Back in the days of the plant farm, there was a field in the back that was home to tomato plants. Leftover plants from spring sales ended up here; we picked and sold all summer. There was little in the way of urgency in our field patch, it was another stream of income and a source for tomatoes for us as well, although we had a large garden with special varieties at home too.
In summer there would be a tomato tasting party. Fruit from home, our employee’s garden patches, and our own field grown plants became the reason to gather and rank the best of the best we had to offer. A necessary practice in the scheme of things, this would decide what tomatoes to drop from our ever growing seed list to make room for others.
For our tasting parties, sliced tomatoes would be placed on plates, the names hidden underneath; this was a non-biased way to find the best red, yellow, cherry, etc. Among our favorites were 'Brandywine', 'Kellogg's Breakfast', Cherokee Purple', 'Black Krim', and 'Sun Gold'. Most of these are labeled heirlooms, passed down from family to family or open pollinated varieties introduced before 1940, which pre-dates the modern hybrid era. Often thin skinned, easily bruised, but delicious in varied ways, one of my employees confessed that she didn't even like tomatoes before our tasting parties.
Fast forward to 2019, I was intrigued by podcast coverage of a new book titled "Epic Tomatoes" by Craig LeHoullier last summer and began following him on various social media platforms. He is the current "Tomato Man", with his own breeding program and a desire to introduce dwarf heirloom varieties. Both 'Black Krim' and 'Cherokee Purple' were named by Craig, the seed sent to him, the man that wants to prove that heirloom tomatoes are not difficult to grow or less productive.
His garden or driveway of containerized plants is located in Raleigh, NC. He uses straw bales and two to five gallon containers for all of his plants. Hundreds of plants are evaluated each year; he keeps a running spreadsheet on growth, color, taste, yields and weight of fruit. His book grades the flavor of 73 varieties with grades of A to B-.
As his spring list of available plants was sent, my plotting began. This tomato venture had to include a drive to Raleigh, NC since he doesn't ship. My choices were based on my desire for sweetness in tomato taste, but it was hard to ignore his ten favorites. I was also keen on trying dwarf plants, especially if they were heirlooms. And so the great tomato caper went, up early to beat traffic (the Saturday before Easter), I made great time and had a delightful time talking tomatoes with Craig. Six plants were added to my purchase as I am now part of his testing of new hybrids, unnamed plants to report on and send seed of.
Twenty-five plants later and a very long drive home, I am now planning on how to stake them and keep them labeled, which is not as easy as it sounds. I am already regretting a few that I didn’t pick up, but there’s always next year, and the year after, and...
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