers Exchange.

Tomato #400 - Black - I purchased this tomato from Alfrey, the person who introduced the Peter Pepper, in 1990. I grew it in 1991 and was surprised to find a tomato very much like Cherokee Purple - regular leaf, indeterminate, large, purple and flavorful. Since Alfrey was from Knoxville TN, and Cherokee Purple from Rutledge, TN - could they indeed be one in the same?

Tomato #401 - Bull Sac - Also from Alfrey in 1991, I never did grow this one out. I assume that it is an Opalka type long pepper shaped paste tomato.

Tomato #402 - Angora - I purchased this variety in 1990 from Gleckler but never did grow it out. I don’t know it’s history and haven’t grown it out, but it is reported to be a smallish red tomato on a fuzzy, dusty miller type tomato plant.

Tomato #403 - Spanish Plum - I was given this seed by tomato enthusiast Jim Garvey of Pennsylvania - we met at the PA Hort Harvest Fair in PA in 1990. One of his goals was to grow huge tomatoes. I did grow this in 1991 - it was low yielding, indeterminate, and produced very large nearly heart shaped scarlet tomatoes. Jim claims the bees helped him with this one, crossing a large beefsteak with a heart.

Tomato #404 - Garvey’s Beefsteak - Jim also gave me this seed in 1990, and for a few years I really enjoyed growing it. First trying it in 1991, it produced large, oblate scarlet fruit with really good flavor. Sadly, it now seems to be obsolete - no one offers it.

Tomato #405 - Siberian - Obtained from Siberia Seeds in 1990, and never grown.

Tomato #406 - Glacier - Also from Siberia Seeds 1990 and not grown.

Tomato #408 - Peking - Another from Siberia Seeds, never grown.

Tomato #409 - Landry’s Russian - The last of a quartet from Siberia Seeds, not grown.

Tomato #410 - Thessaloniki - From Gleckler in 1990, never grown.

Tomato #411 - Egg - from Gleckler in 1990, never grown.

Tomato #412 - Louisiana Pink - From SSE member Austin Isaacs, Kentucky, in 1990, never grown.

Tomato #413 - Ukrainian Heart - I met a wonderful woman named Tania O’Neill at the PA Hort society Harvest Fair in 1990. She gave me a sample of her family heirloom. It is a wonderful tomato, a spindly, weepy foliaged indeterminate plant giving large, smooth meaty pink hearts with delicious flavor. I last grew it in 2003 and need to check to see if I can get the seeds to germinate, as it is time to grow it again. Several SSE members continue to offer it.

Tomato #414 - Large Yellow Amish - from SSE member MO VA O in 1990, and never grown.

Tomato #415 - Frank Williams - sent to me in a large collection of seeds from Edmund Brown of Missouri in 1990. I did grow this one in 1991 - it was a very large oblate pink on an indeterminate regular leaf plant that had an unpleasant characteristic to its flavor.

Tomato #416 - Summertime Improved - from Edmund Brown, not grown. It appears to be a commercial variety released by the Porter seed company. The only information in the SSE listing is that it is a determinate variety - I assume it is red fruited and medium sized.

Tomato #417 - Abraham Lincoln - from Edmund Brown, not grown. I’ve discussed this several times in my seed blog.

Tomato #418 - Giant Italian Red Heart - from Edmund Brown, not grown. There is one SSE listing - it is a large, red somewhat heart shaped tomato. There is no historical info associated in the listing.

Tomato #419 - Mortgage Lifter Yellow - from Edmund Brown, not grown. There is one listing in the SSE, and no additional information.

Tomato #420 - Childers - from Edmund Brown, not grown. It is an orange variety that originated with Mrs. W. G. Childers of Hamilton, WV in 1930 or so. She passed it on to a seed saver in 1980. It is a large, oblate orange late ripening beefsteak type.

Tomato #421 - Israel Yellow - from Edmund Brown, not grown. I can’t find any information on the variety.

Tomato #422 - Persimmon - from Edmund Brown, not grown. This was one of the first heirloom tomatoes I grew - see Tomato #25 in my blog series.

Tomato #423 - Vermillion - from Edmund Brown, grown out in 1991. It was a regular leaf, indeterminate medium to large oblate pink with flavor that was OK at best. There is a single listing in the SSE yearbook.

Tomato #424 - Tiffen Mennonite - from Edmund Brown, not grown. Introduced into the SSE catalog by Thane Earle in 1985, it was brought to the US from Germany by Mennonites of Wisconsin. It is yet another large fruited potato leaf pink beefsteak type.

Tomato #425 - Genuine Italian Potato Leaf - from Edmund Brown, not grown. This is a large fruited potato leaf pink beefsteak type. According to the Sandhill website, it was purchased in a Canton, OH hardware store by Gary Staley of Florida - it was released by Letherman, but I haven’t determined the date yet.

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I only grew out 9 of the above varieties, the best of which being Ukrainiah Heart, Garvey’s Beefsteak, Spanish Plum, Black, and Bilder.

New England Aster growing all along the Ivestor Gap trail in the Black Balsam area off of the Blue Ridge parkway

Off The Vine Volume 3, Number 1. "Alexander Livingston and the Tomato" by Andrew Smith

Koda and Marlin on the Ivestor Gap trail in late Sept

One of my favorite gardening books is “Livingston and the Tomato”, published as a reprint with additional information by author and historian Andrew Smith. Carolyn and I were delighted that Andrew submitted the following article for publication in our newsletter. Enjoy!

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Alexander Livingston and the Tomato

Andrew F. Smith

Ever since I began researching tomato history, I have been in awe of Alexander Livingston.  Although several tomato pamphlets had been published previously to his book, “Livingston and the Tomato” was the first major work published about tomatoes in America.  Previous works concentrated on how to make a profit from growing tomatoes.  Livingston’s book was comprehensive; it included more than sixty five tomato recipes, a wealth of cultivation tips and techniques, and a description of his progress in developing and introducing tomato varieties.  In all, he launched thirteen tomato varieties between 1870 and 1893.  If copying is a form of flattery, Livingston was highly praised by his contemporaries and competitors.  All of his varieties were pirated by others and were issues under a variety of different names.  No other 19th or 20th century seeds-man came close to introducing as many influential tomato varieties as did Livingston.

Due to Livingston’s prominence in tomato history, I have always wanted to visit Reynoldsburg, Ohio.  Reynoldsburg has not forgotten Livingston or its tomatoey past.  Every year for the past three decades, Reynoldsburg has sponsored an annual Tomato Festival, which, of course, includes contests for the largest tomato plant, the heaviest fruit, the smallest fruit, and forty one other categories.  In addition, the town of Reynoldsburg purchased the house in which Livingston had lived during the 1860s and early 1870s.  The house now is a historic site on the National Register.

A few weeks ago after concluding some business in Pittsburgh, I decided that the moment for my pilgrimage had arrived.  I traveled west on I-70, exiting at Reynoldsburg, a few miles east of Columbus, Ohio.  As soon as I left the interstate, I knew that this was my kind of town; a sign announced that Reynoldsburg was “the birthplace of the tomato”.  A few minutes after settling down in my motel, I telephoned OTV member Jim Huber.  Jim is a Livingston aficionado, who collects seed catalogs, letters and other memorabilia related to the Livingston Seed Company.

Jim acquired the key to Alexander Livingston’s home, which serves as a community center for Reynoldsburg today.  The Livingston House Society, an all-volunteer nonprofit group, has tried to furnish the house with furniture typical of the 19th century.  Alan Livingston, great grandson of Alexander, helped refurbish it.  Others donated or lent items.  Local history buffs have attempted to reconstruct the house in historically appropriate ways.  Pictures of Livingston Seed catalogs adorn the walls and the house has been furnished with mid-19th century antiques.  The house and the adjoining property had been lovingly cared for and there are plans to grow some of the Livingston tomato varieties in the surrounding yard.  As we toured the house, Jim discussed Livingston and his contributions to tomato history.

Livingston had been born in Reynoldsburg in 1822.  When he was 23, he married Matilda Graham.  Their marriage produced ten children, only one of whom died in infancy.  Livingston leased property and began farming.  He also began experimenting with growing seed for trade.  In 1850 he purchased a seed consignment business.  Based on the proceeds, he built the home in 1863-64.  He began experimenting with developing new plant varieties during this period.  Although he worked with many different plants, Livingston’s true love was the tomato.

After our tour and discussion, Jim recommended that I contact Connie Parkinson, a Reynoldsburg historian, who had authored “Alex Livingston:  The Tomato Man 1821-1298” in 1985.  When I spoke with her on the telephone, she had just finished revising the pamphlet.  She kindly forwarded a copy of her new manuscript “Alex Livingston:  The Tomato Man and His Times”, which helped fill in Livingston’s life and his contributions toward developing tomato varieties.

Like many other businesses in America, Livingston’s seed business went bankrupt in the crash of 1875-76.  He sold his home in 1876 and turned over his business to his son Robert.  The firm moved to Columbus and was renamed Alexander Livingston and Sons.  Alexander moved to Iowa, where he established a site for a new company.  He had originally planned to move the entire seed company from Ohio, but under Robert’s management the business prospered.  In 1890, after the death of his wife, Alexander turned over his Iowa seed business to another son, Josiah, and returned to Ohio.  He lived the remaining years of his life in Columbus, where he died in 1898.

Livingston was neither the first nor the only American to develop significant tomato varieties, but he was unquestionably the most influential tomato developer in the 19th century.  During the 1860s, he located an unusual plant in one of his tomato fields.  It had uniformly round fruit of similar size, but it was too small for commercial use.  In the following years he grew seeds from this plant and its offspring.  He ended with a plant of similar characteristics as the original, but with much larger fruit.  In 1870 he introduced it as Paragon.  Its fruit was larger than many of the standard tomato varieties then available.  It was solid, uniform and well flavored.  According to Livingston, it “was the first perfectly and uniformly smooth tomato ever introduced to the American public, or, so far as I have ever learned, the first introduced to the world”.

Whether or not the Paragon was the first tomato variety to be uniformly smooth and round was challenged by historians.  What was indisputable was the popularity of the Paragon in America.  It quickly became a favorite among market gardeners and canners, and was sold by many other seedsmen.  According to a major competitor, the Landreth Seed Company in Pennsylvania, the Paragon “was the perfection of a tomato – large, solid and smooth as an apple, and deep red”.  They believed it was a superb variety for which “no praise can be too high”.  Of course, the Landreths forgot to mention that the Paragon had been developed by Livingston.

Seventeen years after the Paragon was first introduced, the renowned botanist Liberty Hyde Bailey reported that it was “constant in size and shape, three to four inches across and two inches deep, usually perfectly regular when ripe, bright light red, firm and good”.  It continued to be marketed for seven decades after its initial introduction, a remarkable feat for any variety.  In addition, other seedsmen grew the Paragon, renamed their results, and sold them as new varieties.  For instance, Bailey could find no difference between the Paragon and other varieties subsequently sold under the names of New Jersey, Arlington, Emery, Autocrat, Mayflower and Scoville.

Unlike others who developed a significant variety, Livingston did not rest upon his initial success.  He continued searching for new varieties and he continued crossing different varieties that had particular characteristics.  These efforts resulted in a regular flood of new varieties for 20 years.  In 1875 he introduced Acme, which was an early ripener of medium size.  Its fruit were slightly oval, but smooth.  Its color was maroon or red with a slight tinge of purple.  Its flesh was solid.  According to Landreth, it was “a popular sort everywhere”.  According to Bailey, the Acme was one of the best varieties in cultivation.  Other seedsmen liked it so much that they released “new” varieties that were indistinguishable from the Acme, including the Rochester, Rochester Favorite, Climax and Essex Hybrid.

In 1880 Livingston introduced the Perfection, which was aimed at the shipping market.  Derived from the Acme, Livingston had created a blood red tomato with a uniformly smooth fruit.  It ripened earlier and had a tough skin not easily broken, and therefore was useful to shippers.  The Perfection continued to be sold until 1922.

Three years later he introduced Livingston’s Favorite tomato, aimed at the fast growing canning industry.  The Favorite was one of the largest, perfectly shaped tomatoes then in cultivation.  It was smoother than the Paragon and did not crack or rot like the Acme.  It was a darker red than the Perfection, and evenly ripened as early as other good varieties.  It was very prolific, and possessed a good flavor, few seeds, solid flesh, and survived shipping long distances.  When it was introduced, the Joseph Breck & Sons seed company in Boston reported that the Favorite along with the Acme and Perfection “were three of the best tomatoes ever introduced”.

As canners were interested in a purple colored tomato, Livingston found one growing in his Paragon tomatoes.  He christened it the Beauty, and introduced it in 1886.  Its fruit was large and showy; its color was deep red with a slight tone of purple.  It grew in a cluster, and was “solid and meaty, smooth and free from rot or green core”, according to a Landreth seed catalog, which again failed to mention that Livingston had developed the variety.

Livingston was always on the lookout for new varieties with unique characteristics.  In 1885 he obtained a specimen from a market gardener near Columbus that appeared particularly promising for it produced a thick, solid, red fruit.  It was shaped like the Beauty and Favorite.  Livingston continued experimenting with it, and released it in 1889.  As the fruit weighed more than any other of his varieties, he called it the New Stone.  It was subsequently used to develop several other important 20th century varieties, including the Earliana, Globe and Greater Baltimore varieties.

Livingston also worked with yellow varieties.  His Golden Queen was a bright creamy yellow tomato, with a slight tendency to be reddish at the bottom.  Its fruit was flattish and reached two and one half inches in diameter, and it often became slightly angular.  His Gold Ball was a bright golden-yellow color; round as a ball, one and one half inches in diameter, few seeds and very productive.  The Golden Queen is one of the few Livingston tomatoes sold continuously since it was introduced in 1882.

The other varieties that Livingston introduced were the Potato Leaf, Royal Red, Buckeye State, New Dwarf Aristocrat, and the Large Rose Peach.  None of these varieties were commercially as successful as the Paragon, Acme, Perfection or the Favorite.

After Alexander Livingston’s death, the Livingston Seed Company prospered under the control of his sons and grandsons.  Livingston’s sons continued to develop new tomato varieties.  The 20th century varieties included the Globe, which was a cross between Livingston’s Stone and the Ponderosa.   In 1917, the USDA crossed the Glove with the Marvel – a French variety, and the union produced the Marglobe released in 1925.  In all, the Livingstons introduced thirty one varieties of tomatoes.  Alan Livingston sold the company in 1979 to Forest Randolph.  The company was later acquired by Robert Johnston, who continues to operate it under the name of Livingston Seed Company in Columbus.

Of all of the Alexander Livingston’s introductions, only the Golden Queen and the New Stone were continuously sold since their introductions.  As previously noted in an OTV article by Craig LeHoullier (Volume 1, number 3), until recently few of Livingston’s other varieties were thought to have survived.  However, Craig and Carolyn Male searched the USDA’s list of tomato accessions and found several varieties thought extinct.  Some of these are now for sale by seedsmen, such as Jeff McCormack at Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, who seeds the Stone, Paragon, Beauty and Favorite.  The Tomato Growers Supply Company sells the Golden Queen.  Others are available through the Seed Savers Exchange, including Livingston’s Perfection.

Sources

Sources include Connie Parkinson of Reynoldsburg Ohio, Linda Sapp of Tomato Growers Supply Company and Jeff McCormack of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange.  Addresses and phone numbers available by request.

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I’ve read the book many times, and Mr. Smith’s book sent me on continuing searches through seed banks to locate not only the original Livingston varieties, but other important commercial varieties listed in various old seed catalogs thought to be extinct. A fringe benefit of my old tomato interest is meeting and befriending Mike Dunton, of Victory Seeds, who was pursuing old tomatoes in the Pacific Northwest with identical vigor to my efforts.

A lone black balsam with the Blue Ridge mountains as a perfect background - taken on Ivestor Gap Trail

Big announcement on the on-line course "Growing Epic Tomatoes"! It is now open for enrollment year-round! Details below..

Fall is showing itself on the Ivestor Gap Trail, Sept 26

Many of you know that a few years ago I was approached by gardening guru, author, and TV garden personality Joe Lamp’l to create a collaborative all-video, on line course on all things tomato - Growing Epic Tomatoes. Of course I enthusiastically said “YES!” - and we set out to create the course throughout most of 2021. It was relaunched in late winter last year, incorporating new material. Both seasons were great successes, with lots of enthusiastic students providing glowing reviews.

Well, Joe thought it was time to make this course available for anyone, at any time to purchase and enjoy. It is now “evergreen”!

To help you decide if this is for you, I want to provide some information on exactly what this course actually entails. It sits on a platform (Teachable) as a set of Modules (essentially covering the entire season, from planning to seed saving and even recipes) that are broken down into individual self paced video lessons. The modules are substantial - most run between 1-2 hours long.

As you watch lessons you can submit questions - Joe and I both monitor the questions and provide responses within a day or two. You will also be able to see the previously asked questions and responses. There are also specialized topic bonus modules to peruse, as well as two growing seasons-worth of the Office Hours sessions that Joe and I do each Friday for up to 90 minutes each, where we answer pre-submitted questions from our students. You will even be able to watch this year’s incredible blind tasting which we’ve talked about often in our Instagram Live sessions!

Finally, our students have access to a very special, exclusive Online Gardening Academy Community with a private space just for Growing Epic Tomato students. Once you are in, you are in forever - all students from the previous two years are there and actively posting and sharing. There are numerous student-created discussion threads, the chance to post pictures, ask questions and receive answers not only from Joe and me, but other students as well. I am in there daily contributing my own posts and commenting upon other posts, as well as answering questions - as is Joe. This is a lot of access to us both!

Joe priced this course at 397.00 (with a discount to 247.00 - 150.00 off - for those who registered during our launch period each late winter). This new Evergreen launch is set at that lower price - 247.00. As just about all of our students have related to us, it is quite a bargain for all that you get (the way I think about it - that could be the cost of a case of good wine - or one raised bed planter - however, this is a combined 80 years of tomato growing knowledge with continuous access to not only Joe and me, but our other students). As we create additional bonus modules, they will become available with no additional charge. Even better - there is a 15 day money back guarantee starting at the day you purchase. You can give the course a thorough test drive - if you decide it is not for you, a full refund will happen on request.

I am really proud of the course that Joe and I put together. I am delighted with the feedback we’ve received from our students. And, I am very happy that it is now available to purchase and take any time that it works for you.

Here is what you need to do!

• Go to this link to subscribe to the joegardener email list - pop up boxes will appear - click each to receive a Free Tomato Resource bundle - our list of best tomatoes, and our list of trusted seed sources.

• To purchase the course, go to this link and use coupon code CRAIG150 to receive the 150.00 discount.

That’s all there is to it. Once you go the above and purchase the course, you can instantly dive in and experience the course at your own pace, join the community, and ask questions as they arise. If you have any questions, please drop me an email at nctomatoman@gmail.com

If you take the plunge and do this, you will not be sorry, I am sure!

Country Girl perennial mums opening today - Sept 27!

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.

____________________

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!