Off The Vine Volume 4, Number 1. "Why Don't More People Grow These" by Craig (this was never published)

Marlin the Christmas dog (so he thinks)

Two more articles to go, and ones no one has ever seen. I guess I was doing my typical writing for Off The Vine Volume 4, but for whatever reason, Carolyn and I decided it was time to stop. For this first one, I focused on tomatoes that I really enjoyed growing and eating but seemed way too obscure and relatively unknown.

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Why Don’t More People Grow These?

by Craig

Maybe I did not write a catchy enough description in the SSE yearbook. Or, perhaps the name of the tomato isn’t memorable. Whatever the reason, there are many tomatoes that have performed splendidly in my gardens, yet remain consistently unpopular. Not only do very few seed savers request the seed, but even fewer reoffer it in following years. So, here is my list of the Rodney Dangerfields of the tomato world, at least in my opinion. They don’t get much respect. But they deserve it...at least I think so! It must be remembered that I have grown only a fraction of the tomatoes in the SSE collection, so my experience is relatively limited. But after reading this, will you decide that one or several of them are actually the next Brandywine, Riesentraub, or Aunt Ruby’s Green? They might be, but only if gardeners try them and find them to be as good as I do.

When I think about growing great red tomatoes, a few that wind up in my garden more often than not are Adelia, Aker’s West Virginia, Buckbee’s New Fifty Day, Gallo Plum, Giant Syrian, Livingston’s Favorite, Lillian’s Red, Old Virginia, Rasp Large Red, Reif Italian Red Heart, and Maule’s Success. Some of them are not huge or flashy, but are what I consider to be “old reliable”, tomatoes that yield well and taste good year after year. In this category are Adelia, Buckbee’s New Fifty Day, Livingston’s Favorite, and Maule’s Success.  They all set fruit quickly and reliably.  They all run from 6 to 8 ounces, and all are relatively smooth and crack-free. They are probably a good indication of what was exciting at the turn of the century with respect to progress in tomato breeding. Up until that time, tomatoes were generally large and very rough in shape. Favorite and Success, among others, were very smooth and consistent in shape and quality. They also have a snappy, “old time” tomato flavor, with more seeds and pulp and less sugary sweetness than the larger beefsteak types. Rasp Large Red is nearly globe shaped and closer to a pound in weight, and also very tasty. Two of my red list are truly huge; Old Virginia and Aker’s West Virginia.  I know nothing of their history, but both came to me as family heirlooms.  Both can exceed 2 pounds in weight, but are very fine flavored. Old Virginia was a light yielder, but Aker was very productive. Giant Syrian and Reif Italian are both very large heart-shaped tomatoes that grow on wispy but vigorous vines. Both are more juicy and seedy, and more tart, than the very popular German Red Strawberry. Finally, Lillian’s Red is a medium sized tomato of variable shape, running from nearly globe to elongated. The flavor is outstandingly rich, amongst the best flavored of tomatoes. Unfortunately, the plant is extremely spindly and weak as a seedling, though it really gains steam and vigor as the season progresses. Gallo Plum is another of the pepper shaped sauce tomatoes, of which Opalka may be the best known. Gallo is its equal in productivity and flavor, though. I received it along with many other family heirlooms from a West Virginia person named Charlotte Mullens nearly 10 years ago.

The stars of the pink tomato family of low respect are Alpha Pink, Belgian Beauty, Fritsche, Livingston’s Beauty, Gregori’s Altai, Livingston’s Magnus, Mikarda Sweet, Nicky Crain, Polish, Tappy’s Finest, and Wins All. Like the reds, they fit into different categories. Alpha Pink is probably very similar to Acme, the first of the smooth pink tomatoes, from the 1870’s. It is very early, amongst the first tomatoes to ripen, but is productive and possessing a nice sweet flavor. Fritsche is similar in size, but is a remarkably prolific yielder of smooth 6 ounce slightly flattened globes, with a delightful flavor and juicy texture. Livingston’s Beauty and Magnus are similar in size and flavor, but Magnus is potato leaved. Gregori’s Altai is slightly larger and rounder, and a bit crack prone, but may be the sweetest tomato I have grown. Belgian Beauty, Wins All, Polish and Tappy’s Finest are all large pink beefsteak types that are very sweet and delicious. Polish differs in being potato leaved, and perhaps of superior flavor. Mikarda is a unique pink pepper shaped tomato on a very wispy plant, but is very sweet and delicious, as well as prolific. Nicky Crain is very large and heart shaped, and of the very best of flavor.

Other great different colored but unrespected tomatoes are Big Yellow, Galina’s, Czech’s Excellent Yellow, Golden Queen, Golden Monarch, Yellow White, Lillian’s Yellow, Madara, Potato Leaf Yellow, Yellow Bell, Coyote, and Dorothy’s Green. Big Yellow and Potato Leaf Yellow are both very large gold, slightly oblate beefsteak types that differ in leaf shape, and sweetness (Big Yellow is clearly on the sweet mild side, Potato Leaf Yellow very tart and rich). Galina’s, Madara, and Coyote are cherry tomatoes, with Galina’s being potato leaved and firm, Madara very juicy, and Coyote nearly white in color and much smaller. In fact it grows wild in Mexico. Czech’s Excellent Yellow is about golf ball sized and very tasty. Golden Queen and Golden Monarch are very similar; both are medium sized, smooth, slightly oblate bright yellow tomatoes with a pink blush on the bottom of some of the larger fruit. This is the real Golden Queen as developed and described by Livingston in the late 1800’s, not the recent determinate orange introduction that is usually offered under that name. Lillian’s Yellow is a superbly flavored but tricky to grow canary yellow, large beefsteak on a potato leaved plant, making it truly unique. What makes it tricky in my hands is that it is very variable in yield and quite crack-prone. The flavor and beauty are worth the effort, however. Yellow Bell is a bright yellow Roma shaped tomato of superb flavor and productivity. It tastes great in salads, not just as sauce. Yellow White, which also has the name of Viva Lindsey’s Kentucky Heirloom, is a large nearly globe shaped tomato that is just on the yellow side of ivory. It is not ravingly delicious, but is mild, sweet, and beautiful. Taking up the rear is a tomato I called Dorothy’s Green, but it was sent to me as simply “Green”. I think that it is just as good a tomato as Aunt Ruby’s Green to eat, though it is slightly more irregular in shape. It yields like crazy, though, and those who taste it are blown away!

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In looking through the above list…which ones have risen in popularity? Aker’s West Virginia, Giant Syrian, Livingston’s Beauty, Magnus, Polish, Winsall, Galina, Golden Queen, Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom and Coyote are better known now than they were when I wrote this in 1997. There are quite a few on the list that remain obscure, and I must get fresh seed to give them a try here in Hendersonville!

Sue with Santa at the Hendersonville farmers market in early December

December 6 is a big day! Happy Anniversary to us - 42 years and counting!

Our wedding day - December 6, 1980 - in Rollins Chapel, Hanover NH

No words can describe the joy that I’ve experienced over the past 42 years - and it only gets better with time.

Enjoying a moment at Ocracoke Island some thanksgiving along the way

We started out laughing, hiking, gardening, listening to music, having nice meals. We still do!

At DuPont last month.

Dinner last night at West First in Hendersonville…a new favorite

Off The Vine Volume 3, Number 3. "The Most Popular Heirlooms, SSE Style" by Craig

One of my favorite pics of Sue with Sara and Caitlin - not exactly sure when this was taken - while we were living in Raleigh

Here’s the last article of Volume 3, Number 3. All that remains are two unpublished articles that I wrote for the unfinished Volume 4, Number 1 - Off The Vine ended prior to completion of Volume 4, and Carolyn didn’t submit any articles for it.

The Most Popular Heirlooms, SSE Style

by Craig

For Seed Saver Exchange members, the highlight of the year is probably receiving the annual Yearbook each January or February. That is when they find out if any new, interesting heirloom vegetables become available for ordering and growing the following summer. It is also the time that we find out how many of the seeds that we sent out the previous year are being reoffered by other members. By reading the descriptions, we can tell if other gardeners feel the same way about a variety that we do. It is also a good way to get a handle on what is popular in the heirloom hit parade.

I thought that it would be interesting to the OTV readers to give a list of the most popular varieties of heirloom tomatoes. By popular, the statistic that I used is the number of SSE members that are reoffering the seed. Though the SSE Yearbook lists literally thousands of varieties of tomatoes, many, if not most, are being offered by only one person. For some reason, more heirloom tomatoes have not yet caught on with other gardeners. Sometimes the description that the grower gives does not do the variety justice, but usually, it is because there is just not much to get excited about. At the other end of the spectrum lie those varieties that have truly reached legendary status with seed savers. Again, there are a variety of reasons for this, such as historical significance, inherent quality, or curiosity value.

For this article, I used 16 as the cut off number for number of seed savers offering a variety. Among the red tomatoes, Amish Paste takes top prize with 39 gardeners offering seed for it. This is followed by the various strains of Abraham Lincoln (25), Red Brandywine (25), Reisentraube (24), Stupice (19), Silvery Fir Tree (18), Druzba (16), and Old Brooks (16). The pink tomatoes hold the SSE champion, Brandywine (50 offering seed savers), followed by  Eva Purple Ball (23) and Prudens Purple (16). The yellow and orange tomatoes are led by Yellow Pear (26), Yellow Brandywine (20), Persimmon (18), and Golden Queen (17). Finally, the odd and unusual tomatoes are represented by Green Zebra (30), Cherokee Purple (27), Black Krim (24), Pineapple (24), Green Grape (22), Black Prince (19), Purple Calabash (16), Banana Legs (16), and Evergreen (16). It is both humbling and exciting to see that Carolyn or I are the ones who brought several of the above to the attention of seed savers. In this category are Reisentraube, Druzba, Eva Purple Ball, Yellow Brandywine, and Cherokee Purple. One reason may be that we managed to get these varieties into one or several commercial seed catalogs. Another is that we tend to write very detailed descriptions in the SSE yearbook, which may tempt more people to sample the variety for themselves. It is also important to note that all of the varieties listed above are now available to gardeners through one or more commercial seed sources. This is a tremendous change that is fairly recent. Even as recently as 5 years ago, this statement would not be true at all.

What an interesting collection of tomatoes! With respect to flavor, it is clear why Amish Paste, Red Brandywine, Reisentraube, Druzba, Brandywine, Eva Purple Ball, Prudens Purple, Yellow Brandywine, Persimmon, Cherokee Purple, Pineapple, Green Grape, and Evergreen make the list. All are wonderful tomatoes, and several are very productive and well adapted to many growing areas. Curiosity is the prime motivator for growing Silvery Fir Tree (which, frankly, is much more valuable for its foliage than its fruit), Green Zebra, Cherokee Purple, Black Krim, Green Grape, Black Prince, Banana Legs (which has its supporters, but I find to be tough skinned and relatively bland), Evergreen, and, especially, Purple Calabash. I have never grown the last mentioned tomato, but most describe it as a tomato of poor or at least highly unusual and strong flavor. After seeing it growing at the Monticello gardens, it is certainly an interesting specimen, however, with its dusky pink-purple coloration and its creases and folds. Unfulfilled promise is represented by Abraham Lincoln, which appears to be much less than the tomato it used to be when released by Buckbee in 1923. Once described as bronze foliaged and weighing over one pound each, most if not all of the Abraham Lincoln being offered produce medium round fruit on semi determinate green foliaged plants. Clearly, some crossing has led to the demise of the variety as originally developed. The strain that was obtained by Carolyn and me from the USDA has large fruit, but not the bronze foliage. Finally, it is certainly strange to me why Old Brooks, Yellow Pear or Golden Queen are so popular. Speaking of confusion, we have written previously about the troubles of Golden Queen. One of the original Livingston developments from the late 1800’s, it was originally described as a medium to large bright yellow tomato with a pink blush on the bottom. The strain we received from the USDA lives up to this description. Unfortunately, most if not all of the Golden Queen listed in seed catalogs is probably a selection from Jubilee, which is a medium sized orange tomato that was bred by Burpee and released in the 1940’s. So far, neither Carolyn nor I have had any luck getting a seed company to sell the real thing. In future articles, Carolyn and I will each be writing on varieties that we feel are overrated, as well as some that clearly need to be grown and enjoyed by more tomato enthusiasts.

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That’s pretty brief. It was fun to go through the SSE yearbook to find out what was most listed that year. I am sure things look very different now - but I am not going to take the time to go through the latest yearbook and do that analysis (sorry!).

Sue and I cross country skiing during a huge snowstorm that happened not long after we moved into Raleigh!

Off The Vine Volume 3, Number 3. "Seed Sources and Free Seeds" by Carolyn

Sue and Koda on a lovely chilly morning in DuPont - our last November hike for 2022 - on the Tarkiln and Tom’s Cemetary trails.

Here’s a nice long article by Carolyn - in fact, sadly, this is the last article written by her for Off The Vine, so enjoy. It captures her love of new creations, doing garden research, and saving and sharing seeds. After this, just three more articles to go. We will be done by Christmas for sure.

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Seed Sources and Free Seeds

Carolyn Male

I’d first line to mention that Craig and I are not a source of tomato seeds for Off The Vine subscribers.  We both are active listed members of the Seed Savers Exchange SSE, see below), and participate in their seed activities, but do not feel it is appropriate for us to offer seeds for sale.  I’m going to discuss both commercial sources and the special seeds we are offering through Off The Vine, but I’d first like to encourage all of you to consider membership in the SSE.  SSE is not a commercial firm and is not a seed company.  It is an organization dedicated to the preservation of heirloom vegetables, fruits and grains.  If preserving our genetic heritage is important to you, you might wish to support SSE by becoming a member.  Membership will give you access to about 3000 tomato varieties!  Almost all of the varieties mentioned in OTV are available through the SSE.  It is hoped that you would multiply seed obtained through SSE and reoffer it to others as a listed member although that certainly is not a requirement for membership.  It’s pretty late in the season to obtain the current seed listings in the 1997 Yearbook, but by sending in $25 now, you might get it this Spring.  It gets very busy at the SSE in the spring and there is usually a big backlog.  They now publish a brochure which contains a few selected vegetable and flower varieties which are available to everyone, but the tomato offerings are limited.  The address is Seed Savers Exchange, 3076 North Winn Road, Decorah, IA, 52101.

The following list of commercial sources is not inclusive; they are companies Craig and I, or others we know have dealt with and have been pleased with both the service and the seeds.  The catalog ($2) of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, PO Box 170, Earlysville, VA, 22936 is a treasure trove of heirloom histories and excellent open pollinated varieties.  There is a large selection of heirloom tomatoes including many that have been mentioned in Off The Vine (too many to mention separately).  Vince and Linda Sapp at Tomato Growers Supply have made a large commitment to heirloom tomatoes and now carry a superb collection.   Again, many of the varieties have been mentioned here and are too numerous to mention individually.  Their catalog is free and the address is Tomato Growers Supply Co., PO Box 2237, Fort Meyers, FL  33902.  Rob Johnston of Johnny’s Selected Seeds has an excellent, but limited selection of heirloom tomatoes.  Again, many have been mentioned here in OTV.  The catalog is free and the address is Johnny’s Selected Seeds, Foss Hill Road, Albion ME, 04910.  Tom Hauch has a small catalog which features many excellent heirloom tomatoes.  The catalog is $1 and the address is Heirloom Seeds, PL Box 245, West Elizabeth, PA, 15088.  Craig and I have been sending seeds for trial to the first three companies and we are pleased that they have selected some of our varieties to offer in their catalogs.

We are also making available to you a selection of 9 very special seeds, of which you may request any five varieties.  These seeds are special because they are the result of either natural or deliberate cross pollination and the grow outs from some of these should be especially interesting.  We need to discuss a little about tomato genetics before I describe the varieties.

The fruits which result from initial cross pollination (natural or deliberate) of two parents gives seed which is referred to as F1 seed (or F1 hybrid).  When planted, all of the plants and fruit of F1 seed should be identical (but see the comments later about the Brandywine crosses).  Seed isolated from the fruits of F1 plants is referred to as the F2 seed.  When this seed is planted you’ll get a variety of different plants which might vary with respect to foliage type, fruit shape and color, earliness, etc.  So if the F1 plants were potato leaf, for instance, the F2 plants may be regular leaf or potato leaf.  And if the F1 fruit was red, you could get red, orange, or pink fruit, or whatever, in the F2s, depending on the parents.  If you find an F2 plant that you like, save the seeds and plant again next year.  These F3 seeds will also segregate out different characteristics so you’ll have to select again and grow out the next year to see the F4s.  So how long does it take to genetically stabilize a variety?  Well, how does 3-10 years sound?  But really it is fun, and remember that every authentic family heirloom tomato was grown out and stabilized by someone until it came true every year!  Some of the rejects are darn good and this stabilizing game really does start to grow on you.  So if you have the room and the inclination, give it a try…I think you’ll love it!

The first series of seeds were hybridized by Stanley Zubrowski, an amateur Canadian hybridizer who has been trying to combine flavor (Brandywine) with a variety of early season varieties.  All F1s are potato leaved and the fruit are about 4-6 ounces with a variety of fruit shapes and the color is red or pink (should all be red because Brandywine is pink and each of the four varieties it was crossed to are red; red is dominant to pink).  These crosses are Brandywine X Stupice, Brandywine X Polish, Brandywine X Glacier, and Brandywine X Outdoor Girl.  Seed offered is F2 seed.  Tad Smith, author of our late blight article and a hybridization article in previous issues, is offering two crosses.  The first is Yellow Oxheart X Ukrainian Heart (red).  The F1 plants are wispy, as one often seeds with oxheart foliage and fruit are large pink hearts.  Tad knows the Ukrainian Heart parent was red and is at a loss to explain the pink offspring.  Seed offered is F2 seed.  Tad’s other cross is Purple Perfect X Purple Price.  These parents have the same coloration as Cherokee Purple, as do the F1 fruit.  I happen to love Purple Perfect, the one parent, and several folks reported from last year that they got some excellent selections.  Seed offered is the F2 seed, and seed amount is limited.  I’m offering two crosses.  The first is White Queen X unknown.  White Queen is the best white I’ve ever grown, is oblate (flattened) with very good taste.  The F1 fruit are large red and bomb shaped with excellent taste; could be some interesting ones that come out of this because I don’t know what the other parent is, other than it’s red.  Seed offered is F2 seed.  My other offering is OTV Brandywine, and this is a great tomato.  The OTV reflects the fact that this cross originated in Craig’s garden between Yellow Brandywine and unknown, and I’ve stabilized it out to the F4, and now F5 generations.  While pink, yellow and red/orange large beefsteak type fruit have appeared in the F2 and F3 generations, I’ve been selecting for the large red/orange potato leaf type and last summer all 8 plants were true.  Seeds offered are either F4 or F5.  OTV Brandywine is also being offered to members of SSE this year.

All of the above seeds were offered last year also, and I did receive some reports back from folks, and some reports were quite detailed, with color photos and seeds of the selections.  I will share some of these reports with you in the next issue, but in general I’d say that everyone who contacted me praised OTV Brandywine very highly, found the range of fruit colors and shapes to be most extensive with the White Queen cross, like the Purple Perfect selections they got, and had varied comments about the Brandywine X “early red variety” crosses (my own impression is that the Brandywine X Stupice cross has the most potential).  No one mentioned results with the Ukrainian Heart (red) X Yellow Oxheart cross, but we have no seeds to offer this year.

We have two new crosses to offer this year; both are from Steve Draper in Utah, and they are really interesting combinations.  These are crosses Steve did himself.  The first is Galina X Black Krim.  Galina is a deep yellow cherry tomato with potato leaf foliage.  Black Krim is one of the black/red types and is medium sized with a blackish red exterior and a brick/red/chocolate interior, and regular leaf foliage.  Galina has just superb taste…Dr. Carolyn is an ivory mutant of it.  Steve sent me his only four F1 seeds to grow out last summer.  The plants are robust with regular leaf foliage and about 3-4 oz round fruit in clusters; the color is really deep red with darker undertones, and the taste is just superb!  Considering the colors in this cross, the F2 growouts should be very interesting.  Steve’s other cross is Banana Legs X Regina’s Yellow.  Banana Legs is yellow and about 3-4 inches long by about 1 inch wide, and I don’t think anyone says its taste is outstanding.  But Steve wanted to get some taste and color into it and so used Regina’s Yellow which is a large gold/red bicolor with vigorous regular leaf foliage; the taste of Regina’s is excellent, as is experienced with most bicolors.  The F1 fruit in Steve’s garden was top shaped, the flesh soft like Banana Legs, and when fully ripe showed faint striping.  Flavor was mild and all plants were vigorous like Regina’s, not scrawny like Banana Legs.  Again, the F2 growouts should be very interesting.  Seeds offered for both of Steve’s crosses are F2 seeds.  There is plenty of seed of the first cross, but only enough for about 15 folks for the Banana Legs cross.  Steve is moving from Utah to Washington State this month, and will not be able to grow as much in the Pacific NW.  He hopes that you will let him know about his crosses because only through you can he find out what his efforts will have produced.  I’ll post his address, perhaps, in the next issue of OTV.

These are experimental crosses.  Please do not share them or list them with the SSE.  The exception is OTV Brandywine, which already is listed with the SSE.  You may select any five varieties; approximately 10 seeds of each variety will be sent out.  Send your request to Patrick Millard, 1126 Justin Ridge Way, Waynesville, Ohio, 45068 and enclose a SASE with a 32 cent stamp; we would ask non-US folks to please enclose one dollar and not put stamps on the self addressed envelopes.  Please do not send seed requests to either Craig or me, only to Pat, who has graciously agreed to once again send these seeds to you.  Thanks so much, Pat, from all of us…we truly appreciate your time and efforts.  I am writing this article on March 19, 1997; tomorrow I give the copy to Mike to do the layout.  I should be able to send the laser copies to Craig next Tuesday.  Hopefully he can send out the OTVs around Easter.  That will still be enough time to request seeds and get them planted.  Those of us in zones 4 and 5 can plant seeds up to mid-April and those of you in warmer zones have no problem because you have a longer growing season.  I just know you’ll have lots of fun with these seeds.  Remember, you may request five varieties, please enclose a SASE (US folks; envelopes with one dollar for non US folks) and send only to Pat Millard at the address above!

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I never really kept up with the fate of the various crosses that Carolyn mentioned. It is hard to believe that these are from 1997 - 25 years ago!

Typical lazy afternoon array - Sue with Betts, Koda and Marlin having a nice snooze.

Off The Vine Volume 3, Number 3. "Saving Seeds - You Can Make a Difference" by Jim Tjepkema

Here’s a pic from 2019 - just before we were on our way from Raleigh to Hendersonville - when a former foster pup, Scout (previously known as Betts) paid us a visit - Marlin was so thrilled.

This is our final guest article. This one is written by a former SSE member and friend of Carolyn. I love these early thoughts on, essentially, citizen science! Jim as a SSE legacy donor - an article about him can be found here. Two articles remain for Volume 3, Number 3 - then the two never before published that I wrote for partial issue Volume 4, Number 1. Four more articles, four weeks until Christmas - it will happen!

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Saving Seeds:  You can make a difference!

Jim Tjepkema

The first seed savers played an important role in the origins of agriculture and modern seed savers have become important contributors to the advance of agriculture at its current stage of development.  The first gardeners and farmers, who were the first seed savers, could be thought of as the original plant breeders.  These ancient seed savers discovered and developed practically all of the domesticated plant species now in existence.  Modern plant breeders have improved domesticated plants, but have had little success in developing new domesticated plant species.  In this article I will discuss the role seed savers can and do play in agricultural science today.

I have seen advice from gardening publications warning gardeners against saving their own seeds.  Those giving advice against saving seeds may think that gardeners should not get involved in aspects of gardening that are better left to scientists and technologists.  In fact, some procedures used by professional seed producers may be beyond the means of the average seed saver and, therefore, the work of these professionals is important.  However, many seed savers, who are not professionals, have found that they can do a good job of saving the seeds of many kinds of vegetables, and other plants without too much effort.

I believe that professional scientists and technologists should welcome the help of non professionals and that science and technology should not be completely dominated by professionals.  In agriculture, which is my field of study, some scientists have tended to take a top down approach where they are almost completely in control of the most important research programs and the educational agenda associated with this research.  However, this top down approach to research and education is losing some of its support partly due to the advocates of sustainable farming who are questioning many of the conventional practices used in agriculture.  In sustainable farming there is a tendency for farmers and agricultural specialists to work together as partners in research and education.

I find that many gardeners are very independent and may not pay too much attention to specialists who do not respond to their needs.  However, I believe seed saving may be an important way for gardeners to become more involved in the science of gardening.  Of course, there are always people around who like to experiment in their gardens, but the work of backyard scientists tends to be isolated and may be completely ignored.  Newsletters like Off The Vine and organizations like the Seed Savers Exchange bring the isolated efforts of backyard scientists together and encourage more people to join this activity.

Some of the best seed savers have developed their own very extensive programs for collecting and maintaining rare plant varieties that are as good or better than programs developed by many plant scientists.  Also, other projects are sometimes taken on by seed savers such as plant breeding and variety performance trials.  For example, Off The Vine has made some efforts to get data on plant disease resistance from seed savers and has circulated seeds from a plant breeding project to be checked for performance by seed savers.

Many seed savers may approach gardening as an art and are not interested in making scientific observations or getting involved with research projects.  However, those who think they might like to do some scientific work might find that this work is very rewarding.  I have worked with farmers on research projects and have found that they can benefit in many ways from doing research.  By doing research farmers gain a better understanding of how scientific research is done and increase their access to information and specialists while becoming more confident in their own ability to improve their methods of farming.

Gardeners may not get the same benefits from doing research that are achieved by farmers.  However, I think that in some ways the benefits to gardens from research activities are very similar to those of farmers.  First of all, scientific studies may be simply looked upon as very interesting activities that are enjoyable.  Scientists who are doing research as part of their job may lose sight of the fun side of science, but there is no reason a seed saver should let research become a chore that is not personally rewarding.

If we leave research primarily in the hands of professionals we sometimes feel that they may be taking science in a direction that is against our interests.  When scientists work along, without any nonprofessional partners, they may overlook many important things that could have been brought to their attention by such partners.  For example, many people now think that the scientific community should do more to protect our genetic heritage of domesticated plants.  Much understanding of the importance of our plant genetic heritage has come through people getting involved in seed saving and not leaving the preservation of rare plants entirely in the hands of professional scientists.  If plant scientists had worked more closely with seed savers in the past, they might already have developed better programs for saving rare plants.

Use of science by gardeners can start at a very simple and practical level.  Practices such as keeping good records of gardening activities and recording the unique characteristics of rare varieties can have both scientific and personal value.  Carolyn Male indicated to me she appreciates the careful observations on the characteristics of rare tomatoes made by some seed savers and would like to see other rare tomato growers take more time to observer the traits of their tomato plants.  Likewise, by selecting for desirable traits of varieties when saving seeds, gardeners, can help preserve rare varieties, gain more insight into the science of seed saving, and have improved varieties for their own use.

I think even very small contributions to plant science and to the work of preserving rare plants can be rewarding.  You can learn a great deal by saving just one rare plant variety.  Likewise there are always plenty of new activities for even the most advanced seed saver such as setting up controlled experiments to verify the presence of superior traits discovered in rare plants.  The resources of the professional scientific community are limited and they should welcome help from people outside their community, including seed savers.  Seed savers have without doubt made important contributions to modern plant science and have the potential for making even greater contributions in the future.

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Reading this and other guest articles, as I’ve republished Off The Vine, reminds me of how valuable and enjoyable it was to provide a forum for other gardeners interested in heirlooms. I found a letter to the editor, written in 2021, to a Minnesota newspaper by Jim - it is good to know he is still doing his thing on this earth!

Sue doing her treat thing with Koda, Marlin, and visiting Scout (with the pretty ears, on the left).

Off The Vine Volume 3, Number 3. "Another Year, More Decisions" by Craig

One of my favorites from Ocracoke 2009, with Mocha and Buddy

On we go, moving into the content of the last Volume/Numbered issue. It is always interesting to revisit my grow lists - this looks like it was a busy year. In 1996 I saved seeds from 87 varieties. The focus was clearly on heirlooms.

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Another Year, Another Garden, More Decisions!

by Craig

Can it possibly be time to start the tomato seedlings? Why does it seem as though Christmas was just a few weeks away? The view out of my window at work tells me that spring is indeed just around the corner. It is the second week of March, and the ornamental cherry trees are in full bloom. I just received my seed  potatoes from Ronniger’s, the Seed Saver Exchange seed requests are arriving each day, and I think that I finally decided what to grow this year. As you read in the last issue of OTV, 1996 was full of the challenges of nature, from hungry critters to destructive storms. Hopefully, 1997 will be delightfully uneventful. Soon, my arsenal of deer repellents will arrive, and I will continue my ongoing and annual battle with the ever increasing population of hungry Bambi look-alikes.

In 1994 and 1995, my tomato choices were mostly historical commercial varieties liberated by Carolyn and I from the USDA collection. Last year saw a return to heirlooms, most of which were grown in my garden for the first time. This year will be less ambitious both in the number of plants as well as new varieties. I decided that it was high time to eat and enjoy my tomato crop, and will therefore focus upon those types that I love and, even more important, seem to grow well in North Carolina. There are also a few new additions to my collection, and some that I have had for years and now feel compelled to try.

My red tomatoes will be Bisignano #2, Lillian’s Red, Abraham Lincoln, Red Brandywine, Rasp Red, Livingston’s Favorite, Buckbee’s New Fifty Day, Maule’s Success, King Humbert, Nepal, Dinner Plate B, Reif Red Heart, Niemeyer, and Turkey Chomp. Pink tomatoes include Big Junn, Brandywine, Tappy’s Finest, Tap regular leaf, Tap potato leaf, Anna Russian, Ukrainian Heart, Wins All, Sandul Moldovan, Middle Tennessee Low Acid, Eva Purple Ball, Big Junn, German Johnson, and Geswein’s Purple Bonny Best. Bicolored tomatoes will consist of Regina’s Yellow and Selwin Yellow. Yellow and Gold tomatoes include Sun Gold hybrid, Yellow Brandywine, Potato Leaf Yellow, Simpson’s Big Yellow, Azoychka, Dr. Carolyn, Orange, Brown’s Yellow Giant, and Golden Beauty. Finally, the odd colored tomatoes include Cherokee Purple, Cherokee Brick Red, Green, and Aunt Ruby’s Green.  Oh, yes, the mystery tomatoes of 1997 will be Mikado (I am still looking for the pink potato leaf version) and Nina’s Heirloom (continuing my search for the regular leaf bicolor).  I am not sure about the colors of York, West Virginia, Russian Sweet #2, Sterling Old German, Hart’s Delite, D’Amato, or Maria Dondero Early.

Many of the above tomatoes were described in past issues of OTV. Here is some information on those that may be new to you. Bisignano #2 was one of the first tomatoes ordered when I joined SSE, and I first grew it in 1988. It is unusual in that it is not uniform in shape, with oblate, round, and long tomatoes all appearing on the same plant. It is originally from Italy, being obtained from a Mr. Bisignano by a SSE member in the mid 1980’s. Mr. Bisignano won the Victory Garden award some years back, and this tomato was one he grew in his garden that year. Lillian’s Red was sent to me by Robert Richardson of New York in 1989, and has been a favorite of mine ever since. It is not very easy to grow due to the plant’s relatively low vigor. The medium sized oval tomatoes are outstanding in flavor, however, and the plant is very productive. Mr. Richardson obtained it, as well as one of my all time favorites, Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom, from a Tennessee woman named Lillian Bruce.  Dinner Plate B was in a collection of tomatoes sent to me in 1990 by a New York gardener named Roger Bennett. I grew it once, in 1991, and was surprised to find that such a spindly, weak plant could produce such delicious, elongated medium sized tomatoes. It is time to try it again to see how well my memory serves me, and to see how well it does in my sultry climate. By the way, Dinner Plate A, an oblate slicer, was just as fine flavored, but it will have to wait until next year to be tried again. Turkey Chomp is one of numerous tomatoes sent to me in 1990 by the elusive and mysterious tomato collecting former SSE member, Don Branscomb, of California when last he was heard from. I grew out a number of that set in 1991, and Turkey Chomp stood well apart from the rest, giving me delicious smooth large fruit. Tappy’s Finest, obtained from the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange in 1989, was a star performer in my garden that year, yielding uniform, smooth, large pink slicers with outstanding flavor. King Humbert is one of the tomatoes that was obtained from the USDA collection. It is an old, Italian sauce tomato that I will finally get to testing this year. I tried to grow Niemeyer last year, but the plant died from wilt before I harvested any tomatoes from it. The same goes for Middle Tennessee Low Acid and Big Junn. Hopefully, this year will be more successful for these three varieties.

I am trying the microwave/potassium nitrate soak rescue program on some old seed that I have yet to grow out. These are York, German Johnson, Brown’s Large Yellow, West Virginia, Russian Sweet #2, and Sterling Old German, as well as a stubborn sample of Dr. Carolyn (the seed is stubborn, not Carolyn)!  Some new seeds recently sent to me, and to be grown this summer, are Maria Dondero Early, D’Amato, Bronze Leaf Abraham Lincoln, Heart’s Delite, and Simpson’s Big Yellow. If my rescue program does not work, I have already decided on my back up tomatoes. This list includes OTV Brandywine, Magnus, Old Virginia, Nicky Crain, Bridge Mike’s, Paragon, Trophy, Beauty, Royal Purple, Cream City, Redfield Beauty, Orange Strawberry, and German Red Strawberry. So, if all goes well, the next issue will include my first look at the 50 or so varieties of tomatoes that I have chosen to grace my table this year. I can hardly wait!

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I grew some great varieties in 1996 - it was the year I confirmed Cherokee Chocolate as a stable variety rather than a cross. I was pretty delighted with some that were new to me such as Sandul Moldovan, Old Virginia, Zogola, Red Brandywine, Taps, Azoychka, Curry, Rasp Large Red, Russian 117, Bridge Mike’s, and Selwin Yellow.

Mocha, fetching a stick at Springer Point, Ocracoke, in 2009

A Black Friday sale! Seed sending News. An upcoming Instagram Live. It's general update time.

At least we have flowers inside! We’ve lived here for three years and our African violets finally seem happy

I am pleased to share announce that the all on-line, video, self-paced tomato course created by Joe Lamp’l and me - Growing Epic Tomatoes - will be available for a significantly reduced price - $197.00 - from Monday November 21 until midnight Sunday November 27.

Please take advantage of this big saving on this very popular, very well received course! All you need to do is to go to this link and put in the code FALLSALE22 at check out. Please note that this course is “evergreen” - once you purchase, you can jump right in!

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For those of you who requested tomato seeds throughout the growing season, watch your mailboxes over the coming week. I completed half of the requests today, and should get the rest completed by the weekend. I am very low on a lot of varieties now, so can’t accept any additional requests at this time. I look forward to hearing about how the various varieties do for you next year!

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I will probably do an Instagram Live this coming Friday at 3 PM eastern just to say hello and catch folks up on a few things - the GET course discount, seed sending, and touch upon early thoughts for next year. It seems ages since I’ve done one - time just seems to fly these days.

Our other current bloomer

Off The Vine Volume 3, Number 3. "Heirloom Values" by James Weaver

My dad and I working in the West Chester PA garden - late 1980s when I was just dipping into heirlooms

Here is one of the guest articles that Carolyn discussed in her C and C’s column, by a Mennonite farmer she met when speaking at Rodale. It is charming, and still relevant today. Enjoy!

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Heirloom Tomatoes, Heirloom Values

James Weaver

The interest in heirloom vegetables, and specifically heirloom tomatoes, has grown phenomenally in the last few years.  Gourmet chefs from upscale New York restaurants ask for heirloom tomato varieties by name at the Union Square Greenmarket.  Heirloom seed catalog offerings are diversifying and becoming more colorful.  Likewise, farmers markets sell expanding lines of name-brand heirloom tomatoes and home gardeners are tilling under strips of lawn to make room for those “can’t be without ‘em” varieties.

How did all of this get started?  Why the renewed interest in heirlooms?  Just what is an heirloom vegetable?  An heirloom seed is not the same thing to everyone.  The dictionary tells us that an heirloom is a piece of personal property that has been in a family for a long time.  A reporter that came out to our farm three years ago to do an article on our heirloom tomatoes said she had been sent because they heard of a guy out by Kutztown who “had tomato seeds 100 years old”.  To the keepers of large seed banks, heirloom vegetable seeds are a hedge against possible massive crop failure due to plant diseases in the closely related hybrid seed lines.  To seed saving organizations, heirloom seed proliferation promises the continuation of wonderful old varieties that are in danger of extinction.  To third world and to former Iron Curtain countries, the unavailability of hybrid seed dictated a continuation of the old-time practice of saving seed.  For ethnic people and older generations, heirlooms have associations with former places or people, associations which ensure continuation of these heirloom varieties.  To home gardeners, heirlooms make it possible to grow an amazing diversity of taste, shape and color.

For many farmers, heirlooms hold no promise.  They are felt to be disease prone and low on yield.  There’s no money to be made on them.  They can’t be shipped.  “We need a modern tomato for modern times!” they demand.  But for market farmers like myself, heirlooms are a drawing card, providing an opportunity to offer something new.  “Such color, such shape” the customers comment.  “How pretty!  How ugly!”  They are fascinated.  “Ach, look”, says a Pennsylvania Dutch lady, “my grandmother grew that tomato but called it the apple tomato.  It is gute”.  An Italian man says excitedly, “oh looka!  The sausage tomato.  My Uncle bring it over from Italy”.  After some prompting, even the more timid customers dare to try them.  They are pleasantly surprised.  And before too long, they are convinced that there is nothing better.  The rewarding variety of tastes…rich, winey, mellow, mild, full, fruity, plumy, lemony.  The visual reward is a kaleidoscope of shape and color.  The mother of Tim Stark, a friend of mine who also grows heirloom tomatoes, calls his tomato patch the magical garden.  Aunt Ruby’s German Green, Uncle Ike’s Big Red, Grandma Mary’s, Radiator Charlie’s, Italian Long, Large Pink Bulgarian, Russian Persimmon, Tiffen Mennonite, Amish Paste, Cherokee Purple, Eva Purple Ball, Striped German, Black Krim.  The list goes on and on.

The most enduring reward to me of growing heirloom varieties is the rich variety of people they attract to my farm stand; people with a common interest in gourmet and exotic food or in saving seeds.  If my heirloom varieties have enriched the lives of others, the new and interesting people I have come in contact with at the farm stand, and the enduring friendships that have resulted, have enriched my life.

How did we, here at Meadow View Farms, become interested in heirloom varieties?  Well, the fact of the matter is, in our old order Mennonite community, the practice of saving seed never did quite died out, a fact to which many of the heirloom varieties like Tiffen Mennonite and Amish Paste will attest.  I can remember as a boy how my mother would always let her sugar peas stay on the vine until they dried, then collected the seed for the following year.  She received those seeds from her parents and still plants them.  When we opened our greenhouse for business in 1987, we offered transplants of an oxheart type tomato that my aunt has grown for  years.  My 80 year old mother in law kept seeds of a sugar pea variety that she received from home when she married in the 1930s.  They are very tender, with blossoms that have a pink tinge.  Although they have no name and she has no idea how old they are, she always keeps them isolated from all of the other peas.

My sister’s mother in law passed down a yellow tomato that she got from her parents.  She plants them in her market garden next to the Rodale Institute’s Experimental Farm near Kutztown.  No name, no age.  An elderly widow in the community has kept sugar pea and neck pumpkin seed for y ears.  She also speaks of a huge pink beefsteak tomato with wonderful flavor.   Is it Large Pink Bulgarian?  German Johnson?  Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter?  Who knows.

Seed saving in the Mennonite community was done for several reasons.  The main reason had to do with economics.  Why purchase seed that you can have for free with a little additional effort?  But with the glitz (“glitzern” in the PA Dutch dialect we speak means to glisten, glitter, twinkle) and glitter of seed catalogs and the change of economics down on the farm, we have adapted to the higher yield/improved disease resistance philosophy of hybrid varieties.

The second reason, after economics, is a strong sense of family.  With four generations living together on one farm, the generation gap automatically becomes narrower.  My 99 year old grandmother lives with my parents here on the farm.  She is senile and hard of hearing, so I was unable to ask her about seed saving.  But she insists on helping do the dishes after every meal and spends her time reminiscing about her childhood home in Lancaster County, PA.  With Grandpa, dad and boys going out to pick heirloom tomatoes, the term extended family takes on a new dimension.  Perpetuating Uncle John’s Indian corn evokes a sense of continuity.  Saving the seeds of Grandpa’s sugar peas creates a feeling of belonging.  Planting Grandma’s favorite tomato perpetuates a tradition that goes back to an earlier, simpler time.

Becoming involved, or reinvolved, with heirloom varieties was a natural development. Having never deviated much from basic self-sustaining concepts such as crop rotation and natural fertilizer application, it was easy.  Introducing our greenhouse and farm market customers to these wonderful old varieties was a pleasant experience in addition to our own renewed discovery of them.  Recently, we created a line of hot pepper jellies in the farm kitchen.  The highlight of the growing season is our Chili Pepper and Heirloom Tomato Field Day, when folks from all over get an opportunity to stroll through our fields and learn about heirloom tomatoes, chili peppers, eggplant, squash and Indian corn.  The caring and sharing of information between amateur and professional alike is exciting to see.

But then again, maybe there are other reasons for our interest in heirlooms.  In light of the general trend away from the “bigger is better” hybrid varieties and toward the “back to basics” lifestyle that we have always supported, it seems to me that our community itself is an heirloom of sorts.  Mennonite roots go back to the reformation of Renaissance Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands in the early 16th century.  A holdover from the church of the apostles from the first century AD, their philosophy survived in fragmented, secluded groups through the dark ages.  Their rebirth as radically conservative Anabaptists caused them much suffering through exile, martyrdom and economic sanctions.  Brushed aside by mainstream Protestant reformers and the state religion, they clung to their newfound faith in isolated villages and farmsteads.  With the hope of religious freedom, they packed up their important belongings (seeds included) and immigrated to North America.  After a settling in period during colonial times, these hard working, thrifty people contributed to the agrarian fabric of American with their well kept farms.  With the advent of the agricultural and industrial revolutions they resisted those large scale changes that were perceived as destructive of their ways of life.  Some modern farm machinery was viewed as a detriment to the togetherness by which the farm was traditionally worked.  The increased mobility of the automobile, it was feared, would pull family and community apart.  While industrial society at large was changing at break neck pace, merging one and all into a world-wide community, there was no abiding consensus among the various Mennonite settlements scattered throughout North America, resulting in the emergence of many different “sects”, each of which was in its own unique way resistant to the general trends of modern society.  And because they interpreted the divine injunction “let your light shine” to mean “to enlighten or radiate warmth” by example rather than by lecture, they became “the quiet in the land”.  Perhaps, as the heirloom tomatoes of a former age add to the current quality of life, the Mennonites may continue to contribute to present day society.  And so, I have discovered, the people in my community, with our horse and buggy and our old-fashioned ways, manage to draw the same kind of curious and fascinated glances as do the peculiar shapes and colors of my heirloom tomatoes.

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We are now into the content articles of this Volume. Thanksgiving is in just a few weeks. The year is flying by - and so are the Off The Vine articles. Though I wish we kept it going for much longer, all we have is what we have. Just a few more to go.

with Sara and Caitlin in front of one of our Berwyn PA gardens - this is likely 1987 or so.

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

Looking up through our backyard maple, November 8 2022

Well, here it is - the last of Carolyn’s introductory columns. Given we were still looking for renewals, it seems that the decision to end Off The Vine was pretty sudden - I don’t recall why we pulled the plug after just another handful of issues. Anyway - enjoy the last of Carolyn’s stream of consciousness, wonderful, unique introductory articles that she penned for each issue.

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C and C’s Column

Carolyn Male

We’re almost back on schedule with this issue of Off The Vine, after a very rocky six months or so!  Hopefully events are smoothing out in my life…and the same for Craig.

It’s time to renew your subscription if your mailing label has a 33 next to your name (33 means Volume 3, number 3).  Separate renewal notices will not be sent out, so if you wish to stay with us, please send your renewal check, clearly marked renewal, to my Latham address.  The cost of subscriptions and my address are given in the Masthead on page 2 of this issue.  Checks are cash are preferred, and if you send a money order could you please send a US Postal money order?  I have no way to cash other types of money orders.  Our Canadian friends can send a check if it is a US based account, US cash, or a Canadian Postal money order made out in US funds.  It would be greatly appreciated.

Identical sets of mailing labels were made when issue 32 was sent out, so if you recently renewed, or had an address change, you will need see no change on the label.  The mailing labels will be updated for the 41 issue which should go out in late May or early June.  Please have your renewals to me by May 1 so I can update the computer list.  And if there is a problem with your mailing label termination date, or whatever, please contact me by email or phone; that information, again, is given on the Masthead on page 2.  A number of you have requested back issues and in a handwritten note in issue 32, which you just received a few weeks ago, I said that I expected to start sending those out in mid-March.  It now looks like it will be late March.  Between trying to fill SSE seed requests and answer a whole slew of letters which I received as a result of the article in Organic Gardening’s March issue on heirloom tomatoes, I’ve gotten behind again, time-wise.  Organic Gardening gave my address in the article, but did not give the price for OTV.  I have been inundated with folks wanting seeds mentioned on that article; I don’t know why they did that because the sources for the tomatoes were listed in the resource box.  Some of those letters are marvelously inventive!  And I received loads of letters about OTV, but since OG didn’t mention the cost, many thought it was free, or wanted information.  For all of those letters I have to write individual replies, and it is taking a lot of time.  What a mess!

We have two guest authors in this issue.  Jim Weaver I first met about two years ago when I was invited to give a seminar on heirloom tomatoes at the Rodale Research Institute in Kutztown, PA.  As I was preparing my talk I looked out the up the driveway came a bicycle rider with a neat straw hat!  Only later did I find out that Jim is a Mennonite farmer and, as he explained it to me, he doesn’t take the horse and buggy unless the distance from his home is over ten miles; the distance from his home to Rodale was 9.5 miles, so he rode his bike!  Jim’s infectious enthusiasm and wit was a breath of fresh air, and I laughed myself silly when he confessed that he really doesn’t like tomatoes…to eat.  I had an opportunity to visit Jim’s 70 acre farm and since he didn’t expect me that night, I was hosted by his lovely wife Alma; Jim and his kids were out in the fields (he and Alma have 7 children).  What I remember most was Alma’s flower garden…a square garden planted to resemble a quilt.  Various sections were blocks of flowers and the juxtaposition of different colors and flower forms was absolutely spectacular.  And I remember the fat cats, but none of them had names.  Alma said, “Oh, we just call that one the orange cat, or that one the black cat”.  I guess that surprised me.  They have a greenhouse and a roadside stand where they specialize in heirloom tomatoes, eggplant, Indian corn and winter squash.  And Alma prepares all sorts of pepper jellies and other goodies, which they also sell.  One of the mail highlights of their year are their annual Chili Pepper and Heirloom Tomato Field Days, which this fall are scheduled for September 5th and 6th.  I know Jim is growing about 125 hot pepper varieties, but I don’t know how many heirloom tomato varieties.  When I was at his farm he had prepared box after box of the most gorgeous heirloom tomatoes I’ve ever seen, to be delivered to Emmaus the next day for Organic Gardening’s taste testing.  The results were written up in an article by Rob Cardillo.  If you expect to be in the Kutztown area around September 5th and 6th, 1997, I know you would have a great time at their place.  Jim’s phone number is 610-682-6094 if you need directions and the like.  I’m so glad he was able to share with us in his article a bit about the Mennonites and their tradition of seed saving and their history.

And while I was staying at Rodale I looked through the guest book at the home where I was staying and recognized many names; one of them was Jim Tjepkema, whose name I recognized as a listed SSE member.  Two years ago Jim called me and asked if I would grow out some Bulgarian peppers he had obtained on a trip to Bulgaria and offer them through SSE.  I said I would, and we got to know each other a bit better.  Jim has been a member of SSE for 14 years and currently offers over 100 different varieties of seed.  He is a self-employed crop consultant to vegetable growers and has a particular interest in sustainable agriculture.  His 1994 trip to Bulgaria was under the auspices of the Volunteers for Overseas Cooperative Assistance.  And I’m glad he has written about a very important topic…that of what the individual home gardener can do to preserve rare plants.

Craig has written an article about his tomato selections for this growing season and an article about the top heirloom tomatoes as determined by numbers of listings in the 1997 SSE Annual Yearbook.  While I have written the article on seed sources and our OTV seed offerings for 1997 and the C and C’s column, as I usually do.

We recently mentioned that our tomato friend Any Smith, who has written several articles  for us, has a new book out on Ketchup (don’t remember if he used that spelling), and we gave all the information.  And now we have another OTV subscriber with a new book, William Woys Weaver is a food historian and has written several books about Pennsylvania Dutch Cookery.  I am especially eager to see his latest effort….a book about heirloom vegetables.  It is called Heirloom Vegetable Gardening, published by Henry Holt and Co, and the ISBN number is 0-8050-4025-0.  The book is expected to reach bookstores in late May, or thereabouts.  There will be many color pictures and line drawings, and having seen some of Will’s past efforts, I expect this book to be a treat.

I usually write an article about my selections for the summer season, but this year I don’t know what I’m doing!  Mother is doing well in the adult home, but her home, where all my gardens are, has been sold.  I will have access to my gardens and field for my tomatoes this summer, but I don’t yet know if water from the house will be available.  Without water I can’t go ahead and plant; that’s much too risky in this climate.  The heat was left on in the house all winter, and I need to confirm with the new owners that the water system made it through the winter OK, but I just haven’t done that yet.  If I don’t have my tomatoes I will be very upset, but I have faith that I’ll find a spot somewhere.  What I do know is that if I do plant, I will be cutting way back on the number of varieties I plant.  I simply can’t continue harvesting the seed from 150-200 varieties, let alone taking care of all of them.  I’m not getting younger and the arthritis is not getting better.  Another consideration is that I now feel that I have become a mini-seed company for SSE members.  A very low percentage of the seed I send out is being reoffered through the SSE Annual Yearbook.  And the whole purpose of preserving varieties is for folks to receive the seed and increase it and relist it in the SSE.  So, I have decided to not grow out my 1992 seed for increase.  I have been on a five year cycle for growouts, where it is now time to do the 1992 seed plus any other varieties that I am low on.  So, I will slowly decrease my offerings in SSE as the years progress, as varieties are not grown out.  Of course I will still plant those varieties that I personally love, and new varieties that I have discovered.  Right now I have some seeds of a Bulgarian tomato that Andy Smith’s son sent from Bulgaria.  And I have some seeds that Adrianna Heckiert got for me from Poland when she went back over Christmas break to work as a ski instructor at her parents’ ski resort in Poland.  Adrianna is a student of mine.  She was so upset after Christmas because the seeds were confiscated from her at Newark Airport when she went through customs.  Now that is ridiculous because it is perfectly legal to import into the US small amounts of clean seeds.  But what really got her steamed was the confiscation of her Polish beer that she was carrying with her!  Not to worry, her grandmother obtained more seeds and sent them along.  And I have a few other new types.  For the past few years a friend in England, Ulrike Paradine, facilitates my getting new varieties from two French seed companies…but nothing has arrived yet because they are late in sending varieties over her.  So I will report in the June OTV issue what happened with the water situation, and if I’m growing, I’ll tell you some of the varieties I’m growing.

Lastly, I’d like to thank Craig and his wife for helping out with OTV by sending out issues 32 and 33 from Raleigh, NC.  I’ve done it for the past three years, but this time I graciously accepted his offer to help because this time of year is just plain crazy for me.  I often spend up to 20 hours per week just on SSE requests, and it’s very difficult to meet my academic teaching obligations plus deal with SSE and OTV at the same time.  So thanks so much you guys….I really appreciate it.  Also, we’ve had an offer for someone to do a web page for us, and I’ll update you on that in the next issue.  And finally, someone has approached us, very tentatively, about the possibility of converting Off The Vine to a magazine about heirloom vegetables and/or tomatoes.  This would definitely not be the low cost Xeroxed affair you are now receiving.  If you have any thoughts about this possibility, please share them with us.

Craig and I hope all of you have a wondrous spring and that the tomatoes are all winners.  If you wish to correspond with either of us, our email addresses are given in the Masthead on page 2, as well as our home addresses.  I also list my phone numbers.  It’s best to reach me at my work number until summer, when either number will do.

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I wish there were dozens more of these - I wish we had continued for many more years. But - alas, we didn’t, so we are now on the home stretch. Seven articles remain to be posted after this one. I am so happy we did this newsletter, and even happier that I decided to make it available for all to read!

View from our firepit, looking out over the space our annual gardens populate - this is from November 8 on a gorgeous, warm afternoon.

Off The Vine Volume 3, Number 2. "The Great Competition" by Craig

Sue and I in front of Triple Falls in DuPont, Nov 4, 2022

Here is the result of my three year “hybrid vs heirloom” competition - it is actually published as an appendix in my book Epic Tomatoes. For completeness, I’ve included it here - after all, it is an article published in Off The Vine! Also - this is the last article in Volume 3, Number 2. All that remains will be the six articles in Volume 3, Number 3 - and two from the never issued, never completed Volume 4, Number 1. So - after this one - 8 more articles to go!

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The Great Competition

 by Craig

Those of us who enjoy growing open pollinated (non-hybrid) vegetables are constantly bombarded with doom and gloom warnings of the disasters that will inevitably strike our gardens. The words shriek at us from articles in newspapers, seed catalogs, nurseries, and even some of the popular gardening shows on television. “To have reliable yields, high quality and the best flavor, you must grow hybrids!” “It is foolhardy, and a total waste of time, to grow open-pollinated varieties in your gardens, since they have been surpassed by such obviously superior hybrid varieties!” Alas, it must be true. Just go to the local nursery and see what sort of tomato seedlings, or even seed packs, they carry. Or, take a trip to the local farmer’s market in the summer, and check out all the carbon copy, perfect looking red globes that are masquerading as tomatoes! They can fill a basket with ‘em, and days later, even the bottom ones are as shiny, pretty and perfect as can be!

But, as is the case with many things that are pleasurable to the eye, it is what you cannot see that counts the most. Buy some of those prize winning tomatoes, bring them home, slice them down (you should get a sharp knife), and take a bite! What sorts of adjectives come to mind? The ones that I use most frequently are dry, bland, tasteless, worthless, and even dangerous (I am sure that, if hit with one of those hybrid commercial tomatoes, severe damage would occur!). Well, this was my mind set back in 1986, when I finally grew tired of my hybrid-infused garden plot. Sure, there are good hybrid tomatoes available, ones that are more succulent than the types that the local farmers and other commercial growers seem to need to grow. Remember, though, that the farmers have to sell them to a public that has been programmed to expect its tomatoes scarlet, round, firm and perfect. But, this did not satisfy my yearning for better tasting, more interesting looking vegetables.  Isn’t it ironic, then, that it is the distant past, not the high technology future, that provided the answer to my search. It was when I joined the Seed Saver’s Exchange, and started to dabble in the multitude of treasures that were accessible, that my gardening experience became one of fulfillment, wonder and excitement. Needless to say, I jumped right in with total abandon; no looking back for me. Ah, but there were all of those warnings to be concerned with. Could I possibly grow these disease-prone, obsolete, low yielding varieties successfully? Would I have anything to show for my efforts, besides some blemished, misshapen fruit on spindly, disease-ridden vines?

Being a scientist, I felt that the best way to approach this issue was to carry out an experiment. So, in 1987, I grew, side by side, some of the most popular hybrid tomatoes and a few of the more highly regarded and “famous” heirlooms. Records were kept with regard to maturity dates, yields, fruit size, flavor, and observations about how each variety held up to disease. When all was said and done at the end of the growing season, I could compare the total number of tomatoes and total weight of fruit per plant, and develop a sense for the performance of each variety with regard to flavor and visual interest. The results were so fascinating that my original one year experiment with a limited number of varieties was expanded to three years, and eventually involved many different tomatoes of all sizes, colors, and shapes. The best way to judge the results is to look at where my garden efforts have become focused, as I have now moved almost exclusively into growing open pollinated varieties. There is simply very little, if any, reason for the home gardener to restrict themselves to hybrids.

Since I have never shared the results of this experiment with anyone (except my family), I feel that this is a good time to do so, in hopes that it will have several effects on the readers. If you had doubts about delving into the world of heirloom tomatoes, maybe this will persuade you to join in the fun. If you are already a convert, then this will just confirm what you already have discovered. And, it also gives you a good idea about what to expect from many tomatoes that you may have been interested in, but have never grown.

I grew the tomatoes on stakes or cages, if they were not indeterminate. The plants were pruned to two or three main stems, and allowed a few suckers to develop as well. The determinate varieties were not pruned at all. The experiment was carried out for three years, 1987-89. In general, 1987 and 1989 were excellent tomato growing years, and 1988 was relatively poor.  This fact was reflected in the performance of the plants. It is interesting to see that the hybrids did relatively better in 1988. A recent conversation with Rob Johnson affirmed that hybrids tend to be more consistent despite variable growing conditions.

In 1987, I grew 13 heirlooms/open pollinated tomatoes, and 5 hybrids. Yellow Cherry yielded over 750 tomatoes. From Tiger Tom I picked 170 fruit, and from Czech’s Excellent Yellow, 140 fruit, weighing over 26 pounds. The plum tomato Veeroma gave me 220 fruit, nearly 35 pounds worth! That’s a lot of tomato sauce. The large heirloom beefsteaks made up in size what they lacked in number. Pineapple, Persimmon, and Ruby Gold did yield 25 or more tomatoes, but at an average weight of 1 pound. The best hybrid was Lemon Boy, with nearly 60 fruits, 25 pounds total. Two notable disappointments were the well-known hybrids Moreton, with small fruit and boring flavor, and Supersteak, only 13 large fruit, 11 pounds total.

In 1988, among the 13 OP’s and 8 hybrids, the best heirloom performers were Bisignano #2, with 45 fruit, 23 pounds total, and Sabre, 34 fruit, 21 pounds total. Some heirlooms did quite poorly due to uneven weather and an outbreak of tobacco mosaic virus in one part of the garden. It was a very difficult year for Brandywine and Yellow Brimmer, especially. Among the hybrids, Big Pick, Whopper, Better Boy, Firebird were all around the 18 pound mark with 6 to 7 ounce average fruit. A few gave very good yields, but were not a flavor favorite. Both Early Cascade and Big Girl were flavor failures. Though relatively light yielding, I discovered that Gurney Girl hybrid was quite delicious.

Finally, in 1989, the heirlooms sang once more. There were 29 heirlooms and 4 hybrids in the garden. Ester Hess yellow cherry produced an amazing 730 tomatoes; that is nearly 30 pounds! The real eye openers were Yellow Bell, with 245 tomatoes and a total weight of 46 pounds, and Hugh’s, 35 tomatoes with an average weight of 20 ounces, over 40 pounds total! Many other heirlooms performed outstandingly, such as Fritsche, Viva, Anna Russian (this was the year that I fell in love with that tomato), Polish, Believe it or Not, and Pesta’s Mortgage Lifter. Among the small number of hybrids, Sweet Million produced an astounding 1000 tomatoes. Valley Girl yielded well, but was very ordinary on the palate.

The idea was not to show necessarily that all heirlooms or open pollinated tomatoes are superior in all respects to hybrids. In truth, the data shows that there are excellent and average examples in both categories. In fact, the data shows perhaps how variable the open pollinated varieties are when compared to the somewhat more consistent (in terms of yield) hybrids. This, along with the fragile, relatively higher perishability, is probably why hybrids will always be more popular to commercial growers. Home gardeners do not have these concerns, however.

Here is what I learned from my three year experiment. The open pollinated tomatoes, including all of the heirlooms, did not show any more likelihood of succumbing to disease as the season progressed. The condition of the foliage throughout the year between the heirlooms and the VFN disease resistant hybrids was remarkably similar all year long. Finally, there are some really good hybrids out there, but there is a sameness between them all (except for the unique and excellent Lemon Boy). It is a lot more fun to explore the huge range of colors, shapes, sizes and flavors available with heirloom tomatoes. Are you convinced yet?

This is the first page of the table in my article

second part

third part

final part

High Falls, DuPont - from a Nov 4 2022 hike