"Found"- a real cracker of a tomato.

[michael johnson]

I have been lucky enough to discover a new variety of tomato -that's an absolute beauty to try, for those of you that like a more gourmet connoisseur type of tomato, this one has everything.

When I say new variety- what I mean is new to me, as the variety is more than thirty years old already, but it has no name or ever been named by the growers.

Its a mixture of cherry size to a good salad tomato size on tapering longish trusses, thin easily digestible skins- not tough and leathery like some, darkish deep red in colour, and the flavour is very sweet and tangy -both at the same time- its just the sort of tomato you could easily eat at every meal for a week or more without ever getting tired of them.

The only thing is that when eating them you have to be a bit carefull how you bite them- (better to cut them in half with a knife first ) otherwise if you are aiming in the wrong direction accross a table-they are so juicy etc, that they will squirt juice and seeds a good four foot or more if you are not carefull- ( your partner could easily become plastered in one bite .


I am going to trial these tomatoes in my patch during 2007 season, and hopefully will have plenty of seeds to spare in september- if they perform according to expectations .

They will be called Michael's-(Red Rooster's ) there is a story behind that :wink: involving being kept awake half the night with this (gosh darnoodly) large red Cockerel crowing before dawn- leading me to go very bleary eyed to the small holding farm in question about half a mile up the road , only to find they grew tomatoes in a big 50 foot long greenhouse heated by a boiler-powered by gas produced from the chicken manure.
I was also happy to learn that come christmas- the large red rooster keeping me awake- was going to be part of the chistmas lunch the farm in question didnt ever name them, just kept growing and saving the seed each year for thirty or forty years or more .

I ended up coming away from there with five pounds of these excellent tomatoes, and booking a large bronze turkey and a very large fresh chicken for the xmas festivities-the chicken for new years day.

[Rena]

Cool story!-keep us posted-Rena

[bizzarbazzar]

Michael, You have to keep me updated! They sound fabulous....

You have just reminded me that I have to make Christmas dinner, which means I need to go grocery shopping. (YIKES)

[akgardengirl]

Micheal,
You have more tomato discovery adventures than a normal guy should have in one year. Hope they turn out to be all they are crackered up to. I would love to try them in a couple of years.
Sue B.

[amideutch]

Michael, How did they keep those tomatoes a secret from "old tomato nose" all these years? Just remember, those two birds you will be eating during the up comming holidays will have made a sustantial contribution to the growth of those tomatoes you have been snackin on. You have a good one over the holidays. Ami, doin it on the other side of the channel.

[michael johnson]

I never actualy set out to discover new varieties of tomatoes when going anywhere,- but like any true enthusiast I keep my eyes open and always spot tomatoes growing in greenhouses at a distance,but in this particular case -I never saw the greenhouse as it was hidden round the back of the farm from general view to the public,

The old couple that lived there were very old and had been there for donkey's years just quietly living their lives away and doing a bit of market garding produce etc,

And being naturaly nosey when it comes to tomatoes (as well as curious) I couldnt help but ask-as to what variety they were growing in the middle of winter-so well.
that's when they told me the brief history about them , and they were quite proud of the fact that they never had to buy expensive F1 hybrid seed at the prices they are these days, just used the seed they had saved all those years, in the same greenhouse they also grew some winter lettuce in between the tomato plants as it helped to conserve the moisture on the medium surface .

All the time I have lived here I have never had cause to visit the farm before, as there are several small farms close by, and we just drive past them and carry on up the road to the town as part of everyday life, the only reason I decided to go there was this Big red Cockeral crowing at a ridiculous time of the morning 3 to 4 am- I used to lay there in bed thinking of all sorts of ways to silence it, I dont think anyone ever told it that DST (daylight saving time) was in use in the UK and we all altered the clocks a while back,


B.B. I shall be sending you a few seeds to trial along with a few others of choice select varieties before christmas.

Ami- seeds in the post to you also - so give e'm a whirl

There will of course be lots of seeds to spare as I saved seeds from six or seven tomatoes out of the 5lb or more I got from there, so the others will get some to trial also- given a couple of weeks to sort things out, also there is beginning to be a bit of an xmas post build up just lately in the run up to xmas so letters might take several days longer to reach the destination.

[michael johnson]

Ami- they only used the chicken manure to heat the greenouse with (and their home too ) as they had a unit that converts it into methane gas when mixed with water and something else- the old chap jokingly said he hoped eventualy to power his car with the gas in cylinders, a sort of (Rooster -Booster powered) job.

But they didnt use any chicken manure in the greenhouse as actual manure feed- as the nitrogen content was too high for the available natural light conditions and would have stretched the plants into lanky thin plants.

But what the old chap did have was composted goat manure mixed with hay, as he had several good goats running around the place, so he saved the manure in a big pile and dug it into the greenhouse soil every february.

I think he kept them for the milk, only for him and his wife - as he didnt seem to sell any to the general public,

Couldnt taste anything (goatee") in the tomatoes though- wonderfull sweet -tangy flavour, the odd thing about the trusses of tomatoes though was the variation in size from the top to the bottom of the truss, the first two tom's on the truss are usualy a good big salad size- then as the truss runs down to the bottom they get smaller in a sort of tapered size truss of eight to ten tomatoes ending with normal cherry size tom's.

But I tell you one thing- they are very very moorish

[The Future]

Originally Posted by michael johnson

I have been lucky enough to discover a new variety of tomato -that's an absolute beauty to try, for those of you that like a more gourmet connoisseur type of tomato, this one has everything.

When I say new variety- what I mean is new to me, as the variety is more than thirty years old already, but it has no name or ever been named by the growers.

Its a mixture of cherry size to a good salad tomato size on tapering longish trusses, thin easily digestible skins- not tough and leathery like some, darkish deep red in colour, and the flavour is very sweet and tangy -both at the same time- its just the sort of tomato you could easily eat at every meal for a week or more without ever getting tired of them.

The only thing is that when eating them you have to be a bit carefull how you bite them- (better to cut them in half with a knife first ) otherwise if you are aiming in the wrong direction accross a table-they are so juicy etc, that they will squirt juice and seeds a good four foot or more if you are not carefull- ( your partner could easily become plastered in one bite .


I am going to trial these tomatoes in my patch during 2007 season, and hopefully will have plenty of seeds to spare in september- if they perform according to expectations .

They will be called Michael's-(Red Rooster's ) there is a story behind that :wink: involving being kept awake half the night with this (gosh darnoodly) large red Cockerel crowing before dawn- leading me to go very bleary eyed to the small holding farm in question about half a mile up the road , only to find they grew tomatoes in a big 50 foot long greenhouse heated by a boiler-powered by gas produced from the chicken manure.
I was also happy to learn that come christmas- the large red rooster keeping me awake- was going to be part of the chistmas lunch the farm in question didnt ever name them, just kept growing and saving the seed each year for thirty or forty years or more .

I ended up coming away from there with five pounds of these excellent tomatoes, and booking a large bronze turkey and a very large fresh chicken for the xmas festivities-the chicken for new years day.

What became of this I wonder?

[Riceloft]

Good question. Sounds like a great tomato.

[amideutch]

I never did get around to growing it out. Maybe I will give it a go next season. Ami