tomatoes!

[cassidyrose]

I ordered heirloom tomato seeds yesterday. Yay! I cannot wait until tomato season. So, so excited. I showed restraint when ordering and only purchased fourteen varieties.

• Black from Tula: Russian heirloom from Tula. Largest of the blacks with 3-4", slightly flattened,oblate, dark brown to purple fruit with deep green shoulders.
• Charlie's Green: Large, 1-pound, green beefsteak with yellow hues when ripe
• Cuostralee: A French beefsteak heirloom that produces heavy quantities of huge (1-2 lbs.), red, blemish-free fruits that have intense, balanced flavors. Fruits are typically 4-inches across.
• Grandpa's Minnesota: Prolific heirloom with red, 1-inch, round, cherries that have a mild sweet flavor.
• Brandywine: A pink, potato-leaf, Amish variety from the 1880's. Fruits are reddish-pink, with light, creamy flesh that average 12 ounces but can grow to 2 pounds.
• Blondkopfchen: Name of this heirloom means little blond girl. Plant produces phenomenal clusters of 20-30 very-very-very tasty gold/yellow grape-sized (1/2") cherries.
• Yellow Gooseberry: Very prolific plantproducing 1-inch, yellow-orange cherries with very big sweet flavors.
• Paul Robeson: Seed for this Russian heirloom was made available by Marina Danilenko, a Moscow seedswoman. This "black" beefsteak tomato is slightly flattened,round, and grows to 4-inches.
• Marmande: French heirloom. Produces dependable heavy, clusters of 6-ounce deep red, slightly flattened, oblate fruits that are meaty, lightly lobed and contain an excellent,complex, slightly tart taste.
• Ivory Queen: 14 oz. pale-yellow beefsteak heirloom tomato with sweet, low-acid tomato flavors.
• Green Zebra: Developed in 1985 by tomato breeder Tom Wagner, this is an unusual and exquisite tomato chosen by Alice Waters for her restaurant, Chez Panisse, in Berkeley, California. The 2-inch round fruit ripens to a yellow-gold with dark-green zebra-like stripes. The flesh is lime-emerald in color that has an invigorating lemon-lime
  flavor.
• Good Old Fashioned Red: Very productive variety producing 3 to 4", flattened, red fruit with
  intense flavor. Smooth,14 oz. beefsteak.
• Black Krim: Originally from Krim on the Black Sea in the
  former Soviet Union. Regular leaf plant yields 4-6" slightly flattened dark reddish (mahogany-colored) fruit with deep green shoulders. Green gel around seeds.
• Amana Orange: Huge heirloom beefsteak named for Amana, Iowa. Light-orange fruit that can grow to 2 pounds or more. Mildly sweet , very pleasant, almost tropical fruit in flavors.

Comments

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

I envy you all your dirt :).

[cassidyrose.livejournal.com]

Yes, we do have lots of dirt. :)

It is very happy-making.

[krasota.livejournal.com]

Here in our parts, the black tula and black krim (all the black shouldered russian varieties, actually) are prone to splitting. Keep a close eye on them.

The yellow gooseberry are tasty. If you can find sweet olive cherry tomatoes, GROW THEM. They're the best darn cherry I've ever had.

[cassidyrose.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the warning on splitting. I grew black krims a couple of years ago but I cannot remember if I has splitting issues or not.

I will definitely look out for those cherries.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I knew there were 14 varieties. :-)

[cassidyrose.livejournal.com]

:)

Click on the link and you will see hundreds. It is amazing, actually, how many varieties of tomato there are. I just love 'em.