Tomato Varieties

Abby's Rose's 2020 Open Pollinated Tomato Varities

Paste Tomatoes 🍅

These are sauce tomatoes! Simmer large quantities down and then freeze or can. Add herbs, onions, and garlic. Use a recipe if you haven’t made big batches of sauce before. These tomatoes are also good for grilling fresh, because they aren’t super juicy; they won’t fall apart as much as a classic heirloom slicer. I recommend halving lengthwise; the rest is up to the grill master!

#101 Paste Mix

In gravity induced accident, all of my saved 2019 paste tomato seeds got mixed together. The seeds in this mix are an assortment of Gilberte Paste, Amish Paste, and Purple Russian.

#102 Amish Paste*

This variety bares striking resembelence to a grocery store roma tomato. I only had enough seeds start a few plant. Hopefully I will have a fresh rounds of Amish Paste seeds to share for the 2021 growing season.

#103 Gilberte Paste*

These have a pointy tip, and “green shoulders” when ripe. They have a little more personality than the Amish Paste IMHO.

#104 Purple Russian*

These are rich, dark, and delicious. The ones I grew tended to have a pointy tip (like the Gilberte, not rounded like the Amish). I think there is a good number of these seeds mixed in with the "Paste Mix" seeds, but I had very few seeds that were certainly purple. Please note that I only had enough seeds to share two packets of these. I only started about 3 plants myself. This seed packet was originally a "free gift with purchase" from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed, and is no longer available on their website. For the sake of genetic diversity and open-pollinated posterity, PLEASE save and share the seeds from (with me and others) if your plants from these seeds are successful! Thank you love.

Slicers 🍅

Eat them while they are fresh! Okay, you can process them and store them for later too... but eating any of these varieties fresh is a true sign of peak summer. Bon appetite!

#201 Moskvich*

This looks more like a "regular" tomato than many other heirlooms. It is a quick producing plant that doesn't get too big or unruly. I have little experience with these, but am excited to try! The packet says 60 days, which is a quick tomato.

#202 Orange Peach*

Small for a "slicer", these tomatoes are orange and fuzzy. Yes, fuzzy like a peach. I love these tomatoes because they are delicious, prolific, hardy plants. One Orange Peach tomato is the perfect size to start and finish by yourself in a single meal. They have a low water content, so they store very well. Orange peach tomatoes are always the last fresh tomatoes I eat in the fall. I lay them flat on a cotton towel, in a single layer on a flat basket, in the fridge; they last like this for weeks longer than other tomatoes. I have my friend Julia to thank for these, she gave me her extra seeds about 5 or 6 years ago, and I have been loving and saving them ever since.

#203 P3

This name originated when, years ago, I decided that the open polinated tomato seeds I was saving were “Prudens Purple… Probably.” I don’t know if there is actually have any relation though. I have been stewarding these seeds for a while, my most recent save was in 2018. The seeds you have are likely from this generation. Plants from these seeds should give you large, juicey, tasty, red-ish tomatoes, with that classic “heirloom” uneven shape. Toss these with fresh cucumber and basil for your perfect simple summer salad.

#204 Brenin's Flame

Once upon an early fall sauna night, my friend Brenin brought one of the most striking tomatoes I had ever seen to the potluck. If I recall correctly, he haden't grown it himself, but it had been grown locally (to Traverse City). This tomato was so spectacular, I had to add it to my collection! I gutted and grabbed the seeds, right before the flesh got tossed into the dinner salad. In order to share this beauty with more people, this is the smallest quantity of seeds I am packing... only 5 seeds per pack! It only takes one good plant to brighten your whole summer. These juicy slicers are like a tie-dye of purple and yellow, on the outside, and orange and pink on the inside. Or so. They often come in unusual heirloom shapes... although sometimes they are almost perfectly round.

#205 Fat Pinko

Last chance for this fat pink tomato! I only had a pinch of seeds left when I started my 2020 tray of tomatoes. Once a standout in my personal open-pollinated tomato collection, this variety has been miss, miss, and miss for years. Maybe it is better suited to the hot, dry, climate I left behind. Nevertheless, I will give this huge, juicy tomato one more try here in Michigan. Shall I succeed, I will be sending seeds as far south and west as I am able.

Cherries 🍅

Sometimes, we have to set reasonable limits. To stop myself from going overboard with aquiring tomato varieties, I limited my collection of bite-sized tomatoes to one of each color of the rainbow. A cherry tomato rainbow is great for photo opps and kids gardens. And, of course, dinner.

#301 TC Red Cherry

This is a classic, delicious, prolific, bright red, beautiful, huge cherry tomato. I don’t remember what variety of heirloom I originally started saving this strain from, so renamed it to reflect what is is, and where I grow it. My mom up in the Keweenaw Peninsula loves growing these! These tomatoes are delicious, if a little seedy... making them the pefect tomato to save for seed sharing, school gardens, and demonstration sites with take home samples. I am sharing seeds this year with up to 18 households. So while your individual selection is unique, everyone gets some of Abby's TC Red Cherry Tomatoes!

#302 Orange Cherry

Small, round, orange, and sweet. I have no idea where I got the original plant from, so I'm not even sure if this one is actually open pollinated. We'll see in 2020 if it grows true to seed!

#303 Mellow Yellow

I saved these from a plant my beau brought home from Oryana when I asked him to fill in my cherry tomato rainbow during his grocery store shopping run in spring of 2018. No idea what the original variety was. These light and bright cherry tomatoes borderline on white.

#304 Green Vernissage*

I recieved these as a "Free Gift" with purchase. They are actually bigger than a cherry tomato, but still relatively small. Frankly, I don't enjoy eating them (maybe I'm just not preparing them correctly?) Yet, these are the only tomatoes I have that are green when ripe; so, they are an essential part of my "rainbow of cherry tomatoes".

#305 Black Vernissage*

I use these for the "Blue" in my "Rainbow of Cherry Tomatoes." I realize, they are neither truely blue, nor cherry tomatoes. Nor do they taste that good. Do you have a little open-pollinated blueish tomato you recommend?

#306 Purple Cherry

Very dark, very small little treats. No idea what the original varietal was named.

#307 Pearly Pink*

The last color of the Cherry Rainbow! These tomatoes are really pretty and tasty. They are oblong and large (for a cherry tomato). This is the actual heirloom name of these gems. These are one of my long time favorites!

Say hello to my little friend!

It's okay that this photo is sideways.

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