Experiments That Yielded Fruit

It may sound cliche, but my tomato breeding journey began when I searched the internet for how to cross-pollinate tomatoes and gave it a try!

I had already been starting tomato plants from seed for some of my gardening clients— my favorite varieties including Brad’s Atomic Grape, Tim’s Taste of Paradise, and Red Grape.

I got some viable seeds which I grew the next year, and I was hooked! I began reading tomato breeding blogs and research papers and learning about tomato genetics and looking for the best tomato varieties to use as parents for new varieties. One of the great things about trying to cross the wonderful varieties others have created, is that you enjoy growing them whether your experiments amount to anything or not.

Due to the coastal conditions with less heat, tomatoes can take longer to ripen here, and so I gravitated towards smaller tomatoes, but didn’t want to give up the great flavor of the bigger heirlooms, so I looked for tomatoes that satisfied both criteria— for instance, two of my favorite medium sized ones that have really great flavor are Little Lucky (Craig LeHoullier) and Karma Purple (Karen Olivier and Marsha Eisenberg). I’m especially looking forward to trying more of Karen Olivier’s medium sized ones she has in development: Stillwater, Mystique, Art Deco, Art Nouveau and Shiraz! (Her tomatoes are amazing!)

In doing breeding work of my own, I have three niches that have developed: Grape tomatoes of all colors, Large round “Tangerine orange” tomatoes, and Micro-Dwarfs with interesting leaves (variegated, light green, woolly). And so my experiments continue within that framework of interest, with hopefully more to share soon!