Purple Dog Creek
 

For those of you who have not tried this tomato, do yourself a favor....it is terrific. I ordered the seeds from Blue Ribbon Tomatoes in Kentucky. Was very pleased with their service and all the seeds I received from them.

[QUOTE=mecktom;303181]For those of you who have not tried this tomato, do yourself a favor....it is terrific. I ordered the seeds from Blue Ribbon Tomatoes in Kentucky. Was very pleased with their service and all the seeds I received from them.[/QUOTE]


Mecktom,
I'm in total agreement with you about the taste of Purple Dog Creek. Last year it took the #1 spot in my taste tests. This year it dropped to #2 as German Johnson-Benton Strain grafted version surpassed it both in tomato taste and production.
The German Johnson-Benton Strain from Dana was grafted to Maxifort root stock and produced the meatiest great tasting tomato I ever had. Still, Purple Dog Creek is a Fantastic tasting tomato and I recommend it highly!
Enjoy!
Camo

I agree, Purple Dog Creek was very good here this year, too. Actually, just about every Kentucky heirloom variety we tried from Blue Ribbon Tomatoes was excellent. Maria's $9.95 Ebay special is the best deal you will find on tomato seeds anywhere.

Steve

Love it!! Been growing it for three years now. Always a winner in my garden!

Oh boy! Gotta try them!

Been reading about this one for several years. I guess next year is the year. Thanks for the reminder. Just the name makes it interesting enough to try.

Cool. Glad to hear that you all are enjoying it. I still have a few seeds left from the original tomato. My first grow out year was 2005. :)

Randy

If I looked hard enough I could probably find the seeds for this variety that Gary in KY, who has provided many varieties to Maria, sent to me, but I never seem to find room for it in my backyard, having switched to growing varieties that would be new to all, or most, since 2005.

Maybe this next year I'll find room?

So many varieties, so little time, how does one choose?

[URL]http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Purple_Dog_Creek[/URL]

So Randy, are you the WV friend who gave the seeds to Doug? I couldn't quite follow the chain of events in the above history to see where the ORIGINAL ORIGINAL seeds came from. A WVA person not named?

[QUOTE=carolyn137;303776]So Randy, are you the WV friend who gave the seeds to Doug? I couldn't quite follow the chain of events in the above history to see where the ORIGINAL ORIGINAL seeds came from. A WVA person not named?[/QUOTE]

Yep, that would be me. It is amazing to me how the history/stories get a little (to a lot) get mixed up so quickly. Here's the history:
The Winchester Ave. Christian Chruch (Martinsburg, WV) was doing missionary type work in rural appalachia. They would go to a community and help out by doing things like fixing up the churches, barns, etc. One of the communities was [somewhere in Kentucky]. As a reward for helping out the people of the community had a picnic and served all kinds of goodies to the congregation of the aforementioned church. One of the goodies were these pink tomatoes. Mr. Bill Hoffman thought they were good and asked if he could take a couple of tomatoes back to his friend Spud Raney. They agreed. Spud ate one of the tomatoes and thought it was good so he saved seeds from the other. He kept some of the seeds for himself and gave me some. I grew it out and sent seeds to Doug Z. (and others).

Like I say I still have seeds from the original tomato/seed pack. When Bill asked the people the name of the tomato he was told Purple Dog Creek Kentucky and that is what is written on the original seed pack from Spud. I told Spud that name is too long we have to shorten it by dropping the Kentucky part. :)

There are a couple of web sites that sell PDC and they have the history almost, but not quite correct. I've been meaning to get with them, but I've been kinda busy. The garden is winding down and I don't have any more talks scheduled for the year so I should get to it fairly soon.

I'm sending you seeds sometime this fall anyhow - I'll include PDC.

This may have been more information that what you were looking for. :)


Randy

Randy...I have read that story before; however, I have never before noticed the location of Mecklenberg Co. in Kentucky. What makes this more interesting to me is that I live in Mecklenburg Co. in Virginia...notice the different spelling. Anyway, PDC is a great tasting and very productive tomato.

Thanks for writing that account.

Gene

Randy,
Thanks for the background information on PDC, and thanks for being part of the chain that brought such a wonderful tomato to many of us.
I received my seeds from Ginny in Michigan a few years ago and had already decided that I had more than enough tomatoes planned for the gardens that year, but decided to try a couple PDC upon Ginny saying they were the best tomatoes she ever tasted.
I'm glad I gave them a try as they jumped right to the top of my favorites list. This year they were just as good but the German Johnson-Benton Strain-grafted edged them out with even better performance.
PDC plants lasted longer as I just pulled the last two this week. Like the Benton Strain, they are an excellent tomato for dehydrating and turning into tomato powder, due to their meatiness.
Thanks again!
Camo

Way cool!

I received some of these seeds in a swap and had no idea what they were all about, but I'll definitely plant some tomorrow!

Thanks!

Cool to read the updated background story. I also planted Purple Dog Creek this season and I have to agree it is a very tasty and productive variety. One of the few that are still setting fruit as I type this. In the top five of the varieties I grew this year. This tomato as well as Dixiewine were the new to me standouts in my 2012 garden.

Gonna try a few of these this season. I haven't grown it in years.

It is going to be in my garden too!