Sunday, August 16, 2015

Tomato Times

I have a lot of catching up to do so this might be a lengthy post. This tomato season is turning out so much better than I thought it was going to. Nothing but rain for the first 6 weeks or so. I was just about at the place where I thought I was going to lose everything to blight if it kept up and it stopped! I'm actually having to water now which is a good thing. I would rather have dry than rainy.
I will be at the 2015 Michigan Tomato Fest on Aug. 22nd. http://michiganheirlooms.com/TomatoFest.html  If you are around this area, please come and meet me!! I plan on bringing a limited amount of seed of some of my new releases so be the first to have them!! Thank you Karen Golden for inviting me. Looking forward to it!
La Vie en Rose


Moonshiner's Ball
Finally, I will release the seed for La Vie en Rose tomato. This is a cross that came out of my garden several years ago. Sebastien sold plants in the spring in France and he said the people were in love with the name. He sold every one of them! I am so proud of this tomato. Not only is it gorgeous but the taste is phenomenal. An SSC exclusive. I know this tomato is going to be a Rockstar in the garden. Unfortunately, the sister tomato to this, Moonshiner's Ball, will be delayed another year. I didn't get the seed from my grower in Australia in time to get the F5 going. I don't like to release seed until it's at F5. Here's a little photo of Moonshiner's Ball due out next season. Both tomatoes have the same parentage.

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Owen's Purple
I have started picking ripe tomatoes now and of course I have some reviews.  I have always had the tomato Carbon as my favorite black/purple. This is the standard I use to judge all others. Up until this season I had never had a black I liked better. Well..... this season I do!! It's called Owen's Purple. Holy tomato!! So unbelievably good. This will now be my new standard for blacks. I will have the seed listed within a few days. I expect this one to sell out so get it while you can! I am growing another Black/purple that is also excellent called Black Magic. Not quite as good as Owen's but pretty nice. Then there is a new cherry tomato called Carbon Copy. Of course it's a cherry version of Carbon, If you like that one I would recommend you try this one, Sweet and productive.


Carbon Copy
There will be more reviews as the season goes along so stay tuned! I would also like to announce that breeder/grower Blane Horton will now be listing on our site Secret Seed Cartel. For those of you that aren't familiar with Blane he is an extremely talented breeder from Mississippi. He has come out with some of the most stunning tomatoes I've seen in years. If you follow the SSC Facebook page you can see some of his tomatoes there. Welcome aboard Blane, glad to have you. 
Also, I know have an Instragram account for the SSC where you can see all the up to the minute tomato pics. You don't have to be a member to see the photos. Everything is under  Secretseedcartel.
Stay tuned for more up-dates and hopefully I will see you at the Michigan Tomatofest!
In the meantime, I've been thinking a lot about how we choose to treat others. Always be kind even when you're faced with meaness. There are a lot of mean people in this world. Just feel sorry for them,. It must be so miserable to be carrying around so much bitterness that you choose to be un-kind to people. Remember, it is our choice how we treat others. It's also our choice how we choose to respond to ugliness. Kindness trumps ugly any day of the week. Stay sweet!!!!!