The Crafty Cultivator

April 2nd, I sowed my tomatoes. Late for me, but to be honest, It is probably perfect timing in terms of the weather around here.

I didn’t let myself buy any new varieties. However, last year I did manage to finally save some of my own seed. In the few cases where I had my own seed saved, I also sowed some of the original purchased seed as a bit of a fail-safe.

• 2x ‘Sub Arctic Plenty’McKenzie Seeds from 2016
• • “Developed in Alberta for Prairie climates, this cultivator is an early, upright tomato. It will set fruit, even under cold conditions! Bountiful yeilds of 56-70g (2-2 1/2 oz) tomatoes. Keep well fed and watered. Determinate. No staking required. Heirloom”
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• 2x ‘Jubilee’McKenzie Seeds from 2016
• • “These glowing, golden-orange, mild flavoured fruits have been prized by gardeners for years. Plants produce bountiful harvest of 225g (8 oz) fruits throughout the season. Indeterminate. Staking may be required.”
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• 2x ‘Cherokee Purple’McKenzie Seeds (from 2015) AND My own saved seed from last year (2017)
• • The description of this one on the packet is wrong, and is likely for the ‘Black Krim’ tomato. The plants I grew last year were fantastic, and had an excellent harvest, thus I was able to save a bunch of seed from it.
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• 2x ‘Beefsteak’ McKenzie Seeds (from 2016) (I would have saved from of these seeds from last year, but we ate all the tomatoes before I thought to save the seeds.
• • “Large, meaty, solid fruit, slightly flattened and globe-shaped. Deep, well-drained moisture retaining soil is best. Mild and flavorful for salads and table use. Keep tomatoes away from all members of the brassica family: cabbage, cauliflower, etc. No staking required. Determinate. Heirloom.”
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• 2x ‘Manitoba’McKenzie Seeds (from 2014)
• • “Very dependable early variety, excellent for the Prairies. Bright, red, juicy fruit. Deep well-drained soil is best. Eliminate blossom end rot problems by deep watering the plants so that the root system will be less affected by fluctuations in soil moisture. Determinate. No staking required. Heirloom.”
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• 4 x ‘Tiny Tim’McKenzie Seeds (from 2016. I didn’t write the year on this pack, so I could be wrong)
• • “Extremely early scarlet red, miniature cherry tomato. Deep, well-drained soil is best. Perfect for decorating salads and vegetable trays. Determinate. No staking required. Heirloom.”
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• 4x ‘San Marzano’McKenzie Seeds (from 2014) AND my own seed (2017). I had a decent harvest with these last year, and had decided to save seed.
• • “Italian tomato perfection! 10-12 ounce plum tomatoes grow on large and vigorous plants. Has excellent tomato flavor and is great to eat fresh, make sauces or for canning and drying. Inderterminate – staking required.”
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• 3x ‘Black Cherry’
• • McKenzie Seeds (from 2016) AND my own.
  • • This was probably my best performing tomato plant of last year. It thrived like I have never seen before, and I can’t wait to try to replicate that success this year.
  • “Early Russian variety. Tall 60cm (2′) plants, with oval/round shaved 2.5 cm (1″) fruit. Deep mahogany to brown color. Black color develops best when hot and sunny. Inderterminate. Requires staking”
    • As a note to this; My plant last year, was over 7 feet tall at the height of summer. I kept it well pruned to two main stems. As mentioned above, the only time I got close to a more black color was on the few really hot says in the summer. But these were an amazing producer, and I am excited to see how they do this year, especially from my own saved seed.
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• 1x ‘Yellow Pear’
  • Burpee Seeds (from 2014)
  • “Clusters of pear-shaped, yellow fruits with mild, delicious flavour. Indeterminate”
• • 

I’ll try and keep up with the progress of everything this year, but as always… Life has a way of getting in the way of me being a good blogger. So…. now that I’ve kept your expectations low… Are you growing any tomatoes this year? What kinds? Any tips to share with anyone else reading this? Post it in the comments below.