TOMATOES

A glimpse of some of our heirloom and open pollinated tomatoes.

We harvest tomato seeds the old-fashioned way; here I am with friend, Janann, seeding tomatoes on the front porch.

Seed saving tips; Separate tomato varieties by several feet to ensure pure seed for gardening uses. Let tomatoes mature then cut in half or smaller pieces so you can squeeze out the gel and seeds from the seed cavities into a cup or bowl. Add equal amount of warm water. Let sit on the counter for 3-4 days. A white mold will form; this is natural. Dump out into a wire sieve in the sink and run lukewarm water through while running your fingertips over seeds, gently pressing out the “goop”. This leaves clean, viable seeds. (Did you know the clearish gel around the tomato seeds is put there to prevent the seeds from germinating inside the tomato?) Fermenting the seeds and gel dissolves the gel and also helps prevent tomato diseases.

Our most recent tomato tasting fest at the Orr Center was a huge success!

The dates given are from transplant time. Start your tomatoes indoors 8-10 weeks prior to setting them out in the garden. We use Wall ‘O Water plant protectors on all of our tomatoes which allows us to put them in the garden way before our spring frosts are over with. They will protect seedling tomatoes down to 16 degrees. (I’ve had a foot of snow and 18 degrees when using them and the plants not only survived but grew.) If you don’t use Wall ‘O Waters, be sure to harden off your plants by taking them outside, in a protected spot, for first an hour a day, then gradually longer until they are used to wind and sun. If you don’t do this they may break off or become stunted.

Casady’s Folly Coyote

Japanese Black Trifele Mexico Midgets

Indeterminate tomatoes are long-vine tomatoes that just keep growing and producing. They are best caged with a very strong wire cage to hold the weight of all those tomatoes.

Determinates are shorter in size, only reaching a certain height….usually about three feet or so, when they stop pumping out tomatoes.

================================================================

TOMATOES about 20 seeds per pack

SLICERS

Alice’s Dream

Alice’s Dream We love our colorful tomatoes and Alice’s Dream sure didn’t disappoint us in any way. These were early producers of wonderful, fruity, mild-tasting tomatoes we simply loved to eat on our sandwiches or just plain, sliced on a plate. Yum!! Very productive over a long season too. 65 Days Indeterminate

Amish Gold Slicer

Amish Gold Slicer We absolutely loved this new tomato from Amish country. It’s big, gold, smooth and productive. Many tomatoes reached over a pound. The taste is smooth and wonderful. I made pretty tomato sauce with it and used lots in colorful salads. 75 days. Indeterminate

Andrew Rahart’s Jumbo

Andrew Rahart’s Jumbo tastes like Grandma’s beefsteak tomatoes used to, right out of the garden. This large, often two pound red tomato has moderate ribbing and is nearly always perfect in every way. The vines are hugely productive and the taste is a perfect balance of sweet and tart. A great canning tomato too! 80 Days. Indeterminate

Ananas Noire

Ananas Noire aka Black Pineapple Folks raved about this wonderfully dark, large tomato at our 2017 Tomato Tasting Festival. The flavor is outstanding with a complex, rich, smoky, fruity taste that is hard to describe. The shoulders are green, weeping to dark purple, plum, splashed with streaks of pink and red, as is the inside. 76 days. Indeterminate and lusty

Atkinson

Atkinson Okay, I’ll admit I first bought this tomato because it bears our name, but we were also very pleasantly surprised! Atkinson is a big, beefsteak type tomato with glowing red color and juicy old-fashioned tomato flavor missing in many of today’s hybrid tomatoes. Expect lots of tomatoes mid-season to wow you. 80 days Indeterminate

Beauty King

Beauty King Will and I grew this wonderful large tomato this year and were so pleased with not only its bright yellow and red striped skin but the outstanding sweet and fruity taste. Quite productive of 8-12 oz round tomatoes 75 days Indeterminate

Bill Bean (our largest so far)

Here’s a BIG Bill Bean tomato grown by customer, Sharon W.

A few “run of the mill” Bill Bean Tomatoes

Bill Bean This is one of our very favorite tomatoes, given us by the local Veteran’s Service Officer. Its history is long and Italian, being brought to this country during World War II by an old Italian man who immigrated to this country with the seeds tucked in his sock. If you like them big, red and tasty, this one is for you! Our tomatoes averaged over a pound, with several topping out at three pounds of very meaty, delicious old-time tomato flavor. It is VERY productive too. Will counted over 20 tomatoes over one pound on one vine…with more smaller ones too! 75 days Indeterminate.

Black Beauty

Black Beauty is Brad Gates’ darkest tomato yet. This gorgeous tomato is not only tasty and productive but good for you too, being high in anthocyanins, as are any vegetables of dark purple coloration. And Black Beauty is that! As they mature, they become a bit purple on the bottom and are ripe when a bit soft to the touch. Absolutely the queen of our garden this year! 75 Days. Indeterminate

Black Crimson

Black Crimson knocked our socks off! It’s so big, productive and tasty! Not to mention beautiful. The tomatoes are dark red with darker shoulders. They’re a great sandwich tomato and stopped everyone in our garden. You’ll love them. We had no cracking or rotting yet the skin is tender. Also great for green fried tomatoes! 75 days. Indeterminate

Blue Beauty

Blue Beauty Okay, here it is! You want a beautiful, productive, tasty tomato that’s early mid season? You can’t beat Blue Beauty!! This tomato is gorgeous and attracted plenty of attention in our garden. The top is a wonderful, shining eggplant purple and it ripens to a streaked orange red below. You’ll never eat a tastier tomato. Lookout Brandywine! 75 days Indeterminate

Box Car Willie

Box Car Willie Here’s one of our new favorites! If you want red, non-blemished, tasty tomatoes, this is it. Weighing about 8 oz on average, this hugely productive tomato will keep you in tomatoes right through till frost and even after if you pick them and bring them inside before they get frozen. They’re great for canning, juice or in salads and sandwiches. A truly great tomato. 80 days Indeterminate

Burracker’s Favorite

Burracker’s Favorite We received seeds for this wonderful yellow beefsteak from our tomato-guru friend, Al Anderson. He told us it was a very late variety and might not mature for us. Our plants thought otherwise and matured with lots and lots of 1# plus beefsteaks with a glowing red blossom end, shooting up through the beautiful skin and flesh. And it is definitely one of the best tasting tomatoes we’ve ever eaten! Originally from Burracker’s Hollow in West Virginia. 75-90 days

Cannonball

Cannonball We were given some seeds by a friend, Dr. Lee from NDSU of this old variety they had developed. And boy did we LOVE it! Cannonball is a large, smooth, round red tomato that just shines in every way, taste, productivity, appearance and earliness. Many reached a pound in size and the vines were just covered in red until frost. 65 days Indeterminate

Cherokee Purple

Cherokee Purple A reliable, real big, tasty tomato that deserves to be in everyone’s garden. Its old Native American heritage brings history to your homestead in a big way. You’ll love its hardiness and ability to handle nasty weather. We can up lots of these great tomatoes and enjoy them on our lunch sandwiches too. They are a darkish purple brown, fading to red below. Real pretty! 80 days Indeterminate

Chocolate Stripes

Chocolate Stripes Our late tomato friend, Al Anderson, bred this wonderful variety. It’s a 4-10 oz, roundish glowing brick red with metallic greenish stripes with faint ribbing. This luscious tomato has won many taste tests, nationwide and is also very productive. Ours produced many fruits weighing nearly a pound! But it’s looks will stop you in your tracks as you walk the garden. 75 days Indeterminate

Creole

Creole was a surprise to us. We expected “just another smaller red tomato”. We were wowed instead. This medium sized round, blemish free tomato ripened in clusters and was productive as heck. Bred in Louisiana, at LSU, Creole is perfect for you who experience hot summers that stop most tomatoes. Creole just keeps pumping out tomatoes! Creole is a juicy tomato with tender skin and just the right combination of sweet and tart. Mmmm! 77 Days. Indeterminate

Crimson Sprinter

Crimson Sprinter We were really happy with this pretty, hugely productive 4-6 oz round, red tomato. Recommended to us by friends, we gave it a try and were thrilled. And what a tasty tomato it is, too. Great for salads, canning or a slicer. 70 days Semi-determinate

Delicious

Delicious I’ve raised Delicious for years and it is just that, full of old-fashioned tomato flavor. This round, bright red tomato is very productive and large. It has even set the previous World record for the biggest tomato. (The current is held by a hybrid!) We harvested baskets full of these juicy tomatoes this summer. 75 days Indeterminate

Djena Lee’s Golden Girl

Djena Lee’s Golden Girl We were so impressed with this lovely round, blemish free golden tomato this year in our garden! This tomato won first prize at the Chicago Fair 10 years in a row. Djena (pronounced “Zshena”) was part Indian and granddaughter of Minnesota financier Jim Lee. Delicious flavor, rich balance of sweetness and fruity tartness. Very productive. 80 days. Indeterminate

Dora

Dora Folks went wild for Dora this summer. It is a fatty but simply adorable, weighing about 12 ounces with great flavor. Very productive, too! From Missouri , a stable cross between two flavor-favorites, Cherokee Purple and Brandywine. You’ll love Dora! 75 days Indeterminate

Early Rouge

Early Rouge is just that, early and very red. This smooth, medium sized round tomato came in very early in our garden. The flavor sure beat out many earlier tomatoes and the production was tip-top. You’ll love this tomato! 60 Days. Determinate

Early Wonder

Early Wonder We enjoyed this pretty red, round tomato in our summer garden, always ready for a quick, sweet, juicy snack. About 4 oz and very productive. Plenty of old-fashioned tomato flavor here if you’ve been missing it. 75 days Indeterminate.

El Roy

El Roy We expected wonders when we received this seed from Al Anderson, who maintained 1,400 varieties of tomatoes. And we sure weren’t disappointed! El Roy has the strongest plants I’ve ever seen. And the tomatoes followed up as nice, red, large beefsteaks with tremendous flavor, just the right balance between sweet and acid. It’s a new favorite for us, for sure! 80 days Indeterminate

Fantome du Laos

Fantome du Laos really wowed us this year. It’s so different. This scrumptious light, glowing yellow tomato is spritely tart and sweet at the same time. To top it off, it is very productive and comes with a story. In Laos, it is said if you have this tomato in your garden and there are ghosts, it will glow at night. I guess we don’t have ghosts because it didn’t glow. But they did glow brightly in the sunlight. Wonderful. 75 Days. Indeterminate

Fireworks Even we old timers were surprised at this new addition to our garden. Fireworks is a medium sized red, round tomato that is so productive that the whole vine looks like it’s on fire! We got tons of tasty tomatoes from this one. 70 days Indeterminate.

Fisher’s Mountain Boy

Fisher’s Mountain Boy This newer to us tomato really astounded us with its beautiful round, red, blemish free, large tomatoes so early in the year. Bred to withstand cold, short, Montana summers, it fits right in with most folks’ early gardens. The flavor is super, too! 60 Days Determinate

Fisher’s Prairie Fire We love this determinate, early tomato. It’s an improvement on our old favorite, Oregon Spring. These are red, round, flavorful gems, right when you need an early tomato that tastes great too. No blemishes and they are very productive. Determinate 60 Days

Girly Girl’s Weird Thing

Girly Girl’s Weird Thing doesn’t begin to describe this strange tomato!! Besides its peculiar appearance, this large, beautifully striped red and green tomato is flavorful any way you choose to use it. It’s juicy, perfect on a sandwich! (Not all tomatoes exhibit the boobs on the blossom end.) 75 Days Indeterminate

Gold Medal

Gold Medal has always been one of our favorite summer tomatoes. As a luscious slicer, this mild, sweet tasting tomato can’t be beat. Very juicy and stunning in appearance too! It is also very productive, so you’ll enjoy plenty of them over your growing season. 75 Days Indeterminate

Golden Jubilee We first grew Jubilee three years ago and it instantly became a favorite. For a mid-sized to large yellow tomato, it’s very sweet and hugely productive. We were impressed at how meaty it was too. They’re great diced up in a salad or in salsa or slabbed between two slices of homemade bread. 72 days Indeterminate

Granny Cantrell

Granny Cantrell This is one sweet old-fashioned tomato! Like one of the old-fashioned red beefsteaks only with more flavor and more productive. Brought over from Europe by a returning WWII GI, this favorite soon swept the South. We really liked it a lot, many over a pound. 78 days Indeterminate

Honey Sugar

Honey Sugar is a mild tasting, sweet orange tomato, perfect for those of you who the acidic tomatoes cause digestive upsets. The medium sized, perfect tomatoes make wonderful slicers or use them in your favorite tomato salads. Very productive. 75 Days Indeterminate

Hungry Hill

Hungry Hill We were surprised at this heirloom tomato! The vines were ablaze with BIG, red beefsteak tomatoes all summer and fall. They just kept on coming! Wow! You’d have to be really hungry to eat all of them. And the taste was a perfect balance of acid to sweet. Most weighed in at a pound or more. 75 days Indeterminate

Italian Beefsteak

Italian Beefsteak has the flavor we all miss when we eat a modern “Beefsteak” tomato. Just like Grandma’s old tomatoes, so sweet and juicy. Hey, the Italians know their tomatoes! These are a bit late but hugely productive. 80 Days Indeterminate.

Italian Tree tomatoes are luscious and sure cover a slice of bread!

Italian Tree Tomato (aka Climbing Triple-Crop) If lots and lots of big red, tasty tomatoes is your game, Italian Tree Tomatoes are your crop. The vines are rampant and with a long enough season, the vines will reach 15′ or more. The tomatoes are huge, usually a pound or more and very tasty as is typical with Italian tomatoes. A friend of ours keeps one in his greenhouse all year long and its vines grow all across the top, now reaching 3o feet and it showers them with great tomatoes even in the winter. We can only grow them in the summer but are so glad they’re in our garden. 80-9o days Very Indeterminate!

Jaune Flamme

Jaune Flamme This French heirloom is almost a “big” brother to SunSugar, the super-sweet hybrid cherry tomato! It is about 3 oz and a round, golden tomato with no blemishes. We grew it for the first time a few years ago and continue to do so now. Couldn’t be without this hugely productive gem! The vines were just loaded with sweet, fruity tomatoes all fall. 75 days Indeterminate

Katja

Katja comes from Slyudyanka, Siberia, where it ripened despite unfriendly growing conditions. It is one tomato that seems to be okay when grown in partially shady spots. it is a medium/large slicer with wonderful taste. It is a very early tomato and we really love it! 60 Days (or less!). Indeterminate

Legend

Legend Are you having trouble with Late Blight in your tomatoes? Legend is not only a beautiful, round, blemish-free fruit with great taste but it tolerates Late Blight. These glowing red, big 8 oz tomatoes are also very productive! 68 Days Larger determinate

Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom

Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom We think this is the best flavored beefsteak type tomato. They are mild, wonderfully colored and very productive. Everyone stopped to take another look at these tomatoes in our garden! 90 Days Indeterminate

Lovely Lush

Lovely Lush We really love this newer Brad Gates tomato! Such a pretty “black” shouldered, darl red gem this “lush” is. Thin skinned and marbled gold/red flesh sets your mouth to drooling even before you bite into its perfectly balanced, juicy slices. Mmm. And so pretty in salads too! 75 days Indeterminate

Lucid Gem

Lucid Gem Will and I were extremely taken by this newer Brad Gates bred tomato. Not only is it gorgeous and hugely productive but it is also fairly early and oh so tasty! This is a medium sized beauty with orange flesh, tinged with red and stunning brown shoulders. Wow! It has earned a permanent place in our gardens. 70 Days. Indeterminate

Lynn of Jones County

Lynn of Jones County Here’s a wonderful big heirloom beefsteak that is very meaty, having that good old fashioned tomato taste that is both rich and sweet with just the perfect amount of tartness. A slice will cover a big slice of bread for the best BLT you’ve ever eaten. This is a mid-season tomato that is very productive too. 75 Days. Indeterminate

Markie’s Mom’s

Markie’s Mom’s came to us through a friend of both us and Markie. This old family heirloom was cherished by Markie’s mom and she remembers eating lots of them as a child. We marveled at the wonderful flavor of this tender, round, red, tasty and very productive tomato. It deserves to be enjoyed by many others! 60 days. Indeterminate

Mashenka

Mashenka is a bright red, smooth, medium sized meaty beefsteak. It makes a great slicer as well as a canning tomato. This is a great Russian tomato that deserves a place in all of our gardens. 75 Days. Indeterminate

Mary Robinson’s German Bicolor with some Punta Bandas

Mary Robinsons German Bi-color is a gorgeous bright yellow-orange with lots of red streaking through it from the blossom end. Many fruits weigh over 2 pounds! And the taste can’t be beat, either. Just right for a whole sandwich tomato slice or some gorgeous multi-colored salsa. Did I mention it’s hugely productive too? 80 days Indeterminate

Moravsky Div

Moravsky Div It took a greatly productive tomato to tie with our favorite sauce tomato, Punta Banda but this year, this Czech beauty did it! It’s not large, plum to medium sized, but HUGE on flavor, meatiness and bright red color. Every tomato was perfect and thick walled, yet had a thinner skin so we found ourselves munching on them instead of cherry tomatoes. 55 days Indeterminate

Mortgage Lifter

Mortgage Lifter Here’s another heirloom with a sweet history. The backyard breeder developed and sold these “new” tomatoes during hard times and was able to pay off his mortgage with the profits. Another example of getting ahead by coloring outside of the box!! Mortgage Lifter is a large, meaty red tomato with a sweet, rich flavor you’ll love. Enjoy! 80 days Indeterminate

Mrs. Maxwell’s

Mrs. Maxwell’s Want production out of a big beefsteak with real old-fashioned heirloom tomato taste? This is the baby for you. Our vines were just covered with beautiful, big one pound plus red tomatoes all fall. Wonderful! 80 days Indeterminate

Nelson’s Golden Giant Al Anderson, my tomato guru friend, first introduced me to Nelson’s this spring. And boy were we impressed with this glowing yellow-gold beefsteak. They are sweet and mild tasting, very large, with some ribbing. Many of ours weighed over a pound easily and many there were! Baskets full. 80 days Indeterminate

New Big Dwarf

New Big Dwarf kind of surprised us. It is not a new tomato, nor is it a dwarf. It’s a large, indeterminate plant with plenty of large, red, blemish free tomatoes that really taste great. We were so happy when these babies became ripe! You’ll love them too. 80 Days Indeterminate

Oaxacan Jewel

Oaxacan Jewel is one of our very favorite orange tomatoes. This one has a wonderful flavor that everyone likes and wants more. For such a big beefsteak, it’s very early too. We picked them every day to eat, right in the field. With over 200 tomato plants, that’s saying something! 75 Days Indeterminate

Northern Lights

Northern Lights We really found this orange with red streaks and blushes up the sides, beefsteak-size tomato outstanding both in flavor and productivity. Large enough to make nice slicers, it also cans up wonderfully as it has plenty of juice. Everyone loved these shining tomatoes in our garden! 75 days Indeterminate

Old German

Old German This old heirloom was prized by the Virginia Mennonite settlers for its huge size, beauty and wonderful taste. The huge tomatoes often reach two pounds and are a beautiful yellow and red striped color throughout. We love them on sandwiches or to just eat warm from the sun right in the garden. 75 days Indeterminate

Orange Minsk Everyone who tastes this tomato in our garden comes away with stars in their eyes and smiles on their face. This big, orange with red blushes slicer is stunning, both visually and when you taste it. Originally from Minsk, Belarus, this gorgeous tomato has developed a loyal following. 75 days Indeterminate

Oregon Spring

Oregon Spring I’ve grown Oregon Spring everywhere I’ve lived for decades. No matter what your climate, it seems to always produce! Not only are they early but also pretty, large, round and perfect. And, especially for an early tomato, they are very good flavored and juicy. 60 days Determinate

Painted Lady

Painted Lady not only has beautiful, blemish free shining, red tomatoes of a large mid-size, but it is really tasty and early too! Oh, did I mention that it’s hugely prolific??? What more could you want, right? When the plants are young, the leaves of the plants are variegated, having white stripes in the green leaves. Cool! Semi-Determinate 65 Days

Patio King

Patio King is just the ticket for folks who have small gardens or garden in containers and don’t have room for huge tomato plants, yet want nice, big, flavorful tomatoes. These shining red, larger, blemish free fruits are wonderful! The determinate plant has a sturdy center stem, holding the plant upright despite wind. 70 Days Determinate

Peron

Peron Often called “sprayless” because of its natural disease resistance, we were surprised at both the productivity, appearance and taste of this red, roundish tomato. Although the name kind of put us off, we were convinced easily to keep Peron around in the years to come. 75 days. Indeterminate

President Garfield

President Garfield Here we have perhaps the prettiest tomato in our garden if you love red. This 6-10 oz gem is heavily ruffled and hugely productive. Add excellent old-fashioned tomato flavor and you have the whole package; just what a tomato should be! We loved them as slicers and cut up in salads. So beautiful and tasty too. 70 days Indeterminate

Pruden’s Purple

Pruden’s Purple If you like a big, dark red beefsteak with taste to rival Brandywine and Cherokee Purple, you’ve got to give this old heirloom a try. Many were over a pound and had smooth, old fashioned tomato flavor that sent tomato juice down our chins all fall. Great for sandwiches, salads, canning and snacking on. 80 days Indeterminate

Rebekah Allen

Rebekah Allen This is one of our all-time favorite tomatoes! Consider we raise about 175 different plants every year and that’s something. Rebekah Allen is not only early but has very complex, wonderful flavor. This is always a star in our taste test! Very productive all year long. 65 Days. Indeterminate

Red Rocket plant AFTER harvesting for seeds and canning!

Red Rocket Folks were stopped in their tracks when touring our gardens; these plants were tightly packed inside and out of the cages with big, round, blemish-free, juicy red tomatoes, too numerous to count! We were pretty amazed, ourselves. This is a gotta try it tomato! 75 Days Semi-determinate

Red Zebra

Red Zebra is a cousin to famous Green Zebra. But we found that folks really wanted a RED Zebra, not a green one. This beautiful, smaller red, orange, striped tomato has the wonderful flavor or its cousin and shines when you pick it. Very productive too! 70 Days Indeterminate

Roza

Roza We were happy to receive this wonderful Russian tomato. In Russian, it is known as Bijskaya Roza. This red, smooth, round gem came in quite early so we got to enjoy plenty of tomato slices early on. It is a medium/large tomato that is very productive. Very happy vines kept putting out fruit until frost. You’ll love them. 60 Days. Indeterminate

Sasha’s Altai

Sasha’s Altai This wonderful early tomato is said to have the best flavor of all tomatoes! It was brought to the U.S. from Siberia after a gardener named Sasha walked nearly 22 miles in order to deliver this wonderful tomato to seedsman, Bill Dorman, who was collecting Soviet tomatoes of great importance. The red fruit is 4-10 oz, round with some mild ribbing and is as good as its reputation! 75 days Semi-determinate

Silvery Fir Tree

Silvery Fir Tree We’ve grown this attractive, early tomato for decades now and we really do love it. The leaves are frilly and fine like a carrot instead of a tomato, giving this determinate bush a very pretty look. Especially when nested in the center are dozens of 10 ounce, round, smooth red tomatoes! And for such an early tomato, the taste is exceptional. 60 days Determinate

Sophie’s Choice

Sophie’s Choice This determinate may be a smaller plant but we were impressed with the production of medium sized, 8-12 oz, orange-red, round tomatoes. This is an heirloom from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Very flavorful for such an early tomato! Does not do well in heat. 55 days Determinate

Starburst Nebula

Starburst Nebula We were thrilled to grow this tomato! It is a large, sweet, gorgeous and productive beefsteak. The flesh is yellow, streaked with bright red. Your sandwiches won’t be the same after you start using this one! 80 Days Indeterminate

Sweet Home

Sweet Home is a sweetheart! I just love this variety. So hugely productive of medium/large smooth red tomatoes with just a little ribbing on the shoulders which makes them look like those tomatoes Grandma used to raise. A wonderful slicer and canner, not to mention something to snack on in the garden. Mmmmm 75 days Indeterminate.

Sweet Italian

Sweet Italian was another “winner” tomato, gifted to us by the late Al Anderson, as being one of his favorites in over 1,400 varieties. Now, that’s something! And he was right. This huge, ribbed, old-fashioned red beefsteak has a wonderful, sweet taste, just like Grandma’s tomatoes used to taste like. Super!! 80 Days Indeterminate

Tanana

Tanana was first brought to our attention by an Alaskan grower who follows my Backwoods Home blog. Howard said this was his earliest and best tomato so, of course, I just had to give it a try. And we weren’t disappointed! Tanana was right up with Moravsky Div for both earliness and productivity. The taste was excellent for such an early tomato too. A sure winner for those with less than ideal growing seasons. 55 Days. Indeterminate

Tiffen Mennonite

Tiffen Mennonite is a good substitution for Brandywine if you don’t have a long enough growing season. This tomato wows us! It’s earlier than Brandywine by about 10 days and has all that wonderful old-fashioned flavor. It’s a big beefsteak from the Mennonites in Wisconsin. Very productive too! 80 Days. Indeterminate

Tip Top Now it takes a lot to wow us but boy did Tip Top do that in spades! This 6-8 oz, perfectly round, red gem was SO very productive. And not a blemish on one of them despite all the rain we had this past season. This would grow well in a large container as the vines are only about three feet high and sturdy. The flavor was also a winner; much better than most “early” tomatoes. 75 days Determinate

Wonder of the World

Wonder of the World We love this late big red beefsteak. Not only is it a perfect balance between old fashioned sweet and tart, but it is hugely productive. We got over 20 pounds of beautiful tomatoes off of one vine. 80 Days Indeterminate

PASTE TOMATOES

Akers Plum

Akers Plum This Roma type paste tomato was the absolute star in our garden this year. Not only was it early but Akers was also tremendously productive. I’m talking about picking two 8 quart buckets full at one time. From TWO plants!! Now that’s a lot of scrumptious tomato paste right off the bat! If you have trouble getting Romas to ripen, try Akers and I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. 70 Days. Indeterminate.

Amish Giant Paste

Amish Giant Paste We were really happy with these nice, blemish free paste tomatoes. They’re meaty and very prolific. With a wonderful balance between sweet and tart, they make a great tomato sauce. While they’re not really “giant”, as is our Goat’s Bag tomato, they are larger than a regular Roma and much more productive. Determinate 80 Days

Amish Paste

Amish Paste This heirloom Amish tomato is great for processing into smooth, flavorful tomato sauces. It is medium sized, relatively plum shaped and has few seeds in its meaty interior. 85 days. Indeterminate

Amos Coli Paste

Amos Coli Paste Here’s a new one from tomato guru, Brad Gates, you’ll love. This is a medium-large paste tomato with excellent taste and productivity too. We found it was quite a lusty grower and the six foot tall vines were covered with red tomatoes, come late summer. 80 days Indeterminate

Andes Paste

Andes Paste We tried many new-to-us paste tomatoes from all over the world and were very happy with Andes. The fruits are larger than Romas and we also found Andes more productive too. Our plants were 7′ tall! 80 days Indeterminate

Belmonte Pear

Belmonte Pear surprised us this year. Not only is this big, pear-shaped red tomato meaty and tasty but it is hugely productive, even with our standards. It is also juicy so it makes a perfect canning tomato coming in mid-season until it freezes. 75 Days. Indeterminate

Black Pear

Black Pear proved to be a workhorse of a paste tomato, similar to Japanese Black Trifele but a totally different tomato, being a week or so later. This is a smooth skinned fruit with a glowing brown/purple skin. Very productive and richly flavored. 80 Days. Indeterminate

Casady’s Folly

Casady’s Folly Every year we find new favorites, and this is it!! (Okay, one of them…) This is a nice sized paste tomato that knocks your eyes out with its beauty. It’s bright red with shining lightening stripes in yellow. And the vines are just loaded with fruit! The taste is a bit average, but the beauty makes you drool for a salad. It is meaty and makes great tomato sauce in a hurry. We love it! 75 days Indeterminate

Cow’s Tit

Cow’s Tit This wonderful paste tomato was given to us by our late tomato guru, Al Anderson. What a wonderful gift it was, too! We simply loved this very meaty, sweet, flavorful paste tomato (even if it has an “unusual” name!). Very productive too. 80 Days Indeterminate

Enormous Plum Enormous Plum (aka Enormous Paste) We love our paste tomatoes and with us, the more the merrier. And when they’re this big we rejoice! There are few seeds and lots of flavorful dry flesh in these really big boys. You’ll love ’em too! 85 days Indeterminate

Erdie Family Oxheart

Erdie Family Oxheart We were given seeds of this wonderful tomato by customers several years ago and all I can say is “WOW!”. Not only are these tomatoes big and early, but they are also hugely productive and as rich and sweet as a tomato gets. I made lots of sauce from these babies. 80 Days Indeterminate

Ernie’s Nose

Ernie’s Nose Our friends from southern California, John and Mia, sent us seeds for this new favorite, long a favorite of theirs. Ernie’s Nose does have a nose on the end, along with lots of old Italian paste flavor for all those sauces you want to make. This tomato is hugely productive all season long. We’ll always grow this one! 75 days Indeterminate

Ernie’s Plump After growing and loving Ernie’s Nose for years, we just had to try Ernie’s Plump! Boy, were we happy we did. This purse-shaped paste tomato is so productive and tasty, too! The tomatoes are about 4-5 ounces and very solid fleshed too. 75 Days Indeterminate.

Fisher’s Earliest Paste

Fisher’s Earliest Paste We were gifted several varieties of tomatoes, bred by a Montana breeder, known for his early, mountain-hardy varieties. We were thrilled with this paste tomato. It is similar to a regular Roma, but much, much earlier! The flavor is wonderful and I made lots of tomato sauce from these. 65 Days Determinate

G. Chalmers Large Paste

G. Chalmers Large Paste Here’s an interesting large paste tomato; the shape is pleated a bit, not smooth like a typical paste. So, they are extremely attractive. This red tomato is, like its name, large and very, very productive. It’s a lucky thing too, as they’re so good! They came on quite early and popped out tomatoes until after it frosted. 75 days Indeterminate

Gilbertie

Gilbertie This is another very productive, smooth skinned larger paste tomato we loved. Just a few will make a lot of tomato sauce with deep, sweet flavor. I’ll grow more next year for sure! 80 days Indeterminate

Goat’s Bag

Goat’s Bag Here’s a tomato that will wow your friends as it did ours. I think it’s our biggest paste tomato that can also be used as a slicer. Very meaty!! And very few seeds inside. Many of ours weighed nearly two pounds! Now that’s a paste tomato. As there are few seeds, we have limited seeds this year. 10 seeds per pack. 80 Days Indeterminate

Hungarian Italian Paste

Hungarian Italian Paste made our late season garden shine! This heirloom Hungarian, red, Roma-type is very rich tasting, pumping out buckets of perfect tomatoes which were very meaty for lots of good sauce. Productive. 80 Days Indeterminate

Japanese Black Trifele

Japanese Black Trifele came from Russia originally. But what a great tomato! It is roughly pear-shaped with deep orange on the bottom and greenish purple on the top. The flesh is burnt orange-purple and when you cut it in half it looks like a luscious plum! Nice and meaty with a complex, great taste that everyone loves. A great sauce/salad tomato that chefs love. You will too as it is hugely productive and gorgeous. 78 days Indeterminate

Long Tom

Long Tom Because I can our food nearly non-stop, I’m always on the lookout for excellent paste tomatoes from which to make sumptuous sauces from barbecue to many flavors of spaghetti sauce. I was wowed by Long Tom’s thick meat on big, long, red, extremely productive paste tomatoes. Very few seeds. 80 days Indeterminate

Mia’s Italian Paste

Mia’s Italian Paste Another great Italian tomato passed on to us from our California friends, John and Mia. And it’s one which has won a permanent place in our garden for sure. Not only is it hugely productive but it’s tasty and one of our earliest paste tomatoes. This tomato is orange-red and varies in shape from heart to round but the flavor and texture is superb. 70 days Indeterminate

Orange Paste

Orange Paste We grow a lot of different paste tomatoes, but Orange Paste is truly different. It is definitely orange, not yellow orange, but a deep, glowing orange. The flavorful meat is thick, and the tomatoes are elongated, similar to Roma, but larger. I made lots of beautiful orange salsa with this beauty! 75 days Indeterminate

Punta Bandas make an excellent canning and paste tomato with no blemishes.

Punta Banda Coming to us from Old Mexico, this formerly wild tomato is Will’s very favorite tomato for making tomato sauces. Each tomato on the hugely productive vine is perfect and meaty for a small plum-sized fruit. It makes canning a breeze as we just pull off the stem and toss them into our tomato strainer and grind away, watching the sauce come pouring out. MMmmmm. These are a very hardy red tomato that laughs at heat and drought. 60 days Determinate that is covered with red fruit!

Purple Russian Aka UKRAINIAN Purple

Purple Russian This is one of my new favorites as I concentrated on more paste tomatoes this year and Purple Russian came in right at the top for not only taste but also size and fabulous color. It’s about 6 oz, smooth and elongated plum-shaped. The shoulders are dark “black” blending into reddish purple below and the meat is simply gorgeous in puree, sauces and salads. Very productive, too! 75 days. Indeterminate

Ruth Collier Large Paste

Ruth Collier Large Paste Here’s a different looking paste tomato. Instead of pear-shaped, it’s huge and roundish, often with a nipple on the blossom end. And it’s hugely productive, too! We cranked out gallons of thick tomato sauce from this new favorite sent to us by…Ruth Collier! Very tasty and meaty. 75 days Indeterminate

Santa Maria

Santa Maria If you want a tomato that will make lots and lots of sweet tomato sauce in a hurry, this is your friend! Santa Maria is very productive, and those tomatoes are always big, solid and dependable. Very hardy, even in our severe drought last year. I just love this tomato! 75 Days Indeterminate

Ted’s Italian

Ted’s Italian Here’s another of our favorite new tomatoes this year! Wow is all I can say. Ted’s Italian was hugely productive of solid, meaty, huge paste tomatoes with wonderful flavor. And they came in fairly early too! They’re big enough to use as a slicing tomato as well as using to whip up tons of scrumptious tomato paste to can up. 75 Days. Indeterminate

Ten Fingers of Naples

Ten Fingers of Naples is not just another paste tomato. It’s a star!!! The name comes from the area in which it originated coupled with the fact these dense, luscious tomatoes hang in bunches from their vines. Awesome and truly hugely productive. You’ll get lots of very thick tomato sauce from these and the flavor is perfect. Wow! 80 days Indeterminate

Tonnalet

Tonnalet was a wonderful surprise in all aspects. This gorgeous paste tomato wowed us with its sweet, rich flavor and astounding beauty. The vines were very productive of clusters of brilliant red Roma-type tomatoes with gorgeous yellow stripes. Very nice! 80 Days. Indeterminate

Turkish Paste A good friend bought some sun-dried tomatoes from Turkey at a health food store and called me to ask if I thought the seeds would still be good to plant. She did and ended up with a bumper crop of wonderful, smooth, large, meaty, red tomatoes. We were both impressed! Then she sent me a whole box of them, from which I saved seeds and made the best salsa I’ve ever had. 80 Days. Indeterminate

Yellow Bell Paste

Yellow Bell Our friends Mia and John in California recommended this bright yellow paste tomato to us and we sure weren’t sorry we grew it! This luscious paste tomato looks like a yellow Roma but we feel it has more flavor and is more productive too. Very meaty and lots and lots of fruit on the vines. 80 days Indeterminate

Yellow Fire

Yellow Fire I was excited when these huge, pointed paste tomatoes started coloring up in the garden. Wow, how bright they are! Some are glowing yellow with orange blushes and others show red stripes. Yep, they’re on fire! And they have a rich flavor too, perfect to make a glowing tomato sauce for your favorite recipes. Oh, did I mention they are very productive too? 80 Days. Indeterminate

PLUM OR SALAD TOMATOES

Arctic Blum This tomato really attracted attention in our garden this year as it was covered with two-bite bright red, blemish free fruits. And everyone who ate it went “Wow!”. I think you will too. 75 days Indeterminate

Black Strawberry

Black Strawberry is sure a beautiful and tasty tomato, a winner in anyone’s garden. The beautiful black and red plum tomato wow’s everyone as it’s so productive and gorgeous in a salad or eaten out of hand. 75 Days Indeterminate

Brad’s Atomic Grape

Brad’s Atomic Grape simply wows us each year!! This is possibly the fanciest salad tomato out there with its wild mix of bright colors. Even better is its wonderful flavor and huge abundance on lusty vines. You’ve got to give these a try. Brad Gates is a wonder-man of a tomato breeder!! 75 Days. Indeterminate

Dark Tiger

Dark Tiger We were gifted seeds for the large plum sized tomato from friends and were amazed at both its beautiful, blue-shouldered red looks and its wonderful, rich tomatoey flavor. We found ourselves passing them out to visitors frequently to taste. Very productive, too! 75 Days Indeterminate

Dwarf Shadow Boxing

Dwarf Shadow Boxing Imagine a very large Brad’s Atomic Grape, with all those wild colors and a nice, long, oval shape. Well, that’s what you’ll get with Dwarf Shadow Boxing! And the wonderful, interesting, sweet, smoky flavor too. It’s almost fruity. We love them. Determinate 80 Days

Gargamel

Gargamel To be sure, we were intrigued by the name. But this summer we were blown away by the unique elongated round tomatoes, reddish orange on the bottom and golden stripes. VERY pretty and also great flavored and hugely productive to boot. You’ll love them! 70 days Indeterminate

Northern Delight

Northern Delight is just that! These salad tomatoes are highly rated in our taste tests. They are also extra early and hugely productive, meaty enough to make lots of tomato sauce for your pantry. 57 Days. Indeterminate

Stephania’s Earliest

Stephania’s Earliest I didn’t know quite where to put this tomato. It’s small, but definitely can be used as a slicer. And it is our very earliest tomato! A shining, blemish free red darling, we simply loved snacking on it all summer long. It was still kicking out tomatoes when the frost came. And lots of them too! For an early tomato, the flavor is memorable. 55 Days Shorter indeterminate

CHERRY TOMATOES

Amethyst Cream This was one of our favorite cherry tomatoes this year. Every time we passed the vines, we grabbed a handful to munch on while we walked the garden. Visitors, too, absolutely loved its fruity, sweet taste and crisp, juicy texture. 70 Days Indeterminate

Barry’s Crazy Cherry

Barry’s Crazy Cherry We thought this tomato was crazy when we first saw it in bloom! I’ve never seen so huge a bunch of blooms on any tomato before; it was like a white lilac! Tons of blooms everywhere. We thought nothing would top it until we saw the ripe fruits. They are the size of plump grapes with a point on the bottom. Glowing yellow, they even taste like grapes with a firm texture and juicy meat. Super! 75 days Indeterminate

Black Cherry

Black Cherry We love this dark purple, luscious cherry tomato so much. It is hugely productive and is loved by all as a snacking tomato, high in anthrocyanins, making it a healthy snack too! Very sweet and fruity. 80 days Indeterminate

Blush Here’s a newer, beautiful cherry tomato with a different color and shape. This gorgeous yellow, oval-longish gem with orange speckles knocks your socks off in the mid-late season. Very good flavor and highly productive. A winner! Indeterminate 80 Days

Black Strawberry We just love to mix these dark blue/red cherry tomatoes in with some of the other colors to have on the table for snacking with a meal or just when we walk by. These little beauties shine, both in color and flavor, as well has having high, healthy antioxidants, due to their color. 75 Days Indeterminate

Coyote

Coyote is no dog! Wow, another NEW favorite for sure. Originally from Vera Cruz, Mexico. a nearly see-through, glistening pale yellow with a really different, wonderfully fruity taste that demands MORE! I gobbled more than my share in the garden this summer. Luckily, the vines are hugely productive so we could all have plenty. Next year I’ll plant more and make a wonderful yellow salsa from its fruit. The skin is crisp, and these tomatoes eat like a big, crisp grape. You’ll love them. 70 days Indeterminate

Clackamas Blueberry

Clackamas Blueberry We enjoy eating these dark red with blue shouldered cherry tomatoes every year! They’re just right for snacking or tossing in a salad. Not too sweet, not tart a bit. You’ll love them and their color, which is high in antioxidants, making them a healthy snack too. Indeterminate 80 days

Dances With Smurfs surprised us so much! We instantly fell in love with these black shouldered rose bites of sweetness. Bred by Tom Wagner, these wonderful little cherry tomatoes sure perk up a bowl of salad. Kids, specially, love the name. And the little, bright fruit. If you look closely, you’ll see a light-colored star where you take the stem off. Very productive. 65 Days. Indeterminate

Dark Orange Muscat We are really impressed at the rich, fruity, sweet flavor of these mild, dark orange cherry tomatoes! Every year, we find new favorites, and it’s hard not to plant a thousand tomato varieties. But this one is definitely a keeper and a favorite nibbler in the garden or on the table, added to salads during the summer. Very productive too! 75 Days Indeterminate

Farthest North

Farthest North Looking for a hugely productive, tasty, early tomato? Here it is! Although it’s a large cherry tomato, I’ve quickly gotten thrilled about it for saucing as its so thick-walled and perfect that I just toss ’em in my tomato strainer to make sauce in a jiffy. Great taste for such an early tomato too! They make your tomato vines glow red all summer long. 55 days Determinate

Igelheart Yellow Cherry

Igelheart Yellow Cherry We grew yet another yellow cherry tomato this year as it was rated Number One in taste by the Seed Savers Exchange taste test in 2015. And in our own taste test, it was right up there! A great, crisp textured fruity tomato that made our mouth say “white grape”. You could put it on fruit salads. Yummy! 75 days indeterminate

Mexico Midgets

Mexico Midgets We grew this tomato for the first time and were wowed by everything about this variety. It develops into a HUGE plant so it’s not for a container! Ours was 6’ high and over 6’ wide!! And this plant produces millions of very small red cherry tomatoes with huge flavor. You have to eat handfuls. You can’t help it. A bit tart and fruity, it is still sweet enough for kids. And me! Indeterminate

Sungold Select For years we’ve loved the taste of hybrid cherry tomato, Sungold. But, darned it, it’s a hybrid. Luckily, some folks have bred it back to open pollinated through years of work. The result is wonderful. Sungold Select’s flavor is wonderful and the golden cherry tomatoes are very productive. Do understand, however, there are still a very few seeds which produce red cherry tomatoes yet. You can enjoy these as the flavor is wonderful. But save your seeds from the golden ones if you want to continue breeding Sungold Selects. 65 days Intermediate

Sweet Aperitif is a gorgeous, sweet cherry that just glows.

Sweet Aperitif (Pronounced A pear it eef) We don’t grow a lot of cherry tomatoes. After all, how many can you eat in a season??? But Sweet Aperitif is a winner! From England, this sweetie produces tons of little cherries that are the sweetest cherry tomato you can find. And the best news is that it’s open pollinated so you can save your own seeds, unlike SunSugar or Sweet Million, that are hybrids. Indeterminate and covered with fruit. 65 days

Tropical Sunset

Tropical Sunset This beautiful mid-size cherry tomato wows everyone who comes into our gardens. Nobody can resist taking a bite, then a handful. They have a tropical, sweet flavor and they look oh-so-great in a salad. Kids adore them! 75 Days Indeterminate