Off The Vine Volume 3, Number 2. "C & C's Corner" by Carolyn

All that remains in mid October - peppers and eggplants in straw bales

The end is getting closer. This is the first article from V3 #2 - the last two issues of Volume 3 have 6 articles each (of which this is the first), and there are two articles in never-seen, incomplete Volume 4, Number 1 - the end of Off The Vine. Doing the math/calendar, that means 14 articles remain. Publishing these weekly, that would take me to mid January to finish my project of ensuring all Off The Vine articles are republished on this blog. I can certainly speed up a bit so that all are squeezed into this calendar year - the job will be completed by the time that we turn the page into 2023.

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C and C’s Corner

by Carolyn Male

Happy Holidays, everyone!  We never expected to be this late with this issue, but sometimes “stuff” happens.  And when it happens to Craig and I at pretty much the same time, there’s nothing we can do about it.  I apologize to those of you who renewed and I did not get your checks deposited in a timely manner.  And I apologize to those of you who are new subscribers for not getting this issue out on time.  I held your subscriptions, assuming that this issue would be sent out in October.  I was wrong!

A word of explanation is in order.  My mother declined rapidly over the summer...mental deterioration (not Alzheimer’s), not physical.  It became apparent that she could no longer live in the home where she had lived for 55 years, even though we had aides coming in each day.  She lashed out at me day after day.  Of course I was at her home every day in the summer because that’s where my gardens are.  I would go home each night consumed with guilt, to the point where I was often unable to do anything.  It was terrible.  I know that many of you have been through this, but it was a first for me.  Mom was transferred to an Adult home on October 7th, and that weekend we almost lost her twice.  She lapsed into a diabetic coma within 48 hours.  Although she had been a well regulated diabetic, her diabetes went completely out of control.  In the meantime I was trying to sort through stuff in her home.  Thus I was working 7 days a week, week after week, while trying to keep up with my academic obligations, and I’m still doing it now, in early December.  For those of you who are new, I am a college teacher…Microbiology and related subjects.  Quite frankly, it has been the most stressful time of my life…so far!  Ironically, and wonderfully, Mom loves the adult home, and her glucose level is slowly stabilizing.

At the time I was having my problems, Craig was, too.  Again, for our new subscribers, Craig has his PhD in Chemistry and has a very responsible position as Pilot Plant Manager at GlaxoWellcome Pharmaceuticals in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.  Work was very stressful for him and he also had to make several trips to London for various conferences.  Coupled with the damage that hurricane Fran inflicted on his property (mainly downed trees, no damage to the house), he too was essentially working 7 days a week.  And he also found it difficult to find quality time to spend with his wife and 2 daughters.

He was able to send me copies for the enclosed articles in early December.  This is the first time that neither of us has had time to do our usual interview and it’s the first time that we don’t have guest articles.  Hopefully the pressure will lessen and we’ll have the next issue to you in February, as usual.  This is important because we have some great new seeds to share with you.  But more about that later.

In Craig’s article about the Internet/Tomatoes, he refers to my finding out that Big Boy has one heirloom parent.  It’s a story worth repeating here.  In late spring I received a letter from an OTV reader in the Midwest who suggested that one of Big Boy’s parents was an heirloom, stated the name, and was wondering if seeds were available.  He told me that in the 1940’s Burpee was buying the rights to various heirlooms and paying people he knew about $140 for exclusive rights to this heirloom.  I called Burpee, and after several referrals, reached Dr. Oved Shiffris didn’t remember the name of the heirloom, although he readily stated that a pink heirloom was one parent, but in a later phone call he confirmed that the story was true.  I suppose he had to check his notes.  He also confirmed that Better Boy has the same pink heirloom parent as Big Boy.  Dr. Shifriss told me Big Boy’s other parent also.  Unfortunately, no seeds are available for that pink heirloom because it is used, every year, to produce hybrid seed of Big Boy.  And he told me many wonderful stories about David Burpee and the exciting times in the early years of hybridizing.  Dr. Shifriss spent most of his career at Rutgers, where he made many significant discoveries concerning squash.  The yellow precocious gene that you see described for yellow summer squash was one of his many contributions; basically it masks the greening that summer squash get following cucumber mosaic virus infection.  Dr. Shifriss is now in his mid-80s and this summer, while doing research work on squash, he suffered heart problems and had to have a quad bypass, which was followed by blood clot problems.  I have not had a more recent update.  National Gardening also mentioned about Big Boy having an heirloom parent in an article published a few years ago.  Why the interest?  Read Craig’s article.  There are those who denounce heirlooms and rave about Big Boy and Better Boy, believing them to be hybrids with no heirloom parentage.  Surprise!

The Disease Project didn’t get off the ground.  I received less than 15 responses from folks who wanted to participate.  I sent each of them a copy of the disease manual from Ciba Geigy and a letter stating that we wouldn’t go forward with so few participants.  Right now I don’t know if we will go ahead with the project this summer, or not.  I’ll let you know in the February issue.  The Cornell Cooperative Extension Service did do a disease survey of the 200 or so varieties I grew this year.  I had planted Celebrity, Jet Star and Pik Red as hybrid comparisons.  In a summer I’d characterize as the worst summer I’ve ever seen for tomatoes, many of the heirlooms held their own nicely, many were disease prone and many were better with the hybrids.  Perhaps on some later date I will report on this.

Lastly, in the next issue we will try to have several different F2 crosses available for you to try.  There are several new ones from Steve Draper, which look quite interesting.  A presumed cross between Brandywine (pink) and Big Rainbow (bicolor) sent to me by Stanley Zubrowski turned out to not be a cross; all progeny were bicolors.  A few folks reported back to us about the F2 crosses they grew this past summer, and in the next issue I’ll share those results so you can better select which seeds you want to request.  And of course we’ll also have OTV Brandywine, which did well for several growers.  Pat Millard has agreed to once again do the seed distribution (thank you, Pat, so very much) for us.  I’ll have all of the details in the next issue.  And of course we also list commercial seed sources for you in that issue, as always.

Again, sorry we’re late with this issue, but several times we’ve shared with you that our professional obligations have first priority.  And when personal problems arise, there’s nothing to be done except to get an issue out when we can.

And Craig and I hope all of you have a wonderful 1997 gardening year.

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As always, Carolyn packs a lot of information into her typical C & C column - including various personal things and progress (or lack thereof) on projects. Enjoy - there are not many of these remaining!

Country girl mum is still the star of the show in mid Oct

Off The Vine Volume 3, Number 1. "Craig’s Selected Questions: An Interview with Rob Johnston, Founder of Johnny’s Selected Seeds" by Craig

Fall color and lower Graveyard Falls along the Blue Ridge in early October

I’d forgotten that I interviewed someone who has become a good friend - Rob Johnston, founder of one of my favorite seed companies, Johnny’s Selected Seeds.

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Craig’s Selected Questions:  An Interview with Rob Johnston, Founder of Johnny’s Selected Seeds

 by Craig

When I started gardening in the early 1980’s, spring meant a trip to the local nursery to buy whatever they carried in the familiar 6-paks. After a few years of seeing the same old varieties growing in my garden, I entered the phase of starting my plants from seeds. Among the large selection of seed catalogs that arrived in the mail, the one that really caught my eye was from a small company in Maine called Johnny’s Selected Seeds. It was evident in reading through their catalog that the people who ran the company were concerned with quality on many levels, from the selection of seeds that they offered to the informative and comprehensive growing information. Everything that I ordered from JSS was wonderful, be it Nepal tomato, Gold Crest bell pepper, E-Z Pick bush bean, or Rosalita lettuce. That was 10 years ago, and I am pleased to say that unlike the latest hot restaurant that declines in quality and gets lazy with success, JSS just keeps getting better and better as time goes by.

A few years ago they became one of the first high profile seed company to offer an excellent selection of heirloom tomatoes. Along with popular open-pollinated varieties Kotlas, Oregon Spring, Bellstar, Whippersnapper, Washington Cherry, Taxi, Gold Dust and Gold Nugget are such delicious and interesting varieties as Pruden’s Purple, Cherokee Purple, German, Debarao, Giant Paste, Great White, Valencia, Wonder Light, Striped German, Brandywine, Yellow Brandywine, Cuostralee, and Matt’s Wild Cherry. JSS has also offered Anna Russian and Tiger Tom in the past, and they may reappear in future catalogs. One just gets the sense that they love what they do there, and want to do it continually better, to serve the gardening public.

There would not be a Johnny’s Selected Seeds without its founder, Rob Johnston. Rob and I have been chatting occasionally over the phone for at least 5 years. We cover a lot of ground in our phone conversations. Although the initial cause for the call is something related to gardening, we often stray into other areas of common interest. Over the last few years, we have come to realize that we share interests in, among other things, weather, maps, and music, along with our obvious passion for heirloom tomatoes.  Rob is a willing audience for testing everything that Carolyn and I sent his way. And, much to our delight, a good number of our favorites can be found in the JSS catalog. Obviously, Rob has good taste! Since Carolyn and I are so fond of Johnny’s Selected Seeds, we felt that Rob would be an excellent choice for an interview. So, armed with a list of questions, Rob and I spent some time on the phone chatting about tomatoes, seed companies, and life in general.

Rob was born in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, in 1950. His dad hails from West Virginia, and his mom is from Ohio. When Rob was nine years old, his family and he moved to Massachusetts. He attended the University of Massachusetts, initially seeking a mathematics major. However, since this was in the period of 1969/1970 (a very socially enlightening time for our country), it is no surprise that Rob did not maintain an interest in math. As you can probably guess, it was then that he began to develop an interest in agriculture. After trying unsuccessfully to gain admission to Cornell to follow up on this new interest, he selected a different road to accomplish his goals.

Rob then became involved with food cooperatives, helping to start the Yellow Sun co-op in Amherst, Massachusetts. Rob also spent some time in Providence, Rhode Island, working in a natural food store started by his then girlfriend’s mother. A supplier to the Yellow Sun co-op had a small vegetable farm in New Hampshire, and Rob (after cutting his hair) moved there in 1972. It was then that he became interested in the seed business. The farm supplied a vegetable broker in New York who had an interest in particular and uncommon types of produce. Seeds for such ethnic or foreign vegetable varieties were hard to come by at that time.

Stimulated by such requests, Rob spent evenings developing a network of seeds. He went to Boston libraries in the evenings, reading the international trade directories and consulted with various countries. In this way, Rob familiarized himself with what was available for seeds outside of the United States. At the end of the summer of 1973, Rob once more moved in with his parents in Massachusetts. It was there that he published Johnny’s Selected Seed’s first seed catalog. The catalog was written at the farm, and printed by a friend in Boston. It also included hand drawings (by a New Hampshire friend). In this first catalog were seeds from a few foreign suppliers, as well as some family heirlooms, his orientation even back then being toward non-hybrid varieties. That first year, Rob realized sales of about seven thousand dollars. Rob moved to Dixmon, Maine in 1974 to establish the headquarters of his new company, and Johnny’s has been in Maine ever since, later moving to its current location in Albion.

I asked Rob about his first contact or awareness of the Seed Saver’s Exchange. He read to me parts of a letter from November 30, 1976, that he received from Kent Whealy, director of SSE. Kent asked Rob to mention the SSE (known then as the True Seed Exchange) in his seed catalog. The True Seed Exchange had 200 members in those days. Rob feels that the greatest value of the SSE as it currently exists is in the network of gardeners, the linking together of amateur enthusiasts. Rob himself occasionally offers seeds through the SSE. He mentioned a few ideas of improving the Winter SSE Yearbook. He suggested bold facing new information in any given year. This would certainly make it easier for SSE members to easily see the new seeds in the year’s listings. When asked if seed saving hurts companies that concentrate on non hybrid varieties, he replied no. Any activity that builds enthusiasm for gardening should be supported. For example, even those who save seeds from year to year need gardening supplies, books, and seeds of varieties that they do not maintain.

Rob, who still owns JSS, currently spends about 20% of his time on management responsibilities. Naturally, this is not the favorite part of his job. He spends the balance of his time on research and production. He feels that JSS is very ambitious concerning product development, and wants the company to continually strive to offer customers better seeds and better methods. At JSS, there is excellent staff stability, and good morale right now, though he admits that such things can be cyclical. Since delegating the presidency of the company in 1992 to another staff member, Rob feels that things are going very well there indeed. He is the first to admit that the public relations part of the job is not his specialty. He still likes to get his hands dirty!

JSS focuses upon such crops as squash, pumpkins, and peppers. These are species in which a modest size operation can make a real impact, in Rob’s opinion. There are also smaller projects ongoing with other crops, such as tomatoes. I asked Rob about his interest in heirloom tomatoes, and why JSS is carrying a selection of them in the catalog. Rob has been maintaining a collection of heirlooms since the late 1970’s, when people began to send seeds of various varieties to JSS for testing. He feels that he was late off the mark with heirlooms, as he thought that they were too primitive, inconsistent in performance, and matured too late in Maine. What he has found however is that they frequently grow very well there, and certainly have been a success in terms of sales. JSS rotates heirlooms in and out of the catalog. Brandywine is very popular, Cherokee Purple OK, but Anna Russian, Cuostralee, and Great White are tough sells. Nepal is actually out of the catalog as well.

I asked Rob about his hobbies, and he told me about his love of contra dancing, biking, skiing, and playing the guitar. As to his favorite tomatoes, he replied that he likes small tomatoes with lots of flavor, especially processing or sauce tomatoes. He particularly enjoys the new (to his catalog) plum tomato Debarao. He did admit relishing the flavor of the large heirloom beefsteak types, such as Brandywine. It is tough when they come in so late, however. Most of the popular SSE heirlooms do not ripen in Maine until late August, and are at their best in September. Rob and I have also frequently talked about the relative strengths and weakness of open pollinated vegetables, in comparison with hybrids. His opinion is that for self pollinated crops like peppers and tomatoes, the phenomenon of “hybrid vigor” is not as significant as for crops such as squash and corn. His belief is that the major advantage of hybridization is inclusion of disease resistance, as well as improved adaptability and consistency of performance year to year and over a wider geographic area that is provided by the hybrid vigor. For home gardeners who are not as concerned about concentrated fruit sets or ability to machine harvest, hybrids are certainly not mandatory. He did remind that heirlooms can be very variable season to season, however. A variety that is spectacular one year may be a near total failure the following season. Hybrids may not be as spectacular in terms of either success or failure.

Rob has been trying for years now to get Carolyn and me up to Maine to visit. The thought of helping Rob and the JSS staff taste through their tomato trials is exciting indeed. Up to now, work and family responsibilities have prevented me from taking the trip. Carolyn has similar issues with her teaching responsibilities. The year is definitely coming, however, when you will find me in Maine some September. Somehow, I have a feeling that Rob and I would spend some time with the tomatoes, then head off to play the guitar together!

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Rob and I maintain a friendship. We got to meet at an SSE campout and have regular email and phone conversations. JSS is now employee owned, and Rob and Janika are pondering where to move next - it seems the Maine experience is coming to an end. We still talk gardening - I sent him a sample of Marbel bean a few years ago, and he now is maintaining it.

Summery Million Bells flower on a fall day

Off The Vine Volume 3, Number 1. “Off The Vine Disease Project” by Carolyn

The view from Devil’s Courthouse mountain, which Sue and I hiked to on October 6.

This is a very cool article by Carolyn - I completely forgot that she embarked on this sort of project.

Off The Vine Disease Project

Carolyn Male

A few months ago I got an email from Joe Imhof, one of our subscribers, who basically, but very nicely, challenged us to put up or you know what with regard to disease tolerance and susceptibility of heirloom tomatoes.  Joe knew that we didn’t want to deal with individual diseases but felt that assessing tolerance in heirlooms would be of great benefit to many people who are now growing heirlooms or would like to.  He is absolutely right and I thank him for being the impetus behind this project.  Many of us who grow lots of heirlooms have always known that potato leaf types are more tolerant than others to early blight and septoria leaf spot.  And I should mention that the correct term is disease tolerance, not resistance; no variety, be it open pollinated or hybrid, is totally resistant to any pathogen (according to most of the tomato pathologists I’ve talked to recently).  The type of information we can obtain should be of importance to those companies selling heirloom tomato seed, Seed Savers Exchange members, individual growers and magazines that carry heirloom tomato-related stories.  I called a few folks to feel them out about this project and there was uniform encouragement.  I must tell you about my chat with Kent Whealy at SSE.  I called to see if they would be interested in participating and Kent said that because of disease build up they were opening new ground this year and he wasn’t expecting much disease.  To which I responded that I was sorry to hear that!  I couldn’t believe I said that..I guess it all depends on what your perspective is on a given issue.

When I mention that potato leaf varieties are more tolerant of early blight I can document that fact.  In early 1993 Jon Traunfeld of Baltimore, MD called me and asked if I had any varieties of heirloom tomatoes that I thought were especially disease resistant (whoops!...tolerant).  I mentioned about the potato leaf types and sent him seed of Olena, a very nice Ukrainian pink.  I believe the field study was done through the Master Gardeners program; the farmer coopters are listed as Marty and Eric Rice of Frederick County, MD.  Jon is with the Univ. of Maryland Extension service and administers the Master Gardener program for Maryland as part of his duties.  The following information is taken from the report Jon sent me.  The two objectives of the study were to (1) determine the relative susceptibility of four tomato cultivars to early blight and (2) compare the early blight susceptibility of potato leaf varieties to regular leaf varieties.  The four varieties chosen for study were:  1.  Pik Red, a determinate hybrid commercial variety known to be fairly susceptible to early blight; 2.  Early Cascade, an indeterminate hybrid, early and small fruited with “purported” early blight tolerance; 3.  Brandywine; indeterminate, large fruited, potato leaf, and 4.  Olena; indeterminate, large fruited and potato leaf.

There were six randomized blocks, each containing 24 plants, for a total of 144 plants.  Spacing was two feet within the rows and six feet between rows.  The stake and weave method of support was used and a straw mulch was laid down.  The Rices’ farm is a certified organic farm with no sprays or fertilizers used.  As can be seen in Table one, the plants were observed five times during the summer to determine the percent of leaves affected with symptoms and the percent leaf defoliation.  The data very strongly show that Early Cascade, the hybrid variety with supposed tolerance to early blight, was the most susceptible.  It’s an early tomato so that might be expected.  Pik Red is not an early tomato and it suffered nearly as much as Early Cascade.  Look at the August 10 and August 25 data.  Do you now believe?  The statistical data are included for those folks who are interested.  All good field studies should have a known susceptible variety (Pik Red), a known tolerant variety (Early Cascade), and test varieties (Brandywine and Olena).  All good field studies should treat the data statistically.  This was a well designed field study.  A brief summary of the results was reported in Organic Gardening and I panicked a bit because Olena was mentioned and at that time I was the only person on the face of the earth who had seeds for that variety.

When I read a catalog description of Brandywine this year which said that it was susceptible to disease as were most heirlooms, you can imagine my response.  And yes, there are regular leaf varieties which are tolerant to early blight also.  The only person to report disease status for some heirlooms is Jeff McCormack at Southern Exposure Seed Exchange; just read his tomato pages!

We can’t do what Jon Traunfeld and his group did.  No one expects you to do percentages, etc.  And we’re interested in many other diseases than early blight.  And we can’t do this the way it should be done, in terms of each of you having known susceptible and tolerant varieties for each disease to be studied.  And we can’t control your seed source for each variety.  That’s an important factor because a number of diseases can be seedborne, such as bacterial canker, bacterial sport and anthracnose, to name a few.  Dr. Helene Dillard at Cornell has studied the effect of fermentation of seeds on the elimination of pathogens and found that while the total amount of pathogens is lessened, they are not totally removed.  Commercial seed companies usually do a triphosphate treatment of tomato seeds, but that’s pretty specific for Tobacco Mosaic Virus, which is not a major pathogen of tomatoes.  Dr. Dillard and others, whom I’ll mention in the materials to be sent to participants, have helped me generate lists of the most important pathogens for different parts of the country.  Right now I’m in envy of California – you poor disease deprived folks!

Here’s the game plan.  If you are growing at least two plants each of at least five varieties we’d love to have you participate.  Please send me a long self-addressed envelope with 78 cents worth of postage.  The first 100 responders will get, as an extra incentive, a very small field guide to tomato diseases published by Ciba-Geigy.  The guide is for farmers, has some excellent pictures, and is basically a promotional for Ridomil, one of their products.  I’m indebted to Joyce Soltis, a Ciba-Geigy representative, for the donation of 100 of these guides.  If we get more than 100 participants and I can’t send you a field guide I’ll assume you’re making a 46 cent donation to the cause because I just don’t have it in me to take the time to write out checks for 46 cents.  I’ll send you instructions and data sheets.  Using your own knowledge of the diseases listed for your area, and/or the guidance of the field guide, fill in what you can in terms of tolerance and susceptibility.  If you don’t feel confident about certain diseases, don’t assess them.  Another excellent guide is called “Identifying Diseases of Vegetables” by MacNab, Sherf and Springer.  It costs about $18 and is available from Southern Exposure Seed company and Johnny’s Selected Seeds (addresses in the February Off The Vine).

Please participate.  This summer we’ll collect as much data as we can, and then refine our methods for next year, and maybe open it up to others.  Jon Traunfeld is pretty sure that he can get the cooperation of the Master Gardeners program in the US, and there are other ways of soliciting input from others.  But let’s us do the initial work to see how it goes.  I need help!  I have no experience with computer data-based software.  Is there someone out there who would volunteer to computerize the data in a meaningful fashion?  If so (pretty please) email me at malec@rosnet.strose.edu and we’ll chat.

I’ve got the tomato field guides now and should finish my research work with tomato pathologists around the country in a few weeks, after I get this issue of Off The Vine mailed.  So please send me a long SASE with 78 cents postage (my address is in the masthead on page 2) and I’ll mail you the materials in early July.  And I’ll be checking my email to see if we have a volunteer tomato tabulator!

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As you will read in a future article, Carolyn got very few takers, so the project never got off the ground. But - this is a great early example of citizen science with respect to a garden project. The lack of volunteers is also a testament to how challenging it is to do this sort of thing.

Sue and Koda in the midst of the hike, passing beneath a tunnel of trees

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