It's time for some updates. But first - My Changes to the Top 250 List in Epic Tomatoes

The butterflies have been abundant in August into early September

In a recent Instagram Live, one of my good gardening friends, Dan in Colorado, asked a great question. Since I wrote Epic Tomatoes in the 2012-2013 time span, was the Top 250 Tomatoes list that I created for that book still hold? If I were to update the book, what changes would I make?

I’ve grown hundreds of tomato varieties in the 11 or so years since I made that first list for the book. It is therefore completely understandable - necessary - that there are quite a few changes to the list - for each one added, one has to come off. Without further ado (or words from me) - let’s start with the removals.

The 44 varieties that I no longer consider to be a variety worthy of my top 250 list

• Abraham Lincoln

• Beefsteak

• Big Boy hybrid

• Chalk’s Early Jewel

• Earliana

• John Baer

• Oregon Spring

• Red Pear

• Shannon’s

• Stick

• Tommy Toe

• Wayahead

• Dwarf Champion

• Golden Queen

• Oxheart

• Ponderosa

• Watermelon Beefsteak

• Perth Pride

• Black Prince

• Gold Ball

• Madara

• Sunray

• Ace

• Better Bush hybrid

• Break O’Day

• Colossal Red

• Gurney Girl hybrid

• Matchless

• Prue

• Scarlet Topper

• Silvery Fir Tree

• Stone

• Ultra Boy hybrid

• Burgundy Traveler

• German Johnson

• Nicky Crain

• Peach Blow Sutton

• Porter

• Brad’s Black Heart

• Southern Night

• Garden Peach

• Gold Nugget

• Yellow Pear

• Virginia Sweets

The 44 varieties that replace those above are

• Potato Leaf Yellow

• Rufus Rainbow

• Lucky Bling

• Mary’s Favorite

• World War II

• Earl

• Rosella Cherry

• Cancelmo Family Heirloom

• Polish Bling

• Don’s Double Delight

• Blue’s Bling

• Casey’s Pure Yellow

• Abraham Brown

• Captain Lucky

• Large Lucky Red

and the following Dwarf Tomato Project varieties

• Summer Sweet Gold

• Blazing Beauty

• Uluru Ochre

• Sweet Scarlet Dwarf

• Wherokowhai

• Orange Cream

• BrandyFred

• Coorong Pink

• Beauty King

• Firebird Sweet

• Walter’s Fancy

• Golden Tipsy

• Eagle Smiley

• Vince’s Haze

• Parfait

• Maura’s Cardinal

• Egypt Yellow

• Wild Spudleaf

• Elsie’s Fancy

• Suz’s Beauty

• Gloria’s Treat

• CC McGree

• Snakebite

• Oriole

• Chocolate Heartthrob

• Purple Heartthrob

• Peppermint Stripes

• Confetti

• Saucy Mary

Each removal and addition has specific reasons, but this blog would be far too long and wordy if I included all of that. If anyone has specific questions, just ask! Happy reading!

View of the garden today - peppers and eggplants and a Mexico Midget still thriving in the rear!

Sweet corn grown in strawbales? Sure thing! Here's how I did it...

June 30 - 2 weeks from harvest. Mission accomplished!

We love great sweet corn, but it has been a long time since we’ve grown it ourselves. It was in our very first garden, in West Lebanon NH in 1981. We grew it in Villanova PA in 1984, and in West Chester PA from 1989-1991. Deer and lack of sufficient sun meant no corn in our Raleigh gardens.

Since strawbales are working so well in our Hendersonville gardens, I decided it was time to take the plunge and give corn a try. Sue and I are so glad that I did, as it has proven to work wonderfully. We’ve been harvesting 4 ears each day for a week, and there is lots more to come.

Corn seedlings emerging within a week of direct seeding

Here is what I did - step by step.

I purchased wheat straw bales in early April, deciding on four in which to grow the corn. I pushed them together to form a big square, positioning them strings down.

They underwent the typical treatment - alternating days of 1/2 cup high nitrogen granular (I use a 29-0-5 lawn starter) and deep watering, followed by 1 cup of 10-10-10 granular.

Throughout the 2 week prep, there is heavy daily watering. The bale treatment was done by mid April, but I decided to wait until early May to direct seed the corn into the bales. This also helped to get through the heavy mushrooming of the bales just after prep completion.

I decided on the corn variety Natural Sweet hybrid and ordered a packet from Pine Tree seeds. There are countless corn varieties, but this one sounded worth trying. We like the yellow/white bicolored corn, and 75 days to maturity sounded about right.

On May 5, the day I chose for planting, I spread a 2-3 inch layer of soil less planting mix over the entire 4 bale block. Whether it was wise or not, I recall seeing how thickly corn is planted in fields, so decided to just go for it. I planted four rows - two in each set of bales. The seeds were spaced 3 inches apart, with rows about 6 inches apart - the corn rows were about 6 inches from the edge. The seeds were pushed into the top layer of soil less mix to the depth of an inch.

After planting, I watered the planted strawbale block thoroughly. In about a week, seedlings emerged, and germination approached 100%.

Corn plants about 2 weeks after planting the seeds.

Realizing that corn gets tall and we get gusty thunderstorms, I felt that driving 6 foot takes into each corner of the block, and twine spanning the stakes at the heights of 1, 3 and 5 feet above the strawbale surface would provide the necessary support.

Since corn is a heavy feeder as well as a thirsty plant, I watered daily and fed weekly with applications of 10-10-10 granular. This is the extent of the care throughout the growing season - feeding and watering. The corner stakes and twine held things up perfectly.

Corn on June 11, about 5 weeks after planting. It has grown beyond the 3 foot twine.

It was so thrilling to see the plants tassel, and not long after that, silks began to show up where the ears were forming. The corn reached about a foot taller than the top twine support, making it a perfect fit.

My main concern was that the close planting would make for poor pollination, which would result in ears with kernel gaps. Once the tassels started to release pollen, I helped things by gently shaking the plants. each silk needs to have a pollen grain touch the end. We get frequent breezes here, and that is the natural pollination method.

Corn clearly tasseling at the end of June

As the calendar turned to early July the tips of the silks started turning a bit brown and ears started to feel like they were filling out nicely.

Corn stalks with silks showing.

The first ears seemed about ripe for the picking on July 11. A few were a bit less mature than ideal, but I was delighted to find that the ears were perfectly filled out. Pollination was complete even with the dense planting.

First 4 ears, harvested July 11

We are now at 17 ears harvested and they only get better and better - probably the best corn we’ve ever eaten. For the cost of 4 straw bales and a packet of seeds - about 30 dollars - I expect a minimum of 40 ears of corn.

I will wait for the final yield to decide on any needed tweaks to the process. If the inner two rows had issues maturing ears, I will aim for more plant separation next year. I will also try out some old favorite heirloom types, such as Hooker’s Indian or Country Gentleman.

Wrapping up this blog, for our 2025 garden, we are loving our string beans, summer squash, cucumbers, eggplants and peppers, and tomatoes are just beginning. But this will always be for me the garden in which corn finally made its triumphant reappearance!

ADDED ON JULY 21

Our current yield is 47 delicious ears of sweet corn - above my self set threshold for success. There may be a few more ears to come that are in the second rows, or from later emerging seeds. However, I have a pretty good idea now about the potential of this method - and a few tweaks I would make next year to make it even more successful.

Planting so much of one variety leads to a concentrated, somewhat overwhelming harvest. More gradual would be better. A reduction in size of the last dozen or so ears also indicates my spacing was too tight.

I am mulling a few changes. Selecting two different varieties of corn with distinctly different days to maturity would spread out the harvest, as well as afford a chance to try 2 additional varieties next year. A different orientation of the bales - using two rows of two bales each, rather than a block of 4 - would reduce the inner plants. Spacing the seeds to 6 inches apart would help ensure each plant got the water and nutrients needed. Here I am, not even 2 weeks into harvesting and eating the corn, and I am already excited about fiddling with the procedure next year with an eye for even more success.

Our first ears

Mid June Garden Update - So Far, So Good!

View of the garden from the deck on June 17

It’s happening! It’s time! Rampant growth, good looking plants, a few crop harvests imminent. This is my 44th garden (the first being in 1981 - and only 1992 was skipped as we were making our way from Pennsylvania to North Carolina). Here is a brief overview of progress on each crop type. By the way, I am continuing to do my daily garden minute, as well as weekly Instagram Lives - be sure to check them out at @nctomatoman.

All three bean varieties had excellent germination and all are covered with blossoms.

Bush Beans - Maxibell, Goldilocks and Fowler are primed for heavy production starting within a week.

Zephyr and Kefren with blooms and harvestable fruit already.

The growth of summer squash Zephyr and Kefren (2 plants each) is astounding. I will be harvesting the first from each today. Direct seeding of beans, squash, corn and cukes was a few days after planting tomatoes (which happened on May 1).

Cucumber plants growing up inside of tomato cages

With cucumbers it is only one type - Deli Star F1, from my friend Sam Austin in the UK. I have 2 hills of 2 plants each, using 4 foot tall cone shaped tomato cages as a trellis. All pants are blossoming and show small cukes - we will be harvesting within the week.

Sweet Peppers - 2 in the strewbale, 2 in flanking grow bags.

Now that warm weather is here (mid 80s most days), the peppers are taking off. I described the varieties in my last blog. At this point, things look great, with open flowers on all the bale plants, and fruit set on Fire Opal (which sadly doesn’t look correct - the immature fruit color looks more like Royal Purple).

Happy Eggplant basking in the finally warmer weather - their favorite!

Things are looking good on the eggplant front. Both straw bales plus one grow bag hold healthy plants just starting to show tiny buds. It won’t be long.

The tomatoes are looking just fine

The main attraction, the tomatoes, are thriving so far. Fruit have set on 20 or so, with another 10 due any day. As usual, the first ripe will be small fruited - probably Mexico Midget, Sun Gold or Rosella Cherry. There is no serious disease to speak of at this point, and no critters munching the plants. Of course it is early and things may look quite different in a few weeks. It has been excellent tomato weather - days mid 70s to mid 80s, with the odd shower here and there.

Sweet Corn up to the top twine “fence” already.

My sweet corn experiment is looking just fine so far - the plants are beginning to pop out the central tassels. I’ve been pondering if I will have to protect the ears from some crows that are always hanging around our area.

Finally, I’ve attempted 10 crosses already. I won’t talk about them now; it will be best to wait to see which ones took.

Scarlet monarda are making hummingbirds - and us - happy!

One month has passed, the garden is planted. Big update time!

The garden in late May

Time just slips through my fingers these days. Part of it is watching Eli - an utterly delightful task. The other is playing catch up in the garden and yard. As those who watch my new Instagram Daily Garden Minute - or my weekly Instagram Live shows know, the garden is planted and thriving.

The layout this year is three columns of straw bales with adjacent flanking grow bags. Below is the full list of what I am growing this year.

Right hand column, working back to front

Bale 1: Tomatoes Valdichiana and Triply F1 in the bale, flanked by Bee F2 regular leaf and Triply F2 regular leaf in the bags

Bale 2: Captain Lucky and Cherokee Purple X Potato Leaf Yellow F1, flanked by Bee F2 potato leaf and Triply F2 potato leaf in the bags.

Bale 3: Cherokee Purple and Cherokee Green, flanked by Honor Bright and Blazey F3 potato leaf in the bags

Bale 4: Brandywine and Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom, flanked by Cherokee Green X Caitlin’s Lucky Stripe F3 potato leaf and Peppy F2 variegated in the bags.

Bale 5: Lucky Cross and Lucky Bling, flanked by Vary F2 variegated and Matey F2 variegated in the bags.

Bale 6: eggplants Twilight Lightning and Skinny Twilight, flanked by Peppy F2 chartreuse variegated and Chocolate Bell pepper in the bags.

Bale 7: sweet bell peppers Carolina Amethyst and Fire Opal, flanked by peppers White Gold and Royal Purple in the bags.

Bale group 8: bush beans Fowler, Goldilocks and Maxibell, one row of each.

A tomato plant in late May showing the happy bright green color of central new growth

Center column, working back to front.

Bale 1: Sun Gold F1 and Rosella Cherry, flanked by Mexico Midget and Carrot Like in bags.

Bale 2: Captain F1 and Captain F2 potato leaf, flanked by Agatha and Captain F2 regular leaf in bags.

Bale 3: Cherokee Sunburst and OTV Brandywine, flanked by Fuzzy Pink and Fuzzy Purple in bags.

Bale 4: Cherokee Chocolate and Potato Leaf Yellow, flanked by Don’s Delightful Heart and Dwarf Mocha’s Plum in bags.

Bale 5: Dester and Mary’s Favorite, flanked by Sullivan Rose and Rufus Red Stripe in bags.

Bale 6: Rufus Rainbow and Polish Bling, flanked by Rosella Purple and Dwarf Sweet Sue in bags.

Bale 7: cucumber Deli Star F1, 2 hills, 2 plants each.

Bale 8: summer squash Kefren zucchini and Zephyr, 2 hills, 2 plants in each.

Left hand column, working back to front

Bale group 1: Sweet corn Natural Sweet, 4 rows, flanked by Peppy F2 chartreuse and Peppy F2 variegated in bags.

Bale 2: eggplants Mardi Gras and Midnight Lightning, flanked by eggplant Green Ghost and sweet bell pepper Orange Bell in bags.

Bale 3: hot pepper Pinata and tapas pepper Shishito, flanked by Pinata and Jalapeno in bags.

Three seedlings remain to be planted - tomatoes Surprise and Mullens Mortgage Lifter, and sweet pepper Marconi, placements to be determined - they will end up in grow bags.

Buds on Captain F1, showing long sepals and structure typical of a round cherry type tomato

It's been awhile - again! Short blog listing available seedlings for those who love close by

Eli chilling out in late April during one of his days with Sue and I

Hi all - Sue and I are deep into week day Eli care, which is utterly delightful. It has scattered by focus on gardening a bit, so I find myself behind on responding to emails, on transplanting, on yardwork. The strawbales are treated and ready, and lettuce and other greens reside, along with scallions, in our raised beds. It’s all good - things will get done when they need to. I do promise to get emails answered by the coming weekend. Those of you who watch my weekly Instagram Live also know what I’ve been up to (they can all be found on my Instagram Reels tab - @nctomatoman).

Strawbales in full mushrooming glory

There has been interest from area gardeners on which seedlings I will have this spring - as in quite soon. Numbers of any given variety are quite limited (I will note the exceptions). If you are drivable distance to us here in Hendersonville, and have interest in any of the following, please drop me an email - nctomatoman@gmail.com - to set up a time to come and get some.

Tomato seedlings finally making progress in late April

Dwarf Tomato Project varieties:

Gloria’s Treat, Sweet Sue, Irma’s Highland, Firebird Sweet, Eagle Smiley (I have lots of these), Elsie’s Fancy, Purple Heart, Parfait, Maralinga, Chocolate Lightning, BrandyFred, Banksia Queen, Beauty King, Golden Tipsy, Rosella Purple, Suz’s Beauty, and Uluru Ochre - 17 varieties

Indeterminate tomato varieties:

Captain Lucky, Cherokee Purple , Cherokee Chocolate, Cherokee Green, Potato Leaf Yellow, Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom, Nepal, OTV Brandywine, Brandywine, Dester, Polish, Sun Gold, Mexico Midget, Lucky Cross, Earl, Mary’s Favorite, Lucky Bling, Polish Bling.

There are a few assorted this and that varieties, as well as some sweet and hot peppers and eggplants, and some greens - particularly lettuce.

...and now for the details - the full list of what is germinating and being transplanted

Tomato seedlings up and growing - planted March 1, view on March 7.

It is that time of year - germination is well under way. Most everything that I wanted to grow from seed has been planted (I always forget a few things and will likely plant a few more). I have quite a few varieties, but less plants, just as planned. I am starting juggling flats - which to start easing outside for hardening off, which stay on the heat mats. Transplanting is even well underway for the first planting - greens and scallions. Gardening is such fun!

Greens flat (50 cell plug flat), planted February 10, transplanted between March 2 and March 6.

Swiss Chard Bright Lights from Pine Tree and Fedco, several years old - both germinated well, in 2-3 days. They are now in 3.5 inch pots, 4 plants per pot.

Swiss Chard Perpetual, older seed - fair germination.

Swiss Chard Rhubarb, older seed - fair germination

Swiss Chard Lucullus - older seed - poor germination

Spinach Nobel - older seed - no germination

Spinach Space from JSS - fair germination - all spinach is now in 3.5 inch pots, 4 plants per pot

Spinach Seaside from Pine Tree - excellent germination

Spinach Space from Pine Tree - very good germination

Spinach Acadia, older seed - no germination

Smooth Kale sent by a gardening friend - excellent germination - it is now in 3.5 inch pots, 4 plants per pot

Lettuce Green Ice, older seed - no germination

Lettuce Cimarron -older seed - no germination

Lettuce Gabriella - excellent germination - all lettuce is now in 3.5 inch pots, 6 plants per pot

Lettuce Red Salad Bowl, older seed - no germination

Lettuce Magenta, older seed - no germination

Lettuce Cherokee, older seed - not germination

The next four lettuces are Frank Morton varieties shared by gardening friend Gail Felton, and all germinated great and are in 3.5 inch pots, 6 plants per pot

Zilla, Mix, Funky Purple and Wavy Green. I look forward to seeing what these do! Thanks, Gail!

Scallion Red Beard from Sow True - excellent germination - separated into one plant per cell in a 50 cell plug flat

Scallion Tokyo Long - excellent germination - separated into one plant per cell in a 50 cell plug flat

Velvet Red Wave Petunia - 5 seeds planted, 5 seedlings, too small to transplant

Lavender - pinch of seeds planted, slow - just emerging.

Verbena annual color mix - excellent germination, in 6-cell plugs, 1 plant per cell

Overall I am pleased with the above and will have plenty of spinach, chard, kale, scallions and lettuce for our raised beds. Chard germinated in 2-4 days, spinach in 2-3 days, lettuce in 2-4 days, scallions in 2-3 days, petunia in 5 days, verbena in 4 days, lavender in approx. 20 days.

Separated, transplanted lettuce on May 6

Flat 2 - Old and new hybrid tomato flat - planted Feb 19. Not transplanted yet, but soon.

Triply F1 - 2 of 6 germinated, Feb 22 (3 days)

Triply F2 - 10 of 10 germinated, Feb 22 (3 days)

Captain F1 - 3 of 3 germinated - Feb 22 (3 days)

Captain F2 - 9 of 10 germinated, Feb 22 (3 days)

Bee F2 - 10 of 10 germinated, Feb 22 (3 days)

Bee F3 - none of 5 germinated

Old tomatoes - no germination yet (today is day 15) for Brandywine 11-61, 11-7, 11-60, 11-71, 11-49; Cherokee Chocolate 10-6, 11-13, 11-62, 11-18, 12-72; Cherokee Purple 11-51, 11-11; Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom 11-47, 12-15, 13-18; Anna Russian 12-7; 13-3, 13-157, 14-2; Mortgage Lifter Mullens 11-12, 13-25; Mortgage Lifter Halladay 14-16.

Mortgage Lifter Halladay 13-23 - a few germinated on March 3 (12 days)

Anna Russian 12-31 - a few germinated on March 5 (14 days)

Brandywine 12-38 - a few germinated on March 2 (11 days).

What this indicates to me is that seed at 10 years old or more is very iffy - this will guide me as to what to toss next. It can take 20 days or more for old seed to germinate, from my experience, so I am not giving up yet on those that haven’t showed.

Tomato seedlings - planted March 1, view March 7

Flat 3 - Assorted tomatoes, eggplants, peppers - planted March 1. Today is day 5 - all but 6 tomatoes are up. Eggplants and peppers take longer, but a few are appearing.

Family heirlooms and the like, typically only a few seeds of each - these are destined to be grown in Caitlin and Jason’s garden.

Pale Perfect Purple (no show yet), Valdicciana, Hart’s, Vine, Green-Gold-Purple, Abraham Lincoln, German Splash, Big Barney’s, WV 23, Boho (no show yet), Giant Crimson, Limbaugh’s, Red/Yellow (no show yet), German Heirloom, Curtis Cheek, Agatha Christie dry seed found in a library book a few weeks ago, Mortgage Lifter Mullens 22-58 (no show yet), Mortgage Lifter Halladay 22-57.

Varieties planted for breeding projects - often lots of seeds to see the variations for selection. I have fuzzy, carrot leaf, yellow leaf and ferny leaf among these - time to play with dwarf breeding again.

Fuzzy Purple 21-95, Fuzzy Pink 21-96, Zoe’s Sweet X Walter’s Fancy F2 24-13 (5 cells of 15 seeds), Blazing Beauty X Walter’s Fancy 24-14, Choemato X Walter’s Fancy 24-15, Cherokee Green X Caitlin’s Lucky Stripe green fruit find 23-26, Don’s Double Delight X Cancelmo pink/gold striped heart find 23-28 (Don’s Delightful Heart), Dwarf Mocha’s Plum, Potato Leaf Yellow X Cherokee Purple F1 8069, Earl X Cherokee Green yellow/red selection from Alex 8070, Lillian’s Yellow regular leaf 8054 (seeking PL to confirm an accidental cross), Surprise 16-113 (no show yet), Carrot Like 21-60, Honor Bright 16-110.

Advanced selections from breeding projects - these are now named and will be offered by Victory eventually if all goes well

Sullivan Rose (pink from Cherokee Purple X Lillian’s Yellow) 8011, Mary’s Favorite (yellow from ChP X LYH) 24-28, Lucky Bling (variegated PL bicolor from Blue’s Bling X Little Lucky) 24-31, Rufus Rainbow (variegated RL bicolor from Blue’s Bling X Little Lucky) 8068, Polish Bling (variegated PL purple from Polish X Blues’s Bling) 22-17

Peppers and eggplants

Shishito 24-1, Jalapeno 661, Pinata 652 (no show so far), Carolina Amethyst 21-33 (no show yet), Fire Opal 21-6 (no show yet, Twilight Lightning (no show yet), Skinny Twilight, Midnight Lightning (no show yet), Mardi Gras.

Flat 4.. Main favorite heirlooms, and a selection of released dwarfs - planted March 1. Today is day 5. All but one germinated. There are a few odds and ends in this flat too.

Indeterminate heirlooms - Captain Lucky 24-32, Cherokee Purple (2 cells) 24-20, Cherokee Chocolate (2 cells) 24-21, Cherokee Green24-22, Potato Leaf yellow 24-23, Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom 19-1, Nepal 24-18, OTV Brandywine 18-13, Brandywine 24-23, Dester 23-187, Polish 24-24, Sun Gold JSS packet, Mexico Midget 24-5, Lucky Cross 24-26, Earl 24-12, Rosella Cherry 7328. I planted between 10-15 seeds of each - enough to share with some local gardeners as well as my garden.

Released Dwarf Tomato Project tomatoes - Gloria’s Treat 23-60, Rufus Red Stripe (found in Hannah’s Prize - scarlet with gold stripes) 23-93, Sweet Sue 23-72, Irma’s Highland 23-73, Firebird Sweet 23-74, Eagle Smiley 7754, Elsie’s Fancy 23-75, Purple Heart 23-76, Parfait 23-80, Maralinga 23-87, Chocolate Lightning 23-92, BrandyFred 23-88, Banksia Queen 23-89, Beauty King 23-97, Golden Tipsy 23-99, Rosella Purple 23-107, Suz’s Beauty 23-114, Uluru Ochre 24-39.

Miscellaneous - Potato Clancy seeds for the heck of it - rack packet; Chinese Broccoli packet from a rack, Emerald Tower Basil, Prospera Basil (not yet up), Devotion Basil (not yet up), Zinnias Oklahome, California Giant, Tidepool, Firestarter and Zinderella - half a dozen or so seeds of each for the Zinnias. The basil seed that isn’t germinating is 4-5 years old.

Finally - of the above, it remains to be definitively determined which will be in my garden, which in my daughter’s garden, and which are for local plant sharing.

Eli with Sue - March 6 babysittihg

First germination results to share - and just back from the wonderful Joy of Gardening symposium in Richburg SC

Audience gathering for my Epic Tomatoes workshop at the Feb 22 Joy of Gardening symposium.

Sue and I are back from a wonderful short trip to Richburg SC, a roughly 2 hour drive east, to speak at the Joy of Gardening symposium hosted by the York County SC Master Gardeners. Extra thanks go to Dan, who organized the event and invited me to speak, and Karen, who was there for AV support. I last spoke at this event in 2012 - so much has happened since then, but the enthusiasm and warm hospitality remains the same.

Ah, home sweet home! Despite being gone only a little over 24 hours, we missed our dogs and cats and own bed (and my home roasted coffee), and our status as home bodies is always reinforced. There’s no place like home!

Before the trip, I made the initial planting of tomato seeds. Half a dozen varieties were from my recent crosses, and lots of these were sent out to those who requested seeds. Another 25 were quite old saved seed of favorite varieties, and will serve as a germination vs seed age test.

Here are day 4 germination results - these will be helpful for those who received seeds from me in terms of guiding expectations for your results when you plant them.

Triply (Cherokee Purple X (Dwarf Choemato X Dwarf Walter’s Fancy F1) F1 - planted 6 seeds, 2 are up so far (33%)

Triply F2 - planted 10 seeds, 9 are up (90%) - Quite a few of you got some of these seeds.

Captain (Captain Lucky X Sun Gold F1) F1 - 3 seeds planted, 3 seedlings (100%) - again, quite a few of you received 1 or 2 seeds, so it is good to see high germination.

Captain F2 - I was most worried about these, as the tomatoes too a long time indoors to ripen and the seeds were very small. I planted 10 seeds and 5 are up (50%) - I am very relieved to see this. Lots of you received some of these, so you should be in luck with getting at least a few plants to grow out.

No surprisingly, nothing has germinated yet from seeds that range from 11 to 14 years old. These are various savings of Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Cherokee Chocolate, Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom, Anna Russian, Halladay’s and Mullens Mortgage Lifters.

I hope to make a planting of more recent saved seeds, as well as recently received family heirlooms, today. I also plan to do my second Instagram Live of the 2025 season this upcoming week.

I really appreciate all of the new gardening friends Sue and I made at the South Carolina event. Many of you have already found me on Instagram. Like I always say - gardeners are going to be a big help in saving this world!

Eli and Marlin - good buddies!

Many of you are receiving seeds from me. Here's some info on what to expect and how to proceed.

finishing up the huge job of seed request fulfillment

By Sunday, all seed requests will be fulfilled and on their way (the Sunday packed will be in the Monday mail). It is a very wide array of seeds being sent out, which really depletes my stores (which is absolutely fine - I will be doing more seed saving this coming garden season).

Quite a few requests involved a first look at some of my recent crosses. Rather than answer everyone’s emails individually with how to proceed, this blog will be a general guide to the material I’ve sent out.

Sun Gold F1 X Captain Lucky F1 hybrid - Captain family - I made this cross last summer - pollen of Sun Gold onto a flower of Captain Lucky. I don’t have many seeds - people are receiving 1 or 2 seeds - that will be enough to take a look at the hybrid and save lots of seeds. Only one plant is needed of this hybrid. I grew the hybrid late last summer and it produced large pale orange cherry tomatoes, most of which I had to ripen indoors. I am going to regrow the hybrid this year for lots of seed saving. I didn’t taste this last year. The hybrid plant should be regular leaf.

Sun Gold F1 X Captain Lucky F2 - Captain family - my seeds are from the late planted hybrid from last year - the indoor ripened seeds from about 8 tomatoes are quite small - I am sending out around 5 seeds to each person who requested - that’s all I can supply. I have no idea what germination will be like. 25% of the seedlings will be potato leaf. Interesting results could be on either regular or potato leaf plants. I look forward to hearing what people find - I hope to grow a few plants myself.

Cherokee Purple X (Dwarf Choemato X Dwarf Walter’s Fancy F1) F1 hybrid - Triply family - I applied pollen from Cherokee Purple to a blossom on the dwarf hybrid plant. I grew one plant late - it produced a few larger oblate tomatoes that were ripened indoors and seemed red or pink. A few people are getting a few hybrid seeds. They should grow regular leaf and indeterminate. Save lots of seeds for the interesting part of the project - treasure hunting in the F2 generation.

Triply family F2 seeds - A few people are getting 10 or so seeds that were saved from the indoor ripened fruit. This is going to be a complex cross to work with - there will be indeterminate, dwarf, potato leaf, regular leaf, variegated leaf and normal leaf color - and the three colors - purple, yellow/red bicolor, and white - should provide many different combinations. Grow what you can - I didn’t test germinate these, so will hope for the best from what I sent.

Dwarf Zoe’s Sweet X Dwarf Walter’s Fancy F2 - I took pollen from Dwarf Walter’s Fancy and applied it to a flower on Dwarf Zoe’s Sweet. I saved seed from the fruit that formed and planted it last year. It provided a potato leaf, normal colored dwarf that yielded medium sized pink tomatoes. Lots of seeds were saved, which is what I am sending some of you - at least 15-20 seeds each. This will be a fun one - all seeds will yield dwarf potato leaf plants, with some showing chartreuse leaves, some normal green, some normal green variegated and a few few chartreuse variegated. It can take a few weeks of warm weather for the variegation to show in the young seedlings. This is a pink X white cross - we will see what sorts of colors show themselves. Grow what you can and have fun!

Dwarf Blazing Beauty X Dwarf Walter’s Fancy F2 - I took pollen from Dwarf Walter’s Fancy and applied it to a flower on Dwarf Blazing Beauty. I saved seeds from the fruit that formed and planted it last year - it provided a potato leaf, non-variegated dwarf that yielded lots of medium sized pink, delicious tomatoes. This is already a surprise - white X orange giving a pink hybrid. I have lots of seeds and am sending good sized supplies to some of you. All seedlings will be dwarf and potato leaf - 25% or so will be variegated. As for fruit colors - let’s see!

Dwarf Choemato X Dwarf Walter’s Fancy F2 - I took pollen from Dwarf Walter’s Fancy and applied it to a flower on Dwarf Choemato. I saved seeds from the fruit that formed and planted it last year - it provided a potato leaf, non-variegated dwarf that had a heavy yield of medium sized yellow tomatoes with a red blush and delicious flavor. I have loads of seeds, so am sending out large quantities to some of you to play with. All seedlings will be dwarf and potato leaf - 25% or so will show variegation. The fruit colors you get will be interesting to see.

First seeds planted for the 2025 garden - chard, lettuce, kale, spinach, a few flowers. More info to come in a future blog.

The Goal of all of the above work is early generation discovery of promising new things to follow up on. Information I would love to get from all who get seeds is overall germination, number of each type of plant (indeterminate, dwarf, normal leaf, variegated, chartreuse leaf), and what you decide to plant out to maturity. After that, if you find anything really great - please save seeds - send me a small sample. If it is something unusual and unique, you can think of a name for it. It will take several generations to stabilize anything worth pursuing and releasing to the public.

Eli on February 9 - age 6 weeks. Sue and I are totally captivated by this fellow.

Suddenly it's February. Time to get the gardening ball rolling...

Eli, age 1 month. The eyes are still blue! He is growing by the way and we are so lucky that we get to see it all happen.

I’ve been quiet, but quite busy behind the scenes. This brief blog is a status update, and includes the first thoughts on my gardens this year. Above you see our grandson Eli at age 1 month. Later today he will pay us a visit. We really enjoy our babysitting duties!

I’ve buckled down a bit (finding energy hasn’t been easy, but warmer days and returning to some hiking is helping considerably.

Betts and me walking on the closed Blue Ridge Parkway with Looking Glass Rock and John Rock in the background

I am pleased to say that I’ve worked through all gardening emails. There was quite a backlog, and most take some time to think through answers to the gardening issues presented to me. My plan is to do better keeping up.

Next - fulfilling seed requests. That starts as soon as I post this blog. I am aiming to do 25 or more per day, which means getting through them all will take a week. Not everyone is going to get what they asked for - the Captain family (Sun Gold F1 X Captain Lucky - F1 or F2 seeds) in particular are not at all plentiful. There will be more to share after this year. If the seeds come a bit late for some, I apologize - it takes a real rev up of energy and discipline to dig in, due to the complexity of my seed collection. Better late than never - and the seed will be good for many years.

Finally - for this blog - just a list of what I hope to plant.

Tomatoes for our back yard - Sun Gold F1, Rosella Cherry, Chrerokee Purple X Potato Leaf Yellow F1 (created by my friend Alex), Captain Lucky, Cherokee Green, Potato Leaf Yellow, Sun Gold F1 X Captain Lucky F1 (Captain family), Cherokee Purple, Cherokee Chocolate, Earl, Lucky Cross, Polish, Brandywine, Nepal, Mexico Midget, OTV Brandywine, Dester, Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom, Polish Bling, Lucky Bling, Mary’s Favorite, Dwarf Gloria’s Treat, Captain F2 - number of plants TBD - as well as any chartreuse variegated I find from Dwarf Zoe’s Sweet X Dwarf Walter’s Fancy F2, some variegated plants from Dwarf Choemato X Dwarf Walter’s Fancy, Dwarf Blazing Beauty X Dwarf Walter’s Fancy, and perhaps something from the F2 from Cherokee Purple X (Dwarf Choemato X Dwarf Walter’s Fancy) F2. All of this is subject to some change. I was pondering 10 strawbales, 2 plants each, with some containers.

Also in my back yard - 4 eggplants, 4 peppers, 3 types of bush beans, cucumber Deli Star F1, 2 Summer Squash plants, a few rows of sweet corn in strawbales - various lettuce/greens, scallions, chard - and whatever else I find seeds for that I can tuck in here and there. I will plant some petunia, zinnia and verbena seeds for our flower gardens.

Then - for Jason and Caitlin’s garden, I would like to set plants of heirlooms sent to me by garden friends over the last few years - tomato varieties Pale Perfect Purple, Valdichiana, Hart’s, Vine, Green/Gold Purple, Abraham Lincoln, German Splash, Big Barney, WV 23, Boho, Giant Crimson, Limbaugh Legacy, Red/Yellow, German Heirloom - and I would love to get a good growing of Halladay’s and Mullen’s Mortgage Lifters, McCutcheon and TBT.

I’d love to do some crossing with fuzzy leaf tomatoes, so may try to squeeze a few plants of those in (I have a variety to choose from - we don’t have any fuzzy leaf dwarfs yet).

As far as upcoming events - I will be speaking at a SC master garden event on Feb 22, doing a March 6 Zoom for a Pittsburgh PA library, in Greenville talking straw bales and containers on March 12, and at the Veterans Healing Farm talking the same on March 29.

As far as Instagram Lives - I will be doing the occasional one very soon, and they will become more regular once I get to seed starting. I may even pop in and do one later today. Maybe.

All of this should keep me out of trouble for a few months!

Last comment - please check out my Instagram Linktree, on my profile - I have quite a few of my Zoom talks linked on there you can watch whenever you wish. The only thing you don’t get is me live!

Sue with Marlin and Betts walking by gorgeous icicles on the Parkway

Welcome to Eli - and Happy New Year! Hoping 2025 is lower on the drama, for sure!

Eli on January 5 - age 9 days

On December 27, 2024, Eli Lee LeHoullier-Jordan was born. Caitlin and Jason welcomed a 9 lb, 3 ounce gorgeous boy into this world. Jason’s parents Carol and Maurice traveled from Indiana to experience the joy. Sara joined us from Olalla WA on New Year’s Eve so that she could meet her new nephew. We’ve enjoyed her visit so much. Sue and I are, of course, thrilled. The end of 2024 and beginning of 2025 have been all about family for us.

Our Olalla WA daughter Sara with Caitlin on New Year’s Day 2025

All of a sudden I find myself in this new year, with gardening events coming on fast, seed requests to jump on very soon, a garden to plan and plant and a book to write. I am sitting at Caitlin and Jason’s house in Fletcher NC - Sue and I are doing our first Eli sitting day to give them their first break. We are watching the Jimmy Carter funeral. It is very moving. We are expecting our first snow of the winter tomorrow. It is really cold out there!

Grampa Craig with Eli on January 7, 2025.