Progress report and Tomato tally

The peppers aren't doing so great. Ahaheim's are doing fine, 4 or 5 have geriminated. The Jimmy Nardello's are getting moldy (new seed this year! Not happy.) Mulato Isleno might have 1 germinating-jury is still out. I think Chervena Chushka has one germinating too. I might get new seed, I really don't have any hot hot peppers. I'll give it a little more time then maybe get some more. I got some seed through trading this week: Arumagans Eggplant-Originally from Bakers Creek this is what they have to say about it: This variety produces an assortment of green, white and lavender fruit, many are striped. It is used in Tamil Nadu state in vegetable stews and curries, as well as stuffed. It was given to a traveler by the Arumugam family of Ambal, India, who have a small rice farm near the island of Karaikal. We are proud to offer this great little Indian eggplant.. I also got Burgess Buttercup squash. I've never grown winter squash before. It should be interesting.

I'm totally psyched to get some seeds for a SASE a guy named James Campbell at the other end of the state sent me:

Green Grape:(Tatiana's Tomatobase-79 days, compact indet., 5' tall plant, regular leaf, large slightly oblong green-when-ripe cherries borne in clusters of 8-9, turn yellowish green when ripe, very nice flavor when fully ripe, juicy and sweet, good yield, has tiny seeds like the original strain bred by Tom Wagner.


Black Zebra:from Dr Carolyn Male (a very wise and knowledgeable tomatofile)It's the result of a natural cross pollination between Green Zebra and an unknown black variety and selections were made from the initial F1 hybrid that resulted from that cross and Jeff Dawson of Ca stabilized and named what we know as Black Zebra back in 2000.

Goose Creek:this was my "Holy Grail" for his year because you can't buy the seed it needs to be aquired through trade or buy plants from Heirloomtomatoplants.com. This is what they have to say about it-This delectable historical family heirloom is one of the rarest plants we offer and our #1 top seller. The flavor and color run deep in Goose Creek , a stunning, deeply red fruit, round or slightly flattened, sometimes lobed, with occasional gold streaks or speckling, faintly visible in the photo. Juicy, very sweet and intensely tomatoey as if injected with concentrated tomato flavor, it is ambrosial. I've rarely tasted a tomato to compare. Averaging 6-7 ounces, with very few seeds; it has now made my top 3 list.

This family treasure comes to us from edible landscape expert, Jimmy Williams, owner of Hayground Organic Gardening in California whose home garden we found to be an enchanting escape. Jimmy, born in 1942, and his Native Island Gullah-Geechee family are descendants of slaves brought in bondage from The Caribbean to the coastal islands of the Southern United States to grow rice for plantation owners.

The Gullah are still keepers of a fascinating culture of food, language and beloved traditions--a most extraordinary and delightful people.

The seeds of this sublime fruit have been passed down through generations since the 1800's when Jimmy's great-great grandmother, a young Caribbean slave, smuggled them with her aboard ship. When the ship docked at Charleston near Goose Creek, South Carolina, she had the treasured seeds with her, hidden deep in her skirt pocket and planted them that first spring. Jimmy's grandmother, Elouise Watson, shared this precious heirloom with him more than 45 years ago, assuring Goose Creek 's place in his family's garden for generations to come. Among its extraordinary qualities: A very high fruit yield and very few seeds.

Along with being very heat tolerant, it shows remarkable cold-tolerance along the cooler coastal areas where the fruits continue to set and ripen through November and December. It is a wonderful choice for growing in containers.

Goose Creek has two distinctly different and superb flavors during two phases of its growth: when partially ripe and still showing some light green at the shoulders it has a brisk citrusy taste balanced with a fine, lingering touch of sweetness, and again at full red ripeness when it develops an intensely rich, earthy sweet flavor and luxurious, silken texture.

Tatiana's Tomatobase has something else to say about it: Family heirloom from the early 1800s, from edible landscape expert, Jimmy Williams, owner of Hayground Organic Gardening in California. There is some controversy about the origins/dating of this tomato, as tomato experts know that there were no 'smooth' tomatoes available in the early 1800s

Indian Stripe: (story provided by GG Gumbo from idigmygarden forum) Clyde Burson, Sr. is the origin of Indian Stripe. Donna Nelson, who grew up down the road from the Bursons according to Clyde Burson, Jr., acquired some seeds from the Burson garden in the mid-1990s. She sent some to Carolyn Male who asked Donna what Clyde called the variety. Donna said Clyde, Sr. alternately referred to them as Indian Zebra and Indian Stripe. Carolyn chose Indian Stripe as the name to distribute seed by. She subsequently sent them to Craig LeHoullier who then sent some to Victory Seeds who sells them as Indian Stripe
From Tatiana's Tomatobase: Considered to be a strain of Cherokee Purple. The fruits of Indian stripe are slightly smaller, lighter in color, and have more fruits per truss. The original seed came to Carolyn Male of NY from Donna Nelson, TX, who found this var. growing in the garden of Clyde Burson, a neighbor of her relatives in south central AR. Mr. Burson has been growing this var. for as long as he can remember. In the area this variety was known as Indian Stripe or Indian Zebra.
Carolyn Male chose Indian Stripe as the name for this tomato.

KBX:Discovered by Martha Hufford- this is what she had to say about it (from Tatiana's Tomatobase)-This is what Martha said about it in her letter to Linda Sapp at Tomato Growers Supply: "In 2002, I ordered some Kellogg’s Breakfast seeds from a seed supplier in California. Upon growing them out I noticed there was a 50/50 split of regular leaf and potato leaf plants. Out of curiosity I grew out 6 of the PL plants along side the RL ones “just to see what would happen”. The PL plants out paced the RL ones as seedlings and as mature plants they were noticeably healthier with heavier and earlier fruit set. Speculation by the tomatophiles at GardenWeb was that the PL plants would produce a pink fruit as there were no known orange PL varieties at that time. In late July after 75-80 days the 16-20 ounce fruits ripened to a beautiful deep apricot-orange. Taste tests had friends licking the plates. I saved seeds from that plant and trialed 6 more plants in 2003- all had the same results. Since then I have been growing out plants from the 2003 seeds along with the current year’s seeds to assess stability. Seeds have also been distributed to several growers across the country and in Germany who are part of the Tomatoville family. While the odd RL seedling does pop up from time to time (less than 2-3%), the color and characteristics of the fruits has remained stable over the past 4 years

I also got Dr Wyche's and Black Krim (I already had those)I'm glad he sent me Black Krim because I overplanted last year and only have a few seeds left.

From Blueribbontomatoes on Ebay I ordered Purple Dog Creek:A family heirloom from the small community of Dog Creek near Munfordville, Kentucky, where the tomatoes were served as part of a "thank you" outside dinner served to a WV preacher and members of his congregation, who were in Dog Creek to do home improvements for the low income elderly of the area. Doug Zuknick of Romney, WV received the seeds from his WV friend in 2005 and shared it through Tomatoville.
Introduced to SSE in 2008 by four members; original seed from Doug Zucknic of Romney, West Virginia. (description courtesy of Tatiana's Tomatobase)

I'm also waiting for the Wintersown.org group to send back some seeds for a SASE. I have no idea where I'm going to put all these tomatoes. I think I'm either going to expand the garden or start another bed by the driveway. The job will be to convince DH to let me do that.