New Varieties on the Farm for 2015

One of the things we are pleased to be able to provide is a great deal of variety on our farm.  We feel very strongly that a range of vegetable types along with a variety of cultivars of each vegetable type gives us a higher likelihood for success any given season.  We also believe that there can be a wide range of tastes from one vegetable variety to another.  This means, if we grow different kinds of tomatoes (for example) it is more likely that everyone will find a tomato that they find to be a great match to their own personal tastes.

And, since I mentioned tomatoes, I'll start with them!

Black Krim will return - of course.

We are pretty happy with most of our 'different' color tomatoes - the reds, purples and most of the yellows (there is an exception to this, as you'll see).  But, we are currently motivated to improve on the red tomato varieties.  The first issue is that our source for Druzba seed is tenuous.  We like that variety, but if we can't secure seed, it is a moot point.  Also, we're feeling like we can do a bit better for taste than Trophy. And, Wisconsin 55 has very good taste, but it likes to drop its fruit on the ground.  Not a big deal - unless they all ripen at once, which they've done the past two seasons.  So, we will continue with Trophy and Wisconsin 55.  And, we'll grow out the last of our Druzba seed.  We've also liked how the Rutgers strain from High Mowing has been doing.  And, this season, we're going to give Cosmonaut Volkov a fair trial, along with John Baer.  Both will give standard sized, red slicers.  We liked Volkov's taste last season, but we're not sure if it likes us yet. 

We will also be giving Kanner Hoell and Mortgage Lifter a chance this season.  We have a feeling that both of these may be redundant with some of our bigger tomatoes.  But, we like to try new things, so there you are.

With respect to the yellow varieites, Moonglow, Nebraska Wedding and Dr Wyche's Yellow all return.  But, sadly, it looks like Golden Sunray is not coming back for a while.  Their seed apparently was cross contaminated a couple of years ago.  After a small trial last year, we are giving Emmy the spot that Golden Sunray used to hold.  And - we'll be growing more of the Black Cherry tomatoes after some high praise regarding their taste.

Nebraska Wedding loves us as long as we get them caged!

And, a note to all of you who are looking to buy heirloom tomato plants this year.  We will be having a nice variety yet again this year.  If you have special requests, now is the time to give them to us.