2025 Plant Sale Tomatoes- Editorial Comments
We are pleased to announce the tomato offerings for our 2025 plant sale. It is a mix of tried and true offerings (most reoffered due to positive taste and growing ease feedback), and new exciting varieties. (Please note- this is the first year we are not offering any Rutgers tomatoes. They can now be purchased at many other places, and we wanted to reserve our greenhouse space for other harder to find varieties.)
-Two new varieties this year that we are especially excited over are the Indigo Kumquat and Arkansas Traveler. 1. We offered the Indigo Kumquat last year as one of our very limited basis “trial” tomatoes, where we followed up at season end with a questionnaire. This tomato had 100% positive feedback, suggesting we offer it on a full scale basis this year. So we are. 2. The Arkansas Traveler is a beefsteak heirloom tomato that was bred to be drought and heat tolerant. Last year was a hard year for tomato plants in this area. A variety like this should do well if this summer is the same.
-We are offering lots of non-red tomatoes. Your garden will look especially nice and your salads much more interesting if you grow a good color variety. But, it can sometimes be a challenge to pick them when they are ripe. An unripe tomato is not sweet, or flavorful. Suggestions: first, know your tomato- what color should it be when it is ripe. Second, I suggest you go by how soft it is. A ripe tomato will not be hard.
– If you are a new tomato grower, or have had a lot of problems growing them, the 2 varieties we offer that are usually the most problem free are: Mexico Midgets, a tall rambling heirloom cherry tomato that grows like a weed, and Chef’s Choice, a usually trouble free plant that has high yields of orange medium size fruit. (Remember, for any variety, for good tomatoes you need 6 to 8 hours of direct sun shining on them.)
– And now for the real editorializing, my personal 3 favorites (but remember everybody’s taste is different):
1. Brandysweet Plum cherry tomatoes, the sweetest tomato I’ve ever had. But you do need to go by how soft they are to tell if they are ripe. Unripe they do not taste good at all.
2. Speckled Roman- an heirloom that is great for eating or cooking, and has a pretty oblong orange and yellow striped fruit. It’s meaty (won’t make those sandwiches soggy) and flavorful. The plant itself, a potato leaf variety, looks wimpy, but don’t let that fool you. It’s a great tomato.
3. Uluru Ochre- a shorter dwarf variety, 3 or 4 ft. tall with an ochre/mahogany color fruit. (Note- this variety was named after a rock formation in Australia that is the same color as the ripe tomato.) This plant is amazing, trouble free with a super sturdy central stem and medium to large meaty but juicy fruit. It’s a great variety for pots.
AND MOST IMPORTANT- GARDENING SHOULD BE FUN!!! You learn by your mistakes. Don’t be afraid to try something different. You always get a fresh start next year.
