Bulgarian Tomatoes

[sic transit gloria]

Phreddy,

Interesting stuff. Well, come next year maybe we can do a trade for some of the Bulgarian tomatoes. You mentioned that a lot of Brits are moving in to Bulgaria, why is that?

[carolyn137]

Phreddy,

Of the ones you list above:

Roma, generic, found everywhere

Rio Grande, originally a US variety I think

Ideal, should not be a hybrid F1. Bred by the Livingston Seed Co here in the US and released in 1930. I had another friend who brought me back Ideal from Bulgaria in a commercial pack, was non-hybrid as it should be, and matched the Ideal that a friend got out of the US USDA
seedbank.

Black Krim, one of the best known so called blacks

Galina's Yellow, first brought back from Siberia by Bill McDorman and offered at his Seeds Trust/High Altitude website site here in the US. I love it.

Golden Jubilee, very available

Belli Naliv, spelled as many ways as you can imagine, a small round red that I've grown and similar to many others from the former Russia.

As for me, I'm interested in those Bulgarian family heirlooms that have been grown within families and the seeds passed down for years.

You excerpted from my PM to you and just speaking of those varieties, Milka's Red Bulgarian, her name is Milka and she was a patient of an MD named Kroska and she gave seeds to him for both the red and the pink, which I named Kroska Pink Bulgarian.

So if you find any like that, as in your unnamed ones, try to find out as much as you can in terms of a family name or anything else b'c it makes it much easier to then name a variety. I always ask the source to name it first, but if they don't want to then I use what info I have and with them, name it.

[crazytomato]

Hi phreddy,i am growing a bulgarian tomato who is almost resistant against blight.I got seeds from an allotmenter in the uk,he asked me to do an experiment this year to see if they are resistant against blight.This experiment will be done by a lot of gardeners in europe,next autumn we will see if it is true.From this tomato we do not know the name.The source is a bulgarian family in the uk.I found also some names of bulgarian tomatoes,does these names ring a bell for you;nikolina,traperitza,bela,galina,zhaklin,yana,v enus and stella.

[phreddy]

Hi All.
Crazy - I'd be interested in that one. I do believe that I had blight this year. I am no expert so didn't know what the problem was, plants jus died. Of the names, Galina is mentioned above a couple of times.
Carolyn - Thanks for the info. The two no-names were on sale in the market. I asked for details but none are forthcoming. They think that I am strange with my persistant questions. I have one more of these 'no-names' that you are particularly interested in, this one from a private source. I have seed but cannot get details. I am third person in the communications line: Krasimera is a friend, her grandmother is the seedsaver. Maybe this year I can get to her and talk to her. It seems to be a good one. I will dig out the details and put it up.
Sic Gloria - I assume that you are US, I cannot reat the two letter symbols easily. US is having a housing crisis, demand has driven prices. Same UK I bought a terraced house for £2k many years ago; sold it in very bad condition for £125k.
In BG I bought 2 small houses each in 2,500 sq mtrs of land for £10k. We can live on my single state pension and afford to employ a gardener(whom we pay very well). In UK we would have to ask for welfare benefits! People that have a pension income see it as a wonderful opportunity.
BG is like UK some 100 years ago, community is there, pace of life slow. It is wonderful. I will put up pics if anyone wants.

[VGary]

Phreddy, Welcome! It is so good to see You posting here!

Phreddy spends half the year in Bulgaria, half in Malaysia or Thailand and a month in UK.
I couldn’t understand how he would have time to garden in either of the locations. Phreddy has a gardening helper in Bulgaria who assists him. Living there provides him the opportunity of seeing the great need for sustainable agriculture and means of helping and support for growers and their families. His sojourn makes it possible to observe growing conditions in different locations and a large variety of seed/fruits interesting and exciting discoveries.
Phreddy and I met on a UK garden site and have corresponded; it is always good meeting folks interested in saving old seed varieties, especially if they are tomatoes! He has a big heart and dedicated to helping make life better for those struggling on small farms in his region. He is a keeper!
Gary

[phreddy]

Gary, I am embarrased, I'd use one of those little smilies if I knew how to! Thanks for the intro.

[Andrey_BY]

Carolyn There is no "former Russia"! Russia has been doing fine for more than 13 centuries so far and gonna exist at least the same time because our people are adopted to survive in any living conditions Soviet Union had died in the age of 71 y.o.! R.I.P. СССР
And there is only one right spelling of Russian tomato variety Белый Налив 241. It is Belyi Naliv 241

[carolyn137]

Carolyn There is no "former Russia"!

I know that Andrrey, we've had this discussion before. I no doubt should have said former USSR and then used the newer CIS term, but there are many who do not know what CIS means .

Am I forgiven?

And as for the spellings for BN, there may be only one correct way of spelling it but for sure I've seen it spelled many different ways. Just take a look at page 432 in your 2007 SSE Yearbook for example.

[tomatoaddict]

I personally want to take credit for Phreddy as I am the culprit that stole him away from the "other" site and told him to come hang out with us at 't'ville. P.S. I love you Gary

[bcday]

Crazytomato, I offered to help with that trial as well, but I guess Eristic only wants growers in the UK and EU. Maybe the cost of postage put him off shipping here. I will be interested in everyone's results. I hope the tomato does turn out to be tolerant of LB, that would be great for everyone there because I know it is a big problem for them.

[crazytomato]

bcday send me your adress and i can send you some seeds,if you are intrested.And yes late blight is a problem overhere.

[Andrey_BY]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Carolyn There is no "former Russia"!

I know that Andrrey, we've had this discussion before. I no doubt should have said former USSR and then used the newer CIS term, but there are many who do not know what CIS means .

Am I forgiven?

And as for the spellings for BN, there may be only one correct way of spelling it but for sure I've seen it spelled many different ways. Just take a look at page 432 in your 2007 SSE Yearbook for example.

Dear Carolyn, I remember you know that Russia is not the same as USSR and CIS (Commonwealth of Independant States) = former Soviet Union minus 3 Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania). But what I really want you and other foreign people to know is that there has been 15 single independant countries before Soviet Union was born in 1917 and it passed away in 1991. It was not like 15 States crowded with very common people spoken the same language and having the same culture and history had done that decision to unite. We were and are very different . And it is always very strange for our people to see/hear other world called USSR=Russia, Belarus=a part of Russia or "what is CIS?". We all have learnt geography and history lessons at school and know well these subjects concerning almost the whole world (it doesn't matter is it a small or big country). I always wonder why so many foreigners still can't memorize some core thing about us?! It's so easy...

[Earl]

I grew Explosion some years back, seeds from Andrey. I put the plant in a 2 1/2 foot cage and didn't pay much attention to it except that it seemed to be sort of short. Then when I harvested it, probably 60 or so fruit ripe ant once, I found that the weight of the fruit had pulled the plant down and made it look shorter. Taste was in the B range for me.

But one of these days I will grow it again.

[phreddy]

Plan for 2008
We leave Malaysia on Saturday 16th March, returning to the UK and leave there for Bulgaria on 28th . Allowing a few days for sorting out the house again I will set some of my seeds to germinate on toilet paper in polythene bags, and we will visit the Wednesday Market, then the Saturday Market which tends to be bigger, to see what transplants are available.
I will go from stall to stall recording the names as well as noting whether they have the seed packet with them. It is not uncommon to display the packet, probably as a reassurance.
I intend to buy three of each to grow for seed. One for me, one to lose and one for the Popof Pracy – Mole crickets that spoil our plans.
There are ‘professional’ growers in the market who have the biggest sturdiest plants, often individually grown in yoghurt pots. This is the expensive end of the market but there are also a few, usually old people who are adding a little to their meagre pensions. Some use the permanent stalls but the are mostly around the entrance to the market. These people tend to have cheaper, smaller not so well grown plants BUT, they are more likely to have saved the seed and are more likely to have the ‘unknown’ varieties that many of us are looking for.
They also tend to mess up my plans. How? I buy more from them to make up a reasonable cost so have more plants than I need and who throws plants away?
When I get the data I will post it here for you and start taking orders for seed!!

[Douglas14]

Yes, welcome Phreddy! This is a very interesting thread. Best wishes on your seed hunt. Thanks so much for your input on this forum.