Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Tomato Days 2017-Heirloom Tomato and Vegetable Plant Sales


I admit "Tomato Days" is not a creative name for my plant sales which begin on May 20th this year.
Perhaps it is because the Tree and Twig name has confused people for so many years, I thought I would just say it like it is.
So it is a tomato plant sale for sure. 500 or so varieties, black, brown, blue, green, white, yellow orange, pink, purple, stripes, speckles, blushes, fuzzy, waxy, minuscule and monstrous. Early, mid season and late. Dwarf varieties, determinate and indeterminate. Oh yes, and red...how did I forget that. Lots of reds, yet to be listed here.


If you haven't been out to my sale before let me tell you what to expect.
I open at 8 am, Saturday May 20th, and stay open for about a month or so selling plants.
If you come on the opening Saturday morning, expect a rush and a lot of people. I do my best to talk to people and help with selections, but it is the most difficult time to get my attention as I am always helping someone. I have thousands of plants, so there is no rush to be here Saturday unless you know exactly what you want.

I have lots of plants, but not huge quantities of everything. Some of the most popular varieties you will find in good quantity, like Pineapple, San Marzano and Beefsteak. Other lesser known varieties are here in smaller quantities and I know I have some varieties that people won't select, a shame really, because as I tell everyone who asks "what's good?", they all are!

The plants are all organized by colour and again organized alphabetically within those categories.
I have master plant lists with descriptions that you can look at while you are here, but I ask that they remain here so everyone can use them.

Hmm, did mom do a good job on this one?
I have a small legion of family and friends helping out on the first day and they will do their best to assist you. But please be patient, they don't know the tomatoes the way I do and will seek me out to find out the answers to your questions.

In addition to tomatoes, well, there's lots of wonderful things for your garden. I have loads of sweet peppers and hot peppers as well as some interesting eggplants. I have ground cherries and cape gooseberries, kales, lettuces, chards, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, cucumbers, squash, mouse melons, herbs, sweet potatoes, flowers and more. I also will be selling seeds for many things such as lettuce mix, carrots, chard, beans, beets and more again.

If you can bring your own box or flat to carry your plants, that would be a good idea.
The plants in the larger pots remain $4.00. I do not take credit cards or debit, just cash, personal cheque or if need be etransfer. The closest bank is in Smithville or Fenwick.

My road is quite busy on the Victoria Day weekend, so I ask if possible that you do not park on the road, but rather across the road on the grassy lane near the church. There will be signs directing you.

If you are having trouble finding me and have a GPS, my address can be entered as 74038 Creek Road, Wainfleet.

There will be other vendors here too, including coffee and treats, perennial plants, alpaca goods, preserves, honey and hop plants.

One additional note: I love, love love dogs, but if you could please not bring yours to my farm on this weekend, it would be best. It scares my cats and chickens and gets my dogs riled. Thanks.

I have been working hard and the plants are looking good. I look so forward to welcoming you!





Thursday, May 4, 2017

Orange and Yellow Tomatoes 2017




Busy days are these. The transplanting is done, but the labels still need to be finished up and the preorders picked. We've gone through 10,000 labels now and working on more. It's a lot of plants.
Each label is handwritten, so when I am done in the greenhouse for the day, I clean up, eat supper and sit down to write out the labels. When you have so many varieties there just is no easy way. A glass of wine by my side can help though.
There are some outstanding varieties to look for that are yellow and orange. I am surprised when I fill the preorders that more people have not chosen "Florentine Beauty". Maybe I didn't talk it up enough when I described it, but it is wonderful. Beautifully ribbed, lemon yellow and wonderful sweet mild flavour. It produces so well and was one of my favourites last year. Watch for it at "Tomato Days", it is superb.
I do have the two hybrid cherries "Sungold" and "Sun Sugar", which could be known as "super sweet" and "super sweeter". What great tomatoes. You simply can't not eat them when you are fussing around in the garden. Other favourites of mine include Aladdin's Lamp, and some of the big oranges like KBX, Mahler Roth's Orange Brandywine and Myona. You just can't beat the flavour of a big orange tomato.
Here is what to expect...
Aladdin's Lamp,
Aurega
Aunt Ruby's Yellow Cherry
Amish Yellow Giant
Auriga
Big Sungold
Beam's Yellow Pear
Banana Legs
Banana Cream
Basinga
Barnes Mountain Orange
Cuban Yellow Grape
Coyote
Chuck's Yellow
Carmello
Chef's Orange Hyb
Dawson Russian Oxheart
Dr Wyche's Yellow
Dr Carolyn's
Des Andes Orange
David Davidson's
Egg Yolk Cherry
Earl Of Edgecomb
Florentine Beauty
Fablonelstyni
Flamme
Fruity Yellow
Floragold Basket
Gold Rush Currant
Golden Cherokee
Garden Peach
Golden Gates
Golden Egg
Goldie
Aladdin's Lamp

German Orange Strawberry
Golden Grape
Gourmet Yellow Stuffer
Golden Queen
Stokes Golden Queen
Golden Konigin
Gold Roma
Galinas
Huge Lemon Oxheart
Indian Moon
Ida Gold
Jaune Flamme
Jubilee
Jaune Negib
Jaune Coeur de Pigeon
Kellogg's Breakfast
KBX
Emmy
Manyel
Mahler Roth's Orange Brandywine
Mountain Gold
Moonglow
Mollie's Awesome YP
Myona

Madara
Nebraska Wedding
Nicholayev Cherry
Orange Polonaise
Orange Santa
Orange Banana
Orange Strawberry
Orlov Yellow
Olga Yellow Round Chicken
Orange Icicle
Persimmon
Yellow Centiflor
Plum Lemon
Pilser Vesey
Pike County Orange
Peg's Round Orange
Regina's Yellow
Sungold
Sunsugar
Storgul
Sungold Select II
Sakhara
Schellenberg's Favourite
Tess' Land Race Currant
Verna Orange
Yellow Bell
Wapsipinicon Peach
Tangerine
Tom's Yellow Wonder
Utyorok
Yellow Gooseberry
Yellow Reisentraube
Yellow Mortgage Lifter
Yellow Ping Pong
Yellow Currant
Yellow Brandywine
Yellow Furry Hog
Yellow Ruffled










Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Pink and Purple Tomatoes for 2017



Zapotec

Years ago when I first started selling heirloom tomatoes seedlings at the Fonthill Market people  were a bit unsure what they were. Another organic grower bought a few plants from me and I described to her exactly what fruit she would end up with. Of course people were still hung up on round and red fruit at the time, and I was selling a bit of that, but a lot that wasn't that. She bought a Purple Calabash from me, planted it and 3 or so months later came back to tell me she ripped the plant out because the fruit was horrible looking.
Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. My perspective on this fruit is that it is stunning. It is a deep purple black, flattened and highly ribbed tomato. And it tastes like no other. I would know the taste of a Purple Calabash with my eyes closed. It is strong flavoured and distinctive. And oh so good.
It is one of my favourites from the following list, but as I tell everyone when they ask what is good, they all are.

Amerikansky Sladky
Anna Russian,
Brandyboy Hybrid
Bali
Bread and Salt
Big Purple Brandywine
Brandysweet Plum
Brimmer
Burgundy Traveller
Brandywine Suddth
Brandywine OTV
Pink Brandywine
Cherokee Purple
Canary Rose
Chinese Purple
Dester
Dark Rose
Dingo Eye
Dolores' Romanian
Dr Carolyn's Pink
Evans Purple Pear
Earl's Faux
Eva Purple Ball
Eagles Beak
Ella's Pink Plum
Enormous Plum
Ferris Wheel
Gezhante Buhrurkeel


Gezhante Buhrurkeel
German Johnson,
German Pink
Gypsy
Gruschovka
Hungarian Heart
Japanese Oxheart
Jeff Davis
Kalman's Hungarian Pink
Kentucky Plate
Kolb
Lithuanian Crested Pink
Lincoln Adams
Millionaire
Maglia Rose
Marg's Polish
Marianna's Peace
Ozark Pink
Oaxacan Pink
Oxheart Pink
Purple Calabash
Peach Blow Sutton
Purple Pear
Pink Ruffled
Purple Dog Creek
Purple Smudge Orange Flesh
Rose
Rosella purple Dwarf
Rose de Berne
Snogs Pride
Trucker's Favorite
Turks Muts
Tiacolula Pink
Todd's County Amish
Una Hartsock
Ukranian Purple
Ukranian Pear
Wheatley Frost Resistant
Zapotec
Yuri


Monday, May 1, 2017

Green and White Tomatoes for 2017


A super huge Uluru Ochre

These two colours of tomatoes scare people. My standard line to the most commonly asked question about green tomatoes is "soft to the touch".  Green tomatoes are indeed ripe when soft to the touch, as are all tomatoes. Once you get over the surprise of understanding that some tomatoes are actually ripe when green and you taste them...well you might just be surprised how good they are.
When I was reviewing my preorders this year, I noticed that yes indeed, more people are ordering greens, with Aunt Ruby in the lead. That is a very good tomato.
White tomatoes are mild and sweet, really quite delicious. Just think of the possibilities.Perhaps  a white spaghetti sauce? The year we made a white salsa with beautifully coloured peppers was wonderful. I think it is time to do that again.

Aunt Ruby's German Green
Absinthe
Aunt Ruby's German Green Cherry
Emerald Apple
Green Envy
Gruene Helarios
Green Ghost
Green Doctors
Green Doctors Frosted
Green Giant
Golden Green
Green Grape
Green Belle
Green Bell Pepper


Lime Green Salad
Moldovan Green
Thompson Classic Seedless
Malakhitovaya Shkatulka
Uluru Ochre
Verde Rallado
Bianca Cherry
Blonde Boar
Cream Sausage
Don's White
Douce de Picardie
Great White
Ivory Pear
Old Ivory Egg
Ivory Egg
Isis
Mikado Blanc
Snow White
Super Snow White
Snowstorm
Snowball
Tomesol White
Transparent
White Wonder
White Currant
White Beauty
White Cherry
White Oxheart
White Brandywine

Ellie

Black, Brown and Blue Tomatoes for 2017

There are some pretty interesting tomatoes in this category. Blues are newcomers to the tomato scene and breeders have been busy adding blues to whites, as well as yellow, green and red tomatoes. Oh and more. It will be interesting to see what comes next. Black and brown have always been staple tomatoes known for their rich smoky flavour. Here is what I am growing this year, with additional ones found on my preorder list on my website.

Indigo Apple
Amazon Chocolate
African Brown
Amethyst Jewel



Bosque Bumblebee
Black Ethiopian
Black Cherry
Black Krim
Black Prince
Blue Beauty
Blueberries
Black Seaman
Black Plum
Brazilian Beauty
Black Brown Boar
Brown Flesh
Black Pear
Black Truffle
Brown Berry
Black Icicle
Brad's Black Heart
Blue Green Zebra


Black
Black Moor
Black Apple
Black from Tula
Cascade Lava
Cinnamon Pear
Chocolate Cherry
Cuban Black
Chocolate
Cherry Brownies
Clackamas Blueberry
Cafe Bule
Cappuccino
Dark Galaxy
Dark Italian
Debarao
Fahrenheit Blues
Indigo Rose
Great White Blues
Japanese Black Trifle
Mr Brown
Kumato
Joffre
Nyagous
Ozark Sunset
Osu Blue
Primary Colors
Plum Black
Paul Robeson
Sara Black
Tendence Bleu
Sandy's Chocolate Cherry

"Not a tomato" Ruby