Big Red Tomatoes

Red Mamba

 

Hi Folks! Please remember to water sparingly or moderately when your tomatoes start to ripen. Otherwise you'll have a waterlogged, flavorless, mushy, cracked tomato! This goes for ALL of your heirlooms!

 

 

Anthony's Passionate Heart ($9.95
)

Chosen by my friend Gary Ibsen to honor Anthony Bourdain, here is our premier presentation for 2020.

 

In our garden it withstood heat waves in the high 90's when other plants gave up the ghost. No cracking, high production, dreamy texture, disease free. A proven winner.

 

In Gary's words: "Anthony's Passionate Heart produces beautiful big, red heart-shaped 1 lb. fruits with particularly bold fruity-sweet flavors and good acidity for a perfect balance."

 

"Anthony Bourdain was an American celebrity chef, author, and television personality who explored the cuisines, culture, joys and essentials of human existence around the world. He was an icon to me, and many others, who love food and cooking as a most enjoyable way of gathering people together to celebrate our humanity."

 

"Naming this tomato is our tribute to Anthony Bourdain’s life by honoring his legacy with a tomato heretofore unknown... 'Anthony's Passionate Heart' tomato. We found it suitable that 'the world’s most popular fruit', a tomato, would carry the message of Anthony's valued and storied life through future generations in a way that would enrich the lives of many."

 

 

 

 

 

Bear Claw ($9.95) 78 days

The Bear Claw tomatoes in the photographs weighed 2.14 lbs, 2.9 lbs and 3.5 lbs. Always a winner in Big Tomato contests with fabulous flavor to boot!

 

Bear Claw is a huge fruit with incredible flavor. The plants grow very big and very fast -- like being in a time warp.

Huge plants. Stems like tree trunks. Give it extra support!   

I plant Bear Claw in a huge 30 gallon pot by a palm tree. As it grows, we lash it to the tree trunk. Palm trees make excellent tomato stakes. J

 

The first tomatoes reach about one pound. After that, with proper care, they get bigger and bigger producing lots of deep crimson fruits with incredible flavor.

 

PROPER CARE:

1. Plant in deep rich soil.

2. Feed every 2 to 3 weeks without fail, using a granular organic fertilizer like our Happy Frog.

3. Water moderately but deeply.

4. Be sure all of the soil volume is damp but not soggy.

5. Spray every week with our Monterey Neem to control bugs and disease spores.

 

Photograph 1 by Dianna Theyssen of Ingalls, Indiana.  Used here with her kind permission.

 

 

 

 

 NEW FOR 2024!

Classic Beefsteak ($9.95
) 78 days   

 

Here is the original old time classic tomato from which subsequent big tomatoes got the description "beefsteak".

 

Why 'Beefsteak?"  Cut a big, thick slab from the center of a big tomato, lay it out on a plate, look at it carefully... it's the shape of a juicy steak. And that' the origin of its name!

 

Beloved for more than 100 years, Classic Beefsteak plants are big, hearty and lush producing 4 to 5 inch brilliant, bright red tomatoes with sweet delicious flavors and great disease resistance.

 

These big beauties give you meaty, thick, fragrant slices for your tomato sandwiches and salads. 

 

Great for canning and sauce, too.

 

Photograph copyright: Tomatofest.com Gary Ibsen 1999-2024

 

 

 

 

 

                                     Sliced Brandywine OTV property of  www.heirloomtomatoplants.com  © 

Brandywine OTV ($9.95) 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 1 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.

 

New for 2025! Huge, yummy and early ripening!

 

Council Bluffs ($9.95)  65 days.

 

One of my "Oh. My. God." varieties. One bite and "Oh. My. GOD!!"

 

Incredible flavor. I was stunned. And AJ was blown away when she took a bite. "Mom...Dude...oh my God...."

 

As you know she and I grow out many trial varieties every year to find the best for you.

 

Some are 'eh' or 'not great' or 'Nah', or 'it's okay' or 'not good enough for our customers' Or 'nothing special'. Once in a while "a spitter".

 

NOT THIS ONE!!!!

 

Council Bluffs is awesome! (A word I rarely use.) This fabulous old time variety from more the 100 years ago is quite rare and extraordinary.  

 

It ripens into a full-flavored, richly sweet, thin skinned, ridiculously delicious fruit in only 65 days from planting out. Our Council Bluff tomatoes were ripe and ready for picking in only 62 days!

 

Growing to 4" wide and 3" tall, 5 to 15 ounces, these fruits get high marks from tomato growers worldwide.

 

This very-early ripening beefsteak tomato originated with the Dwayne Bushman family of Council Bluffs, Iowa. Yay Bushman Family!!

 

  

 

Druzba  (DROOZ Bah) ($9.95
) 78 days.        

 

The Perfect Main-Crop Red Tomato

 

This is your perfect main-crop red, round tomato. A favorite for gift giving! Druzba is a Bulgarian word meaning friendship. It is the perfect gift for the gardener who has everything!

 

Very robust, highly intense tomato flavor in  smooth, perfectly round, deep-red, blemish-free 7 to 10 oz. fruit with outstanding disease resistance.

 

Bright sparkling color, huge flavor, rich meaty texture. Reliably easy to grow, every Druzba tomato is a magical treasure.

 

Druzba is a very special favorite of mine which I grow every season in my personal stash. Anyone who tries it goes berserk with tomato love.

 

Perfect texture, firm but not hard. Thin skin, extraordinary flavor and very high production.

 

 

 Our Premier Variety For 2026!

 

Gregori's Altai ($9.95)  Only 72 days to ripe fruit --  Early Ripening! Disease resistant. Grows well in heat and cold!

This rare and splendid heirloom from seeds smuggled out of the beautiful Altai Mountain Range of Mongolia in the summer of 1989, produces huge, 4'', purplish-red, 8-12 oz. fruits with fabulous, big-flavored sweetness.

Smooth, dense, meaty flesh is so easy to slice and gobble up. I fell in love at first bite. Big plant, heavy production, disease resistant and ripe in only 70 days from plant out in warm weather.

This tomato is one of the original varieties that inspired generations of US gardeners, including me, to try more heirlooms!

Here's the amazing true story of Gregori's Altai tomato.

Back in 1989, Bill McDorman of Seeds Trust took part in a garden tour of Siberia with The Earth Stewards of Eugene, OR during a blazing hot summer. Yes, Siberia has really hot summers -- and brought back all kinds of interesting seeds unheard of here in the States.

Gregori was a delightful teenager, one of the Siberian farmers' helpers whom Bill met during the tour.

Bill asked if he could have some seeds. The stern director said "NYET, no!" That to have permission from Leningrand and St. Petersburg would take weeks and invite trouble.

Bill toyed with the idea of sneaking some seeds out of the facility but realized getting caught could actually end him up in a KGB work camp.

As their bus pulled away, Bill heard a tap on the window. One of the PhD tomato breeders, Galina, motioned for him to slide the window down. When he did, Galina took a packet from her smock, handed it to Bill and went back inside.

Knowing a number of laws had just been broken in the hand-off, Bill sat on the packet until the bus pulled away and was astounded to find elaborate growers notes and 60 different varieties of heirloom tomato seeds!

He still calls it 'A Gift of Unbelievable Courage'.

Bill named one variety 'Gregori's Altai' for the boy Gregori and the mountain range where the seeds grew. He named another variety Galina's, a gorgeous golden cherry tomato. You can read more abut Bill McDorman online.

 

GAl

 

A saucy classic with huge production!

Italian Heirloom ($9.95
)  85 days.

 

The name says it all. Unbeatable for production and flavor, thin skinned and easy to grow. I love this guy.

 

A real classic from Italy and a top seller here. Producing loads of big, fat, juicy, delicious, 5 to 10 oz. brilliant red, meaty, elongated, slightly pear-shaped tomatoes with an abundance of rich, complex flavors you'd expect from the best Italian varieties.

 

This tomato is revered by the Italians for its BIG taste and high production. Whether for fresh eating or cooking, you will fall in love with Italian Heirloom.
 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                        

 

Red Mamba ($9.95) 80 days.

 

In a patch of Black Mamba plants, we were stunned to see several plants producing huge, gorgeous, deep red and pink 2 pound tomatoes!

 

Some were even heart-shaped.

 

"I remember saying, "What are you guys doing here?"

 

The flavor was heavenly! Classic old time rich yummy tomatoes with a fabulous mouth feel, flavors that explode in  your mouth!

 

Made the best dang tomato sandwich I ever had. I don't know if the tomatoes had crossed last season or if this was a spontaneous color mutation or what?

 

But we loved it so much we grew them out, saved seeds and here it is for you: Red Mamba!

 

 

 Disease resistant! Big Red Juicy10 to 18 oz tomatoes 

 

Sweet Scarlet (Dwarf plant with BIG RED TOMATOES!) ($9.95) 70 days  

 

Big, juicy, very sweet and intensely tomatoey as if injected with concentrated tomato flavor. Very disease resistant and early ripening!

 

Sweet Scarlet has luxurious, silken texture, lingering sweetness, rich earthy flavors and produces big tomatoes on a shrubby plant.

Easy to grow in a small 5 to 10 gallon pot or in a smaller garden! Big, juicy, very sweet and intensely tomatoey.

 

Sweet Scarlet has luxurious, silken texture, lingering sweetness, rich earthy flavors and produces huge 10 to 18 oz. bright red tomatoes on a hearty, shrubby plant

.

STOP THIEF!!!!

The only thing ever stolen from my nursery --  in 35 years -- was a Sweet Scarlet plant, loaded with huge red ripe tomatoes, in a 10 gallon pot growing right below my office window. 

 

One day there was just a damp circular spot where it had been. I thought my grandson, Stevie Ray, might had moved it, but when he came by after a college class he said "Hey, did you sell the  Sweet Scarlet plant?" 

 

So somebody ended up with some big fabulous tomatoes-- and some bad Karma.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Tati's Wedding ($9.95
) 80 days.  

 

This big luscious beauty -- the most flavorful variety I've come across this season and my top pick for 2017, was discovered by my customer Dan Stein of New York as he drove through the Kazbek mountains in the Caucasus of Georgia, south of Russia. He was there on a special day, his friend Tatiana's wedding, when he stopped at a roadside produce stand and discovered this fabulous tomato.

 

The farmer had not name it, so Dan called it Kazbegi Red. After hearing this beautiful story, I couldn't resist naming it for Tatiana, whose nickname is Tati. 

These tomatoes are luscious, meaty and silky with big sweetness and just enough tang to make it the perfect all purpose tomato and one of the juiciest I've ever eaten.

 

So productive, you'll get dozens of delicious tomatoes in varying sizes and shapes on the same plant, from 5 oz. up to1 6 oz. or more.  This is one of the most delightful traits of the heirloom tomatoes.

 

The tomato in the photograph weighed 16 ounces and was grown this season by my customer and friend Barbara Kraus of Rancho Palos Verdes, CA. After our Tati's Wedding plants were demolished by rampaging raccoons, Barb came to my rescue and grew out some plants in her garden.

Without Barb we would not have any photographs or seeds or plants of this incredible for you!  Yay, Barb!