Big
Red Tomatoes
Big
Red Tomatoes
Abraham
Lincoln ($4.95)
Beauty ($4.95) 78 days.
This
Big
Beef ($4.95) (VE)
72 days. This awesome, big-flavored tomato offers
huge yields of 12 oz.
old-time, grand-flavored, smooth, red round tomatoes with superb disease
resistance in only 75 days. The early harvest and bountiful season-long production along
with superior prize winning flavor have made it a big favorite for home gardeners.
Blue
Ridge Mountain ($4.95)
(B)
80 days. These large, red, delicious,
16-20
oz. juicy beefsteaks with exceptionally sweet old-fashioned tomatoey flavor grow on a
big lush plant. A truly classic tomato, traditionally a beloved favorite in the
Deep South due to its very vigorous growth habit. It grows well in the cooler climes too, very adaptable everywhere and a recent hands-down winner
for best flavor at a tomato tasting festival.
Boondocks
($4.95)
Box
Car Willie ($4.95) 80 days.
This
New Jersey variety produces
an abundance of 12 to 16-ounce, smooth, bright-red fruits with a beautiful
orange glimmer. These excellent tasting tomatoes are very juicy, dependably
tasty and abundant throughout the season, Box Car Willie is a staple in many
home gardens. Most likely named for the country western singer, it has excellent
resistance to disease and cracking, very easy to grow. Bred
by Joe Bratka's father.
(B)
(E)
72 days. A
truly marvelous stand-out member of the great family of Brandywines, this one arose
in Craig LeHoullier's garden years ago. Big one-pound red fruits with orange
shoulders and complex rich flavors. An outstanding tomato for your garden; it also sets fruit
very well
during high temperatures and bears all season. A reliable producer, very
disease resistant, and easy to grow; OTV stands for Off The Vine,
which was a wonderful online tomato newsletter published by Carolyn Male and
Craig LeHoullier. They describe this tomato as "the best strain of Brandywine
set apart from others by its smooth, creamy, almost buttery texture, and
harmonious sweet flavor." It originated from a natural cross-pollination of
Yellow Brandywine and an unknown red parent, and was further developed and
stabilized by Carolyn Male.
Brandywine
Red, Landis Valley Strain
($4.95)
(HG)
(E)
78
days. This old time
legendary and very special
strain of Red Brandywine is named for Brandywine Creek and comes from Chester
County Pennsylvania where it originated in 1885. These big, vigorous vines produce
8 -12 ounce, deep bright-red round fruits in clusters of
4 to 6. Outstanding, prolific, robust, with intense tomato flavor which
stands up to its legendary 100 year history. Among my favorites. (This is a different strain from regular Red
Brandywine which is slightly larger, later and more ribbed.)
Clint Eastwood's
Rowdy Red
($5.25)
"This is one of those big, bold tasting tomatoes that is not for sissies," said Ibsen. "Although it has some of the highest sugar levels I've ever seen from a tomato, the sweetness is in the background and its fruity flavors are balanced beautifully with plenty of acidity, earthy nuances and flavor complexity. It's a perfect tomato for eating fresh, cooking or canning.
Costoluto Genovese
($4.95)
(P-S)
(E) 70
days. A big beautiful and classic Italian heirloom, the deeply fluted, ribbed
intensely-red 8
oz. fruits are mouthwatering and utterly scrumptious. This stunning tomato has a
splendid,
complex old-time flavor which makes it a perfect choice for sauce and fresh
eating.
Creole
($4.95)
(E)
78
days. An immensely popular, full-flavored, renowned and revered variety
grown for generations in the humid southern states and along the Gulf Coast, which also grows
beautifully everywhere. Very disease resistant in humid
weather, big, 8-10 oz., round, scrumptious juicy red tomato, VERY prolific yields, with a huge
and faithful fan club.
Italian Tree Tomato ($4.95)(B) 84
days. This huge prolific plant is called Italian Tree because it grows to15 feet
and produces enormous harvests of meaty 1 to 2 lb. gorgeous 4" to 5" red
tomatoes with superior flavors and a perfect balance of sweetness and acidity.
Kennington's Big Red ($4.95) 80 days.
This
fabulous tasting, big, red, meaty 12 ounce family heirloom comes from seeds sent
to Gary Ibsen by award winning dairy farmer and steward of the land, Hugh
Kennington of Ontario, Oregon whose family has continued to save seeds for this marvelous
tomato year after year as their family-favorite tomato. Fantastic!
Marianna's
Peace ($5.95)
80 days.
(B) (HG)
One
of our top 3 sellers. The sugary nectar of
this huge 5 inch tomato's creamy, dense, red flesh is intensely rich,
with perfect sweet-acid balance and sublime, complex flavors reminiscent
of the finest of the "old-fashioned" tomato flavors.
This big, beautiful
irresistible 1-2 lb. deep red fruit is the talk of the tomato world and has
found its way into Top 10 favorite tomato lists of gourmands worldwide. It is perfection.
Supply is limited, please order early.
It is said that Marianna's Peace is among the 3 finest tasting tomatoes in existence.
Mortgage Lifter aka
Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifter
Radiator Charlie and his big tomatoes in
a newspaper photograph from 1964.
This gigantic legendary heirloom from Logan, West Virginia developed by M.C. 'Charlie' Byles in the 1930's, is huge, sweet, juicy, delicious and prolific, with splendid old time tomato flavor. The meaty pink-red fruits weigh at least a pound, averaging 2½ lbs. and reaching up to 4 lbs. A very prolific plant which continues to bear fruit right up until frost, it also keeps very well.
Marshall Cletis Byles, who much preferred to go by MC or just Charlie, owned a garage specializing in radiator repair.
He developed Mortgage Lifter over a six year period by crossing German Johnson, Beefsteak and 2 other really big varieties, all chosen for their huge size and grand flavor. He sold the resulting plants for a dollar each (in the 40's), and was able to pay off his $6000.00 house mortgage in only 6 years with the profit from his plant sales. "I didn't pay but six thousand dollars for my home, and paid most of it off with tomato plants", said Charlie in a tape recorded interview with his grandson which aired recently on National Public Radio.
Charlie's repair shop was at the bottom of a steep hill so travelers whose radiators over-heated during the climb had to coast back down to Radiator Charlie's for repair. Other folks heard about these huge luscious tomatoes and came from hundreds of miles to buy the plant. As my customer John in Virginia says, "It's just not a real tomato garden without Mortgage Lifter." Charlie Byles lived to be 97 years old.
Mule
Team 
($4.95)
80
days. This is a superbly dependable and extremely high
yielding old-time tomato. This heirloom produces even more tomatoes than most hybrids, does well in hot muggy weather, with
bright zingy flavor, balanced with just the right sweetness, in a 10 oz. red globe shaped
fruit with some ribbing at the stem end. Bears constantly
all season, extremely heavy production, easy to grow, and is especially disease resistant.
Mule Team is a perfect choice for foliage disease resistance, especially in the
South. A garden
staple and one of my favorites.
Polish Giant ($4.95)
Rose
($4.95)
Siletz
(SLITZ)
55 days. Bred
by Dr. James Baggett of Oregon,
this is the best tasting and largest of the super early varieties, reaching
10 to 12 ounces, Siletz is deep red, round and full-bodied and ripens in less
than 55 days from plant-out. This tangy-sweet delicious tomato has superior
texture and quality for such an early fruit.
A favorite of market growers, it was developed for short seasons and cool weather but produces well in all areas. Dr. Baggett, an Idaho native, has spent his entire 50 year career at Oregon State University developing plants with an emphasis on adaptability to Pacific Northwest gardens. To the delight of gardeners everywhere, these great varieties have proven to grow beautifully in cooler climate areas including all the North Eastern states. Siletz is named for the Native People of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz in Lincoln County, Oregon.
Sunmaster
($4.95) (H) 72 days.
(E)
This yummy specialty
tomato is a very heat tolerant hybrid variety which produces delicious bright red 7 to
8 oz., sometimes up to 12 ounces, rich, full-flavored tomatoes in only 72 days. The fruit sets best during
high heat, when days are 87º to 97º and night temperatures are 73º to 82º.
Very disease resistant. Photo
courtesy of my tomato buddy, Char Conley.
Sunset's
Red Horizon
($4.95)
(B)
(E) 70 days. This outstanding big, red, ambrosial and glorious
fruit is, along with Purple Haze, Marianna's Peace,
Vintage
Wine, Green Giant, Goose Creek, and Earl's Faux, the talk of the tomato world this season and being described as the best tasting
tomato
in existence. Producing like a champ in cool weather, resistant to frost, it is a
splendid producer of big red, round and heart shaped, 5"- 6" fruits with great old-time
intense tomato
flavors and a juicy silken texture. Very heavy in the hand, weighing from
10 to about 16 ounces. One of the first varieties to produce,
and continue bearing fruit well into November and December in the cooler coastal
regions of
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