Tomato seedlings available!

[torquill]

Anybody who's local enough to fetch them is welcome to them, first come first serve. I have:

3 Brandywine, Sudduth strain: Dark pink beefsteaks, more reliable than regular Brandywine, just as tasty. Potato leaf.
2 Earl's Faux: Dark pink beefsteaks, very tasty, prolific. Potato leaf.
2 Vorlon: Dark maroon beefsteaks with green shoulders, the size of the palm of your hand, prolific. Potato leaf.
1 Little Lucky: Bicolor round slicing tomato, mild but tasty. Potato leaf.
1 Stump of the World: Another pink potato leaf beefsteak, flavor is reportedly rich and deep.
1 Yellow Brandywine: Yellow beefsteaks with mellow, full flavor. Quite well known. Potato leaf.
1 Noir de Crimée: Brown-maroon round slicers with green shoulders. Classic "smoky" black flavor. Regular leaf.
1 Abraham Lincoln: Round red slicers, classic flavor (I think). Recommended by a friend in the know. Regular leaf.
1 Dorothy's Green: Large green beefsteaks, sweet with a spicy overtone if grown well. Regular leaf.
Mortgage Lifter: 1 original Radiator Charlie strain, 1 Estler strain: Large pink beefsteaks, my first favorite tomato. Classic flavor, very prolific; Estler is reportedly more so, though I didn't see a difference the one year I tried it. Regular leaf.

All of these are vine types, so they need a sturdy cage (not a little three-ring hardware store dealie), trellis, or post(s). I tie them up with twine between two steel fenceposts and it works well. If you need a cage, I may be able to rescue one of the concrete reinforcing wire pieces I've used in the past.

On the flip side, they'll produce steadily into November depending on the weather. I've grown Brandywine Sudduth, Earl's Faux (originally discovered as a Red Brandywine that definitely wasn't), Vorlon, and Mortgage Lifter multiple times each, and I can vouch for their reliability. All of the others have good reputations. (The reason I have so many potato-leaf varieties is that they're better at resisting the spider mites I have here; I include it so that you won't be surprised by the unusual leaf shape.) All the plants were grown without chemicals of any kind.

Take 'em away, folks!

Comments

[saraphim78.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's quite the selection! Too bad I'm only doing romas this year :/

[amanda-nye.livejournal.com]

I would like one (or two) that would be suitable for tomato slices for sammiches in addition to salads and tabbouleh. I prefer red to green, but don't have a preference beyond that. I can pick up Sunday. If you can maybe inform me prior to that what I'll need to raise the pretty in a pot in San Jose. How big a pot, what kind of soil. I'll look for sturdy cage material.

[luna-torquill.livejournal.com]

Sorry I didn't get back to you... any of the slicers would probably do it for you. I use beefsteaks for sandwiches too, they just make a large meaty slice (some of those are kind of juicy, so patting them dry might be good). Vorlon would do beautifully for any of those applications if you'll take a purple rather than a red. :) Mortgage Lifter is a personal favorite for BLTs.

I'd recommend at least a ten-gallon pot if you want to avoid blossom-end rot. I got some from Navlet's for about $5 each, made of sturdy black nursery-grade plastic so they don't decay after a year... I'm not sure I have any spares, but they're easy to get if you ask for black nursery pots. Wrap them with white plastic (a potting-soil bag taped to the outside does well) or paint them white if they'll be exposed to sun.

If you can strap a trellis to something like a balcony or porch support, that would do nicely... you can also try to get a panel of concrete reinforcing wire and bend it into a cylinder, mating it at the edges with sturdy pliers. I need to dig for my old panels, see what shape they're in.