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| Tomato plants in the Greenhouse Most of the tomatoes are heirlooms. Some are hybrids that were just too interesting to pass up! Click on the pictures to link to the seed source if you would like to order your own seeds. Come to the It's About Thyme greenhouse to buy plants. The greenhouse will have tomato plants for sale during May and June.  Amazon Chocolate (Heirloom)
From www.amishlandseeds.com: I guarantee you have never seen or tasted a rich tomato like this. Everyone,( and I do mean everyone!) who tastes "Amazon Chocolate" says that this one is absolutely the best tasting tomato they have ever eaten, bar none. I even get long distance phone calls from customers who just have to tell me how fabulous it tastes. Even those who were hesitant to try such a strange colored tomato, loved it. I exhibit at several harvest fairs and museum shows each season, and always put out a large tray of my tomatoes for people to sample. This one always gets their immediate and rapt attention. After their first bite, they want to buy seeds of "Amazon Chocolate" right there on the spot. In fact, in all honesty, you might say they demand the seeds! Please be sure to try this spectacular, rare and scarce tomato for your eating pleasure this year. I guarantee you will love it! Mara: Can't wait to try this one. Amish Paste (Heirloom)
From www.jungseed.com: This Amish heirloom dates back to the early 1900's. One of the largest, meatiest, and best-flavored paste tomatoes, the oxheart-shaped fruits weigh up to 8 ounces or more and have thick flesh with few seeds. Superb for sauces and one of the few paste tomatoes that tastes great fresh. Indeterminate vines. 75-85 days. Mara: Grew this in 2009. Big fruits, great taste, steady - but not heavy - producer. Anna Russian (Heirloom)
From www.tomatofest.com: An heirloom oxheart variety from Brenda Hillenius, of Oregon, who got from her grandfather, Kenneth Wilcox, who received seeds from a Russian immigrant. An excellent, gorgeous tomato. Early maturing for a heart-shaped tomato, the large, visually beautiful, pink-red fruit normally weighs about 1 pound. Superb rich old-fashioned, tomatoey flavors with lots of juice. Mara: I grew this one in 2009. It produced a steady, if limited, supply of large tomatos. Aunt Ruby's German Green (Heirloom)
From www.jungseed.com: A large green beefsteak tomato with delicious sweet, spicy flavor. Globe-shaped 12 to 16 ounce fruits are smooth skinned, light green when ripe with a tint of yellow, the green flesh meaty and full-flavored. Indeterminate vines. 80 days. Mara: I grew this one as well. It seems so odd for a tomato to be ripe when it is green. When it is ripe it gets softer and a little less shiny.
Believe It or Not (Heirloom)
From www.tomatofest.com: An old -time favorite Heirloom. Prolific large (1-2 lb.) , red, smooth-shouldered slicer with great flavor. Indeterminate. 90 days. Mara: Grew these in 2009 as well. Lots and lots of tasty tomatoes. Every time I went out to pick, some of these tomatoes were ready.  Big Ben (Heirloom) - Also known as Stump of the World
From www.amishlandseeds.com: Although this tomato is sometimes described as weighing up to one pound , mine were smaller, more in the 1/2 to 3/4 lb size range. But this was a drought season and an unseasonably cool summer here in Amishland. It is smaller and somewhat more productive than the famous Brandywine tomato, another of Ben's famous contributions to seed saving. It is its outstanding flavor that has earned its great reputation, ( despite what may be the weirdest tomato name ever given) . Complex, rich, sweet, perfect tomato flavor is the real reason this this super rare , pink variety has been coveted all these years. Mara: These were a steady producer for me during the summer of 2009.
 Big Rainbow (Heirloom)
From www.burpee.com: HEIRLOOM. What an astonishing feast for the eyes! The flesh inside is marbled with red in the bottom half of the fruit. It has a big, lumpy beefsteak shape with a very mild and sweet flavor. It's a knockout on a platter with slices of our other tomato varieties. The large fruits (often 22 ounces) are borne on tall plants. Indeterminate. Ready to harvest in 85 days.
 Cherokee Purple (Heirloom)
This large dark purple tomato from Tennessee is rumored to have come from Cherokee gardeners. Its flavor is rich and full, and often compared to Brandywine. The flesh is brick-red and very attractive sliced on a plate. Plants make large vines that yield tomatoes fully 5" across and 3-1/2" deep.
Indeterminate. 85 days.
Chocolate Cherry (Heirloom)
From www.gurneys.com: Complex Gourmet Flavor
These indeterminate plants are loaded with clusters of sweet and delicious little gems. The 1-in. cherrylike fruits are rich brick red with deep chocolate shading. These luscious treats are perfect for salads, slicing or canning with an exceptional fresh flavor that is rich and complex. Indeterminate. 70 days.
Cold Set (Heirloom? Open-Pollinated at least)
From www.gurneys.com: Cold Set Open-Pollinated Tomato is the easiest tomato you can grow. Tolerates light frost (withstood 18 degree temperatures in Canadian trials.) Direct seed it, then sit back and wait--but you won't wait for long! Ripens 2 weeks earlier than most. Firm 3- to 4-inch fruits are big on flavor. You won't find a better salad tomato. Determinate vines. 65 days.
Mara: Only 65 days? Wow. Says you can direct seed, but I will still be starting transplants.
Delicious (Heirloom)
From www.burpee.com: Huge fruits up to 2 lbs! Huge, solid scarlet fruits average 1 lb.; some even weigh 2 lbs. Smooth, crack-free, excellent slicer with extra delicious flavor. Indeterminate. Ready to pick about 77 days after plants are set out. German Giant Delicious (Heirloom)
 Giant Pink Belgium (Heirloom)
From www.burpee.com: A succulent and enormous dark pink tomato A succulent and enormous dark 1-1/2 to 2 lb. pink tomato that many gardeners prefer to the more acidic varieties. The flavor is sweet and very mild, and the large fruits are very attractive. Pink-skinned tomatoes occur as a result of a clear skin over red flesh. (Ordinary red tomatoes have yellow skin over red flesh.) When ripe fruits retain green pigment, tomatoes take on purple and brownish hues. Indeterminate. 88 days. Giant Oxheart (Heirloom)
From www.jungseed.com: Longtime home garden favorite. Deep rosy-pink heart-shaped fruits are firm and meaty, some weighing up to 2 lbs. The thick flesh has few seeds and a mild flavor. The vigorous indeterminate plants produce high yields of fruits borne in clusters of 2 to 7. Tolerates high humidity. Indeterminate. 80 - 95 days. Mara: Late season for this area, but I am hoping it will do well in the high tunnel greenhouse.
 Golden Mama (Hybrid)
From www.burpee.com: Customer FavoriteThe first golden-yellow sauce tomato. Burpee Exclusive.
Make a gorgeous golden sauce from the first yellow paste tomato bred.
Prepare huge batches of yellow marinara from just a few plants. Besides the unique color, the taste is unusually mild and sweet.
The compact plants yield enormous crops of 4-5 oz. fruits over an extremely long season.
A gourmet cook's delight.
Indeterminate. 68 days.
Mara: Not an heirloom, but come on, a yellow paste tomato? Who could resist? Italian Ice (Hybrid)
Burpee Exclusive.
Sugary sweet and bursting with juicy flavor, ‘Italian Ice’ is a summer picnic treat. Clusters of 1-1 1/2" snack-sized fruits ripen from green to ivory white, becoming uniquely sweet and mild tasting.
Chill a bowlful for a satisfying portable snack when the heat of the summer demands a cooling, melt-in-your-mouth taste sensation.
Indeterminate. 65 days.
Mara: Again, not an heirloom, but what striking color! John Baer (Heirloom)
From www.jungseed.com: A Jung specialty from 1907 until 1962. Widely grown by both home and market gardeners, it was renowned for its earliness, enormous productivity and long bearing season. Bright red, meaty, smooth fruits have very good flavor. Great for fresh eating and canning. Vigorous indeterminate plants. We're grateful to Seed Savers Exchange for resurrecting this fine old-timer. Indeterminate. 70 days.
 Kibits Ukrainian (Heirloom)
From www.amishlandseeds.com: Tiniest Tomato Plant Ever !~ Ideal for Containers~ This little sausage shaped tomato is just so adorable. The plants were literally only 18" high at most, and most were only 1 foot high. It was covered all season with fruit that just hung to the ground it was that loaded. It ripened very early with fruits in mid July here in Pennsylvania. The fruit looked like they would be that elongated European style plum type. However they were quite juicy, not really plum type meaty. They were a great all purpose, snacking ,eating-out-of-hand, and salad type. Just so full of juice and flavor and ever so cute. It is wilt resistant besides. These kept on producing continuously all season long, right until hard frost. It was the last tomato I was harvesting this season. If you want a container growing type of tomato this rare Russian tomato is for you. I never had such a teeny, tiny plant produce so much. It easily out produced many much larger plants. All you apartment dwellers are gonna love this baby plant! Even the name is cute. Legend (Heirloom?)
From www.jungseed.com: Early to ripen. Excellent late blight tolerance. While not immune to late blight, Legend is highly tolerant, thereby offering the best chance of harvesting ripe tomatoes in areas where late blight is a problem. The round and uniform 4 to 5 inch glossy red fruits are amazingly sweet with just the right balance of acid for top-notch flavor. The determinate plants have the ability to set fruit early without pollination, an advantage when temperatures are cooler. First fruits are often nearly seedless. Bred by Dr. Jim Baggett at Oregon State University. Determinate. 68 days. Matt's Wild Cherry (Heirloom)
From www.amishlandseeds.com: If you have a "black thumb" or have never gardened before, this is the tomato for you to try. This will grow anywhere there is sun. The original seeds were picked from plants growing wild. Therefore, this is a species wild tomato, which means it is like a parent of all the small tomatoes you ever saw. Very sweet, tiny cherries, huge yields, superb flavor, my absolute favorite small tomato. It has long, long vines, that do best when planted by a fence to ramble on. These babies have such a huge burst of luscious flavor when you bite into them. Each tomato is about the size of a small marble. Unlike the other "currant" tomato types, these stay nicely on the vine until you are ready for them. You only need to plant this baby once, and it will happily come up year after year. Mara: Currant tomatoes can be frustrating, because they fall off the vine. They are so sweet but they are a pain to pick up off the ground. If these stay on the vine that will be sweet as well!  Mexico (Heirloom)
Mortgage Lifter (Heirloom)
From www.jungseed.com: The owner of a radiator repair shop in the 1930's was facing bankruptcy. He had no plant breeding experience, yet he cross-bred 4 varieties to develop this big, tasty tomato, sold 1000 plants at $1 each over six years and paid off his mortage. The pink-skinned fruits are large and meaty averaging 2 to 4 lbs. Indeterminate. 85 days. Mara: There are a number of tomatoes with the "mortgage lifter" name. They all seem to be large and tasty.
Mr. Stripey (Heirloom)
From www.jungseed.com: This heirloom from the Mid-Atlantic states can be traced back to the 1800's. Large, ridge-shouldered, 9 oz. to 2 lb. fruits are an unusual combination of orange-yellow mottled with red both inside and out. Smooth meaty flesh is mild-flavored and very low in acid. Indeterminate vines. 80 days. Mara: Great color. Looks great on a big plate of sliced tomatoes of various types.  Nonna's Prize (Hybrid)
From www.gurneys.com: Looks Like an Heirloom, Grows Like a Hybrid!
This "hybrid heirloom" variety has the unique teardrop shape of a traditional Italian heirloom type, but it delivers so much more! You'll enjoy higher yields of deliciously dense, meaty fruits and improved disease resistance. Plus, they won't crack or scar like many heirlooms. Excellent rich, tangy flavor makes them ideal for sauces and fresh eating. Indeterminate.80 days.
Mara: "Hybrid heirloom"? What the heck does that mean? Can't wait to see what it is like. Opalka (Heirloom)
From www.jungseed.com: Without a doubt, this is one of the best tasting sauce tomatoes you'll find. Flavor is much richer and sweeter than other paste tomatoes, so delicious you can eat them right off the vine. Sauces using the nearly seedless fruits are something special. The bright red elongated 3 to 5 inch fruits are produced in clusters of 2 to 5 on vigorous, high-yielding, indeterminate plants. Fruits hold well on the vine. Indeterminate. 85 days. Mara: I grew these in 2009. Great combination of interesting shape and good flavor.  Peach Blow Sutton (Heirloom)
From www.amishlandseeds.com: "Peach Blow" refers to the name of a fancy Victorian blown glass known for its gorgeous variation of red flowing to peach pink color on the edges. It is a rare and expensive process of glassmaking and was usually reserved for "bride's baskets" , fancy glass bowls set in silver holders, a popular wedding gift at the turn of the century. The "Sutton" refers to a seed company at the time who capitalized on the popularity of the lovely and prized glass, when it named this odd tomato. The fruit really do have that odd coloration of pink, peach and red. They also have an even stranger slightly sticky, fuzzy skin. They resemble nectarines, both in "fuzziness" and size. You will love this rare tomato from the past, both for its uniqueness and its history. Mara: The peach types are really cool. The slight fuzziness is especially fascinating. They are hard to put down. Pineapple Bi-color (Heirloom)
From www.amishlandseeds.com: "Pineapple Tomato " is an an heirloom tomato that I was told hails originally from Kentucky .Wow, what a great tomato! This baby pumped out immense quantities of huge fruit. They were all at 1 pound minimum, with many up to 2 pounds. these huge 7 to 8 foot tall vines produced all summer and are still pumping the monsters out. They were all easily over 1 1/2 pounds, and 5-6 inches across! How's that for staying power? And the taste! Did I mention taste? It is fruity, and so sweet and juicy. Cut one open, and see the psychedelic swirls of red, yellow, gold and pink. Truly one of the most beautiful tomatoes you will ever see. Mara: This tomato looks so beautiful with its stripes and marbling. I can hardly wait to see if this tastes as great as it looks. Purple Smudge, Orange Fleshed (Heirloom)
From www.amishlandseeds.com: This is the sport of the original Red Fleshed Purple Smudge. The miraculous coloring of this tomato, that "fairy-dusting" of deep purple, is a sign of anthocyanim that lies just below the skin surface. This coloring is rare in cultivated tomatoes but can appear more commonly in its wild relatives. At any rate, the sheer beauty of this tomato is just overwhelming. People can't help but touch it. This lovely fruit had a slightly "green" fresh taste, not sweet. It is low acid, soft and quite juicy. Its flavor is different and really quite hard to describe. It is prolific and quite early, just about the first to ripen in my garden this cold season. Mara: Color is so cool, shape so interesting, another one I can't wait to see. Rainbow Bell's Blend (Hybrid)
From www.gurneys.com: Delicious Mix of Colors and Tastes
These vigorous varieties ensure high yields and soaring flavor. Delightful blend of yellow Canary Bell, orange Lizzy Bell and red Tinker Bell; each variety is indeterminate bearing 1 oz. grape-shaped fruits full of tangysweet tomato flavor. Delicious fresh-a sweet treat for snacking and on salads. Indeterminate. 75 days.
Mara: So cute. Hope they taste as good as they look. Rutgers (Heirloom)
From www.burpee.com: Its flavor, both for slicing and cooking, is still unequaled. The legendary "Jersey" tomato, introduced in 1934, is a cross between J.T.D. (an old New Jersey variety from the Campbell Soup Co.) and Marglobe. Red fruits are slightly flattened. Tall vines, fusarium resistant.
Indeterminate. 74 days.
 Sabre Ukrainian (Heirloom)
From www.amishlandseeds.com: -Pointy shape- I grew out this great all purpose heirloom tomato from a few seeds I received in a seed trade from a lady's Grandmother who lives in the Ukraine (formerly in Russia). Very compact plants are absolutely prolific with strangely shaped elongated fruit with points on the end. I have grown two other paste type tomatoes with this unusual shape and all have very different flavors. Sabre (think like the shape of a sword) is so meaty and solid fleshed. Virtually no gel and very few seeds. I averaged only 6 seeds per tomato! Perfect thin, bright red skin that peels easily for cooking. It cooked down fast to make the sweetest, richest , thickest tomato sauce. I rate this as the best cooking tomato I have ever tasted, and I have grown out over 100 kinds. This tomato takes a bit longer to reach its full potential, but is well worth the wait. Mara: So pointy. Such an unusual shape Siberian (Heirloom)
From www.jungseed.com: Our earliest tomato - only 8 weeks from transplant to fruits. Capable of setting fruits when temps are as low as 38 F. Egg-shaped 2 to 3 inch fruits are bright red with strong tomato flavor that's so welcome from the first tomatoes of the season. Fruits are produced in clusters of 30 or more on small, bushy, determinate plants. Determinate. 57 days. Snow White (Heirloom)
Splash of Cream (Heirloom)
From www.amishlandseeds.com: NEW FOR 2010~VARIEGATED TOMATO aka SPLASH OF CREAM aka IRISH CREME AND GREEN ~ white and green striped leaves! - This is an outstanding show-off tomato! Imagine- leaves in green with lots of swirls of white. This is the only growing true from seed tomato with variegated leaves. It hails from Ireland, hence the Irish Creme name. The golf ball sized red fruit are very like pretty round ornaments set off by the breathtaking stripey foliage. The cooler the weather (think Ireland) the more variegation shows up on the leaves. Mara: I can hardly wait for these to sprout. The varigation shows up even in the seedlings. Super Italian Paste (Heirloom)
Taxi (Heirloom?)
From www.jungseed.com: The best yellow tomato for short season areas. Enjoy early yields of baseball-size, 4 to 6 ounce, bright yellow fruits that are smooth and blemish-free. The meaty flesh is mild, sweet and non-acid, ideal for those who are bothered by tomato acidity. They're tasty treats used fresh and also make great salsa. The compact 2 foot determinate plants produce heavy yields over a 3 to 4 week period. Determinate. 65 days. Mara: Sometimes I am slow. I didn't get the yellow taxi reference right away. You may need to adjust your canning recipes because the acid is so low.  Tess's Land Race Currant (Heirloom)
From www.amishlandseeds.com: Lycopersicon pimpinellifolium - If Fairies grew tomatoes (and who is to say they don't?) this would be what they would look like. Teeny, tiny wee little fruits grow on many, many clusters or sprays on long vines that tumble all over your fence. Plus you get several pretty colors: mostly dark crimson red, some pink and some golden. The Currants are a different kind of tomato, and usually tend to fall off the vine, but not these babies. They stayed tightly on and were perfect for cutting in little bouquets of fruit to use as garnishes or to give to your children for the perfect healthy snack. Deep, intense flavor is the bonus for all this superbly attractive cuteness. Mara: The executive chefs at the local restaurants were crazy about currant tomatoes for a buffet garnish!  Tim's Black Ruffles (Heirloom)
From www.amishlandseeds.com: They are the deepest shiny garnet purple and very "ruffled" or "pleated" as its called in tomato nomenclature. This is his stable cross of 2 great tomatoes: Black Krim and Zapotec Pink Pleated. In this great new tomato, you get an even deeper purple color from its black parent and the fabulous ruffled shape from its wild Mexican Zapotec heritage. Black Krim is described by Seed Saver's Exchange thus : "BLACK KRIM: Deep dark purplish black skin with brick red flesh. Unusual rich smoky flavor, very intense. An early and heavy producer. Mara: I have grown both of the parent tomatoes before and they were both fantastic.  Tomande (Hybrid)
From www.burpee.com: Customer FavoriteHeirloom taste and abundant hybrid yields. Tomato connoisseurs rave about the flavor of these broad-shouldered beauties.
Fleshy, juicy and flavorful,'Tomande' will treat gourmet gardeners with both heirloom taste and abundant hybrid yields. Approx. 6 - 6 1/2 oz. Indeterminate. 72 days. Mara: How ironic is this? Now they are creating hybrid cross tomatoes that seem more heirlooms.  Tye-Dye (Hybrid)
From www.burpee.com: NEW Breakthrough bicolor gold and red with heirloom flavor. Burpee Exclusive. One flavor-full, color-full, beautiful tomato. This breakthrough bicolor gold and red hybrid delivers all the heirloom flavor of Big Rainbow, Pineapple and Georgia Streak—with bigger yields, consistent form and better disease-resistance. The large, smooth 7-ounce fruits, miraculously marbled with red streaks, are lusciously sweet, mild, and non-acidic. Indeterminate. 78 Days. Mara: Another heirloom wannabe. The colors are gorgeous. I can't wait to taste this. Virginia Sweets (Heirloom)
Wayahead (Heirloom)
From www.jungseed.com: "Way ahead" when it comes to early ripening. Fruits are good size, bright red, almost round and very smooth. The flesh is solid with true tomato flavor. One of the finest for juice. Our strain of this tomato has all been grown from single plant selections. Determinate. 63 days. White Wax (Heirloom)
From www.amishlandseeds.com: The White Wax Tomato was an especially wonderful surprise during this year's very rough growing season weather wise. The fruit came in rather late but was all flawless with no cracks, no catfacing and no spots (which the white tomatoes are somewhat prone to). Just perfect, snowy white fruits with literally a "waxy" look to them like you dipped them in polish. They are not shiny, just more of a glow to them, it's really hard to describe the effect in bright sunlight. White WaxTomato, like most of the whites has a delicate, low acid, sweet flavor. Just a captivating white to try and perfect for all of you who are sensitive to acid in tomatoes. Mara: If you use these for canning, you may need to adjust your processing method because of the lower acid. Wisconsin 55 (Heirloom)
From www.jungseed.com: A superb tomato developed at the University of Wisconsin. Large deep red fruits resist shoulder cracks and blossom end rot, ripen evenly and have strong skin and solid flesh. Vigorous plants are tolerant to defoliation diseases, early blight and leaf spot. For top performance fertilize regularly. Semi-determinate plants. 75 days Mara: Sold a lot of these to people in 2009 who wanted an heirloom tomato, but were too timid to try something that wasn't red and round. Also grew them myself and they were great. Yellow Pear (Heirloom)
From www.burpee.com: Enormous number of yellow bite-sized fruits. This extremely old variety makes a vigorous plant, which bears enormous numbers of bright yellow, bite-sized fruit. The flavor is deliciously tangy. Perfect for summer party hors d'oeuvres.
Indeterminate. 75 days.
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