bbmc@retirementpartner.c

A Few of Laurel's Favorites

People often ask, " Laurel, let's say you are about to be stranded on a deserted island, your canoe is taking on water, and you have to swim to shore. You have 1 minute to grab your swim fins, snorkel, some garden tools, books, your shades, a case of wine, your dog, and 10 tomato seed varieties from among the hundreds you always have in your pockets. Which ones would you choose?"

"How about 25?", says I.

   A Guide to the Symbols

(H)  Hybrid. The few hybrids we list were developed with great flavor as the main criterion. These are delicious varieties which we have grown and taste-tested to ensure superior flavor.

 

(SD)  Semi Determinate. Just one variety, Florida 91 is semi determinate. The plant reaches a certain predetermined height and then stops growing.

Most of the fruit is borne over a 4 to 7 week period. But they DO keep on producing  -- just a smaller crop.  So don't give up on them. Keep feeding and watering!

 

  Our Sunshine Symbol means this variety grows beautifully in all climates, and does especially well in sustained high heat but not hotter than 95º. Pollen normally becomes sterile above 95º

 

  Extra heat tolerant.

   A specialty plant, developed to produce consistently in very hot weather, up to 97º- 98º.

 

    Our Penguin Symbol means this variety grows beautifully in all climates, and does especially well in cooler temperatures and produces late into the cool season.

 

    Grows beautifully in most climates and is extra cold tolerant. However, this does not mean North Dakota in winter. Your tomato plants need night temperatures consistently above 50º F.

 

(E) Early ripening variety, with 78 days or less to ripe tomatoes.

 

(VE) Very early varieties, usually less than 68 days from plant-out to ripe fruit.

 

(EE) Extremely early ripening varieties, ready to pick in only 45-60 days from planting.

 

 

My Top 20

'Stranded On A Deserted Island' Favorites

 

 

   

 

Paul Robeson ($8.95)
(VE)  (HG)       65-70 days.

 

This is my all-time favorite tomato and our top seller for 22 years.

 

It is a gorgeous, dark and dusky-hued fruit with intensely sweet earthy taste with a hint of tanginess, a luscious velvety smooth texture, beautiful skin, rich with juice and high production. You will love it. The seed was made available by Marina Danilenko, a Moscow seedswoman. 

 

This luxurious tomato is named for Paul Robeson (1898-1976), the elegant, renowned and charismatic operatic singer, law school graduate, champion athlete, film star, stage actor and boundlessly brave champion of civil and personal rights throughout the world. This marvelous plant will give you its perfect 3" - 4" fruit in only 65 days from planting. Incredible; a symphony. I do believe this is the finest tomato in existence.  

 

 

 

  Jutland, in MY TOP 3! 

Jutland ($8.95)
   (E) 70 days. (Pronounced Jut-land or Yoot-lahn)

 

Along with Dirty Girl, Jutland is my new 'go to' variety for the best dang tomato for BLT's and any fresh eating. A perfect 3 to 5 ounce, thin-skinned, plum shaped, brilliant red tomato, some smooth, some with a pointed tip and the most sublime flavor we've found in a tomato this season. I keep saying " Where have you been all my life?"

 

It appears in several different shapes on the same plant -- some very elongated, some short and plump, and, as with many tomatoes of this shape, the foliage is rather wispy.

 

Sliced into 'coins' or halved lengthwise, it is my new favorite for salads, sandwiches and cooking. True story.

 

Juicy, sweet, tangy, delicious, thin, very tender skin and old-fashioned tomato flavor make Jutland a must-grow for the most dedicated and adventuresome heirloom tomato fans.

Can be used for sauce, yes. I'd recommend this one for fresh eating.

 

 

 INew for 2024!  

Apricot Zebra ($8.95)
75 days.      Incredible Flavor!

These preciously delicious 2 ounce salad tomatoes are as tasty as they are beautiful.

A stunning shade of tangerine with micro-thin pale green streaking that turns to brilliant yellow that glows in the sunlight -- when that happens it means they are ripe! 

Bigger-than-golf-ball-size fruits are firm but not hard, thin skinned, luscious and bountiful on a sturdy, vigorous disease resistant plant.

Bright, refreshing flavors are backed with scrumptious sweetness making Apricot Zebra a garden treasure that can disappear mysteriously as they begin to ripen.

Apricot Zebra tomatoes are criminally irresistible. Be sure you can trust your Pickin' Person.... because I can't.

 

 

 The finest flavored of the dwarf cherry tomatoes.

Velvet Night Cherry (Dwarf) ($8.95) 65 days    

 

These sweet, yummy, deep-purple cherry tomatoes grow on a small dwarf plant! Of all the cherries that grow on a dwarf plant, Velvet Night is the absolute best.

 

High production, fabulous flavor, very much like Black Cherry and Purple Haze, but growing on a small shrubby plant!

 

If you have a limited garden space and crave a really sweet, rich flavored cherry tomato, this is the one for you!

 

Lots of 1 to 2 ounce cherry tomatoes will keep your tomato taste buds really happy all season long -- and you'll have enough to share with friends and neighbors.

 

 

 

  NEW FOR 2024!

 

Beauty King ($8.25) 80 days   

 

How often does something this gorgeous live up to its beauty with equally stunning flavor and character?

 

I'm disappointed when a beautiful tomato doesn't thrill me with flavor. I grow out many, many varieties each year to be sure your tomatoes have fabulous flavor. Sometimes the first bite is a heartbreaker... which we call 'a spitter'.

 

NOT THIS ONE!! Beauty King is probably the finest flavored red and yellow bi-color tomato of all time. A fabulous cross of Big Rainbow and Green Zebra.

 

Very sweet and meaty, regularly reaching a pound. Sometimes up to 20 ounces and high production to boot! You'll be harvest lots of Beauty King tomatoes within only 80 days of planting.

 

Another incredible Brad Gates cross. Brad continues to bring unbridled joy to the gardens of the world.  YAY BRAD!!!!! WE LOVE YOU!

 

 

 

 NEW FOR 2024!

 

Beefsteak Classic ($8.25) 78 days    

 

Here is the original old time Beefsteak tomato from which subsequent big tomatoes got the description of "beefsteak". Take a thick slice from the center, you'll see the shape of a juicy steak!

 

Beloved for more than 100 years, Beefsteak Classic plants are big, hearty and lush producing 4 to 5 inch 1 lb. 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.

 

 

 

  NEW FOR 2024!

Druzba  (DROOZ-Bah) ($8.95)
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.

 

 

 

Best of the Blues...

Helsing Junction Blue   ($8.95)
78 days        

This strangely gorgeous fruit has won high fives and stunned looks in our test gardens. "Is that a plum?"

Clusters of delicious 2 to 3 ounce tomatoes salad tomatoes (not a cherry) with high production and disease resistance. Please give it a grow, highly recommended by me!

When Helsing Junction Blue are ripe, they have an intense, regal sweetness and enough balancing acid to make them the PERFECT tomato with rich flavors we love in the dark-fleshed varieties.

The gel and flesh turn turn deepest crimson when completely ripe. The flesh is really satisfying to bite into! Perfect and firm, not soft. Created by my old buddy Tom Wagner, he named it for Helsing Junction Farm in the Chehalis River Valley of Washington. 

The leaves curl genetically, so don't freak out and over-water or under-water them. These slightly curled leaves let more sunlight reach the fruits, turning them really  deep indigo. Looks awesome.

 

 

  Rare and Delightful!

Thunder Mountain ($8.95)
80 days       

This big, stunning10 to 14 ounce beefsteak tomato was developed by Lee Goodwin of J & L Gardens. As the colors developed, they reminded Lee of the sun setting through thunder clouds in New Mexico.

With fruits ripening from deep gold to reddish-orange -- and all the other stormy sunset colors -- he called it Thunder Mountain.  

The flavors are rich, sweet, bold and beautifully balanced, reflecting its marvelous parent lines of Cherokee Purple, Big Rainbow and Bosque Blue.

Not a huge plant, Thunder Mountain grows on a compact vine and produces excellent crops of 10-14 oz., big-shouldered, orange-red-gold tomatoes with deep stormy-ocean blue around the stem and faint yellow streaking here and there. Grows easily everywhere.

J & L Gardens is in New Mexico's Rio Grande Valley where they grow tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, apples and all kinds of specialty crops for restaurants and Farmers' Markets.

 

 

 

 

   

Momotaro Gold ($8.95) (H) 60 to 70 days

 

STOP THE PRESSES!!  This is my new favorite tomato! A stunning summer surprise with scads of 6 to 8 ounce treasures.

 

A very reliable tomato friend told me how fabulous this tomato tasted. "Seriously, Laurel, you gotta grow Momotaro Gold!"

 

So I got seeds and grew out 5 plants in the summer. I watched them grow and ripen, fascinated as they transformed into deeper and deeper shades of gold.

 

Picked the first ripe one in early September with high hopes. Folks, I was blown away. Probably one of the top 10 finest flavored tomatoes... Of. My. Life.

 

Every fruit, perfection. Texture is meaty, silky, not soft or mushy, just perfection. I kept saying."Oh my god. Oh my god." At some point, this marvelous flavor got me to thinking, (hmmm), if Sun Gold was a big tomato, it would taste Just Like This.

 

And so many tomatoes!  Growing on a medium sized plant, not a huge plant, they produced dozens of clusters of gorgeous fruits glimmering in the sun and are still going now, in October!

 

 

 

NEW FOR 2024!

 

Raspberry Mochi ($8.95)
75 days.    

 

Here is the amazing Raspberry Mochi, one of my absolute favorite offerings for your 2024 garden.

 

Raspberry colored skin surrounds plump tender walls of this medium size tomato -- you can see them in the photograph --  along with sweet flesh and luscious gel.

 

These beautiful fruits reach 8 to 10 oz. with a small core, very little waste, just pure tomato love!

 

Developed and named by my awesome tomato buddy, Ellie, of Bunny Hop Seeds, Raspberry Mochi is named for one of her favorite sweet treats, 

mochi, the popular Japanese confection. A very sweet treat!  If you've ever had one, you know what I mean. If not, you have a surprise waiting.

 

Raspberry Mochi is easy to grow in even the most challenging soil conditions. Grows beautifully everywhere, even in heat and humidity, does well in sandy soil.

 

Raspberry Mochi photograph is the property of Ellie Pong, Bunny Hop Seeds / Heritage Seeds.

 

 

 

Polish  ($8.95)
75 - 85 days.

 

This is our premier variety for 2022. As many of you know, when I am selecting varieties for your garden, I have thousands of heirlooms to consider. It takes me months and often years to grow out and test these tomatoes until I'm sure you get only the best from me.

 

My criteria are:

 

Fabulous flavor, excellent texture, reliable production and gorgeousness. Polish is ALL OF THAT!

 

Huge, brick red to dark pink, heavy 1 to 3 lb. fruits growing in extraordinary clusters of 3 to 5 huge tomatoes, all with superb flavor.

 

Polish are sweet, rich, meaty and juicy with exquisite flavors. Just breathtaking.

 

There are many heirloom tomatoes with 'Polish' in their names. But I have chosen for you the classic Polish. Don't miss it. You will love me for it.

 

This beautiful, disease resistant, potato leafed plant gets big! Give it extra support -- when it's loaded with tomatoes it will be heavy and unruly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apricot Brandywine ($8.95)
80 days.

These fabulous tomatoes are a perfect golden/apricot color -- not yellow -- and grow huge!  Up 1½ pounds in clusters of 4 or 5 huge tomatoes on rugged potato-leafed plants.

Apricot Brandywine produces a lot more tomatoes than the other Brandywines, much more than I've ever seen on other Brandywine plants except Brandywine OTV and the taste is unforgettable. Just incredible.

One of my favorite qualities of Apricot Brandywine is that the stunning, meaty flesh inside is exactly the same color of the skin when you cut it open, or just take a giant chomp! WOW! Mind blowing.

This plant has strong thick sturdy stems.  It really has to have stems like this to support all of the huge fruits! Be sure to give it a strong cage like Our TomatOH Holders, to help it stay up!

We think it originated from Great Britain some 30 years ago, the actual origin is unknown, but I'm researching it!

 

 

 

Aunt Ruby's German Green ($8.95)
         (B) (E)75-78 days. You're going to love this beautiful Tennessee tomato. Medium to large, sweet beefsteaks, bursting with a fragrant, complex, spicy-sweetness with a touch of tang.

A gorgeous green-when-ripe color with a delicate pink blush inside, this much sought after variety is a real treat to have in your garden, and is said to be the very best tasting green. Reaching up to one pound, Aunt Ruby's German Green grows in clusters of 2 or 3.

With its intricate, earthy, unforgettable flavor and chartreuse flesh this one will broaden your tomato horizons.

Top favorite of our friend and long-time customer Tom Wopat. Very adaptable, and easy to grow with good disease resistance. From Ruby Arnold of Greeneville, Tennessee who passed away in 1997.

 

 

German Johnson ($8.95)
85 days (BB) Up to 2 lbs!

A huge, prolific plant originally from Virginia and the Carolinas. Grown for more than 75 years, it is one of the four parent lines of Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifter; the flavor is enchanting.

If you've ever wondered what tomato might embody the legendary, classic flavor profile of all that is Heirloom Tomatoness, this is your huckleberry.

Most of the old-time German tomatoes, including German Johnson, Old German, German Queen, German Giant and more, are not from Germany but from Mennonite farms in the Southern United States.

German Johnson is the quintessential old-time Mennonite tomato.

Smooth skin, no cracking or splitting, the big, leafy, robust plants produce huge, gorgeous pink 1 to 2 lb. beefsteak type tomatoes. A creamy texture, sweet and luscious, along with high production make German Johnson a top tier choice in your heirloom garden.

Similar to Brandywine Pink but produces much more heavily, easily 10 times more than Brandywine.

A hugely popular farmers' market tomato. A wonderful sandwich tomato with good disease resistance. German Johnson is a winner in every garden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Green Giant ($8.95)
(E) (B)      60-70 days.

 

On a flavor scale of 1 to 100, Green Giant is a resounding 100 + Incredible. Unforgettable.  The flavor can be described as rich, intoxicating and intense.

 

Occasionally a tomato comes along which deserves very special attention. This big, up to 2 lb., green when ripe tomato resoundingly stole the show in 4 different tomato tastings.

 

We had the immense pleasure of tasting it at TomatoFest in Carmel, California where it captured the hearts of tasters and garnered a great deal of attention. I have not been this impressed by a tomato since discovering Brown Derby in 2007.

 

It arose originally in the garden of Reinhard Kraft of Germany in 2000 when he planted 30 seeds called 'Green Giant' from a friend in Canada. 29 of them grew out regular leafed except for one which had big potato leafed foliage. Reinhard cultivated that one, selecting the best fruit for several seasons, and continued to save seeds. Yay, Reinhard.  

 

NOTE:  How to tell if a green tomato is ripe and not just an unripe fruit?  Close your eyes and feel it; if it's soft, it's ripe.

 

 

    

Black Mamba ($7.95) 78 days      (B) 

 

New to our list this season, Black Mamba is a big, bodacious, purple/black beefsteak tomato. Elaborate smoky flavor with touch of sassy tang make this one an irresistible delight for your tomato garden.

A natural 'surprise' cross of Lucky Cross with an unknown black variety-- from the size and flavor my guess is Carbon -- Black Mamba's flavor is enticing, rich, sweet and luscious. Your plants will produce big crops of stunning, irresistible tomatoes. Really meaty and full-flavored, this is also a fabulous fresh eating and sauce tomato.

Another treat from the garden of the late, beloved, old-timey tomato grower Millard Murdock.

 

 

 

The World’s Darkest Tomato!

Black Beauty ($8.95)
85 days.      

Beautiful to look at, the flavor of Black Beauty is deep, rich and complex. Combined in a tomato salad with red, orange and yellow tomatoes - a real mind-blower! Be sure and wait for true ripeness! Black beauty takes a while to ripen but is definitely worth the wait.

These photographs are from our home garden and have not been retouched. The fruits and the stems are deep dark indigo-black. Inside, blood red. The first photo is a not quite ripe fruit, the second and third photos show the color change indicating ripeness.

So dark that some tomatoes turn solid blue-black on the skin. Deep red flesh is among the best tasting of all tomatoes. Rich, smooth and savory with earthy tones.

A dark, meaty, very rich-fleshed tomato with extreme anthocyanin effect, the same antioxidant in blueberries and blackberries. The emerging little fruits are deep black from the time they are tiny until big and almost ripe, then you will see some color changes as you can see in the photographs.

Keeps well on the vine and stores very well, and the flavor improves with room-temperature storage.

Baker Creek's Dave Kaiser tasted it at the 2015 National Heirloom Exposition and proclaimed it as the BEST tomato he had ever eaten! Yay Dave!

 

 

 

Wee Tang Shebang (compact plant) ($8.95)
55 - 60 days

 

Another dazzling heirloom from legendary tomato breeder Tom Wagner.

 

Although I don't know if Sun Gold is in its parent line, if you love Sun Gold, this is the plant for you!

 

I would describe Wee Tang Shebang as  a petite plant, not technically from the Dwarf Tomato Project, but a dwarf plant nonetheless. Producing scads of gorgeous golden-orange tomatoes with all the dazzling flavor of Sun Gold, it's a small plant, about 2 to 3 ft tall and covered with tomatoes.

 

Ellie Pong of Bunny Hop Seeds sent me a sample of this one a couple of years ago.  Adrienne loved the name and grew out some plants in our nursery. When it started producing I asked her, "Hey, what the heck is that?" She said, "Look at the label, Mom."

 

The flavor is SO good, I chose it over any other dwarf golden-yellow-orange cherry plants. A thousand times tastier. Crack resistant.

 

(Of the 30 in Adrienne's photograph, only one cracked! (YAY!)

 

You will love the high production in clusters of 8 to 10 fruits. So easy to grow, small yet indeterminate, grows and grows and grows for the whole season, starting early!

 

Disease resistant, produces right up until frost without losing any of its marvelous flavor.

 

 

 

    

 

Black Krim ($8.95)
75 days (E)  

 

This much sought after Russian variety is unique and unforgettable, originally from Krim on the Black Sea in the former Soviet Union, Black Krim has a superb smoky sweetness with a delicate lingering touch of tang in a 4-6" slightly flattened, mahogany-colored fruit with lovely, deep green shoulders.

 

Just superb and very easy to grow.

 

 ©  Photo property of Damon Webber, used here with he is gracious permission

 

 

 

Brandywine OTV ($8.95)
 (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."

 

   

Cherokee Purple ($8.95)
(HG) (E) 75 days.

A legendary and beautiful tomato, at least 100 years old and said to be grown by the Cherokee People. 12 oz. deep dark dusky rose-purple, deep red inside, with sweet, rich and smoky, luscious flavor. 

Cherokee Purple is a garden staple, in everyone's favorite list for a good reason-- disease resistant, reliable and easy to grow, and great one for your heirloom or heritage garden. 

Seeds were sent to Craig Lehoullier by JD Green of Tennessee who got them from a neighbor whose family had grown them for more than 100 years. 

In 1990 Craig named it Cherokee Purple. 

  

 

 

   

Dirty Girl  ($8.95)
     (E) Only 60 days.

 

I am crazy about the name of this incredibly delicious, high producing, open-pollinated version of Early Girl!  It was de-hybridized by Joe Schirmer, owner of Dirty Girl Produce in Santa Cruz California. An organic grower, Joe spent the last 7 years growing out Early Girl into an open-pollinated version of Early Girl -- what we call a 'new' heirloom.

 

Dirty Girl produces in only 60 to 65 days, giving you huge harvests of perfect, yummy, 3 to 4 ounce salad size, red tomatoes with all the great qualities of Early Girl -- high production, early ripening and strong plants, with some added attractions for gardeners-- an far richer flavor and a bonus; you can save seeds!

 

Joe named it 'Dirty Girl' after his wife with whom he created Dirty Girl Farm. Yay Joe! 

 

If you've got a wife or Mom, daughter, girlfriend or girl pal who spends a lot of time in the garden, this is the tomato for her. My customers love getting this one as a gift for their Dirty Girl Gardeners!

 

Surprise your Dirty Girl! 

 

 

 

   

Marianna's Peace ($8.95)
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.

Marianna was from a family of farmers in Bohemia, Czechoslovakia. During World War II, in May of 1945 when she was 17, Russian soldiers came to her school and forced Marianna and all her schoolmates into a truck to be taken to Siberia. During the journey, she and a few others escaped by jumping from the moving truck, but Marianna was shot in the leg just as she crossed the Czech border. With the help of her friends, she was able to continue on to the town of Weiden, Bavaria. She lost all contact with her parents and brothers for the next ten years, but after a long and diligent search with the aid of The Red Cross, she finally found them in 1955. 

Before he died, her father gave her a little bundle of the seeds. 

Marianna married, and in 1957 moved to Washington State with her husband where they raised four children.

The legacy of these seeds reaches back to the early 1900's and year after year the tomatoes borne from this marvelous heirloom continue to be treasured for their outstanding taste and beauty. Incredibly sweet, creamy, with dense red flesh, rich and luscious, reminiscent of the finest of those "old-fashioned" tomato flavors, the memories of which are the stuff of dreams for all tomato lovers. 

 

Laurel's Top Pick

Ruby Gold  (Sometimes called Gold Medal but Ruby Gold is the original name. ) ($8.95)
       85 days.

 

A stunning beauty with thrilling, sweet tropical flavors, this was my hands-down favorite for 2016. I could not be without it.

 

Ruby Gold has gigantic flavor, rivaling Cherokee Purple and Brandywine -- it may be as good as Paul Robeson. Cut it open, take a bite and prepare to have your mind blown.

 

Awesome color, huge flavor,  gorgeous and delicious. So prolific! I am getting dozens of tomatoes from one plant in a 30 gallon SmartPot.

 

I have a special fondness for the multi-hued tomatoes because-- well, look at thisw thing! When I see the multi colored tomatoes on plants ripening into rainbow hues I get lusciously gaga. 

 

First offered to American gardeners in 1921 by John Lewis Childs seed company in New York, Ruby Gold was rediscovered in West Virginia in 1967 by the legendary Ben Quisenberry. Craig LeHoullier got seeds in 1987 from John Hartman of Indiana, and here it is...for you.

 

 

 

Tati's Wedding ($8.95)
80 days.      

 

Tati is short for Tatiana. 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 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 found.

 

So productive, you'll get dozens of delicious tomatoes in varying sizes and shapes on the same plant, from 5 oz. up to 16 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!

 

 

 Early Ripening!

Thorburn's Terra Cotta (Pronounced THOR-burns) ($7.95 )    68 days. A Laurel's Favorite, and ripens in only 65 to 68 days from planting

We were so excited to be able to present Terra Cotta. Everybody loves it!

It's hard to know where begin in describing this extremely rare treasure with its incredible flavor, color and history!

Introduced more than 120 years ago, in 1893, by James Thorburn of New York, this is one of the most sensational tomatoes we have ever grown. With honey-brown skin, apricot colored flesh, and a beautiful green seed gel, this is a stunning tomato with out-of-this-world flavor.

Producing heavily during the early season for fresh eating, sandwiches, salads and right out-of-hand, Terra Cotta is also great for cooking! Roasted, sauced, fresh from the garden--you name it.

 

 New for 2021!

Wild Fred (Dwarf Plant) ($8.95)
      A Laurel's Favorite

Lots of big gorgeous purple/black tomatoes grow in abundance on a strong, stocky 3 to 4 ft. dwarf plant. Disease resistant and producing big crops of large yummy tomatoes in all kinds of weather, the flavor is outstanding.

Heavy in your hand, this juicy, beefsteak type fruits grow to 6 to 10 ounces with thin skin and the deep, smoky, juicy, aromatic flesh you find in Carbon which is one of its parent lines (along with New Big Dwarf).

This big, tasty variety was named by Craig LeHoullier, for his dad Wilfred after a memorable typo of Wilfred's name in a church bulletin.

A fabulous cross made in 2005 by Bruce Bradshaw in California.

For descriptions and photographs of all our tomato varieties, please click here: