I am sorry I took such a long break from writing my Tomato Tuesday posts. I will now be posting a Tomato Tuesday post every week featuring a variety from my 2014 garden. I grew many new varieties this year and I can't wait to share them all with you. I grew over 70 varieties this year! I thought I would do my first post on my top 5 favorites from this year. I will post a description of each, photos and seed source. I did grow some varieties that are not available from seed vendors. I received some of my varieties from members at the Tomato Forum I belong to. If there are any varieties I post about and they are not available through a seed company, I am willing to share some of my saved seeds with you. Well let's get started with my top 5 favorites!
Captain Lucky
The first variety is called Captain Lucky. I loved this variety and I will grow it every year. I got these seeds from Trudi at Wintersown.org, however it is available through some seed vendors. It is a green when ripe bicolor, medium-large beefsteak with a red bottom. Bred by Millard Murdock from a outcross between Lucky Cross and an unknown pollen parent. After several generations of selection, Millard has stabilized this wonderful line. The plants are Indeterminate with Potato Leaves.
Rose
Next is beautiful, tasty and prolific "Rose". I purchased my seeds from Seed Savers Exchange. Rose is an Amish heirloom from East Earl, Pennsylvania. Large, crack resistant, 10 oz. fruits are
meaty and dusty rose colored. Flavor is excellent, and is considered by some to
rival Brandywine. Plants are vigorous and strong with good leaf cover. My plant was huge and loaded with tomatoes all season.
Big Cheef
A result of a natural cross with Brandywine Sudduth's and an unknown regular leaf parent in the garden of Ricky “B” of Murphreesboro, Tennessee. The plants are indeterminate with potato leaves and produce medium-large mahogany tomatoes. In May my plant was pretty much destroyed by the hail storm we had. There was just part of the stem and 1-2 leaves left. The members at my Tomato Forum told me to let it go because tomato plants are resilient. Sure enough a week later it was putting on new leaves and getting bigger. It was one of my most productive plants in my home garden and was very tasty. I received my seeds from a forum member, however you can purchase them at Marianna's Heirloom Seeds
https://www.mariannasheirloomseeds.com/seed-catalog/tomato-seeds/create-heirlooms/big-cheef-f6-detail.html
Photo courtesy of Marianna's Heirloom Seeds
Gail
This is another variety that I got from a member at the tomato forum I belong to. This variety was created by Bill Jeffers. He crossed Green Giant and Yellow Submarine to create this variety. The plants are indeterminate with potato leaves and produces abundant amounts of beautiful yellow beefsteak tomatoes with a pink blush in the middle. This tomato has a wonderful sweet flavor and it will be returning to my garden next year. This variety is not available for sale by any vendors that I know of.
Not Purple Strawberry
This variety was created by crossing German Red Strawberry with Cherokee Purple hoping for a dark heart shaped tomato. For the most part the heart shape has not appeared for most hence the "Not" in the name. Plants are productive and the fruits are a deep rose-purple with deep olive green shoulders. The flavor is awesome. Again my seed source was from a forum member. They are available at Marianna's Heirloom Seeds.
I hope you enjoyed learning about my top 5 Favorite tomato varieties from my 2014 garden. Stop by next week to check out which variety I will be spotlighting in my Tomato Tuesday post. I have many more great varieities to share with you!
