The Crafty Cultivator

Continuing on with my little “series” documenting each of the different tomato varieties I am growing this year, we have Red Brandywine. This pack of seeds originally came from McKenzie seeds. I bought it in 2014. I grew it that first year when I had the greenhouse to use. Ever since then, I’ve been pushing it to the wayside in flavor of other varieties. But I want to get some fresh seed for myself, so it is on my grow-list for this year.

McKenzie’s seed packet description: “A ‘Heirloom’ variety that is well known for its size and excellent flavor! Deep red, very large size fruits can weigh up to 900g (2 lbs)! Rich sweet flavor is great for salads, canning, soups and sandwiches. Deep, well drained soil is best. Indeterminate. Potato Leaf variety.” 

While I didn’t get these from MI Gardener, they do have them on their site, so here is a quick link over there if you are looking for an affordable source.  You can also find them at Renee’s Garden, Wildrose Heritage Seed, among others.

In trying to find more history on this one, I stumbled on this page that has a well laid out history, and has documented the confusion associated with this variety. You can go straight there to read their words rather than me trying to figure out how to say the same thing without stealing their words.

I have seed for both Red and Pink Brandywine. I’ve saved my own seed from the Pink Brandywine. In future years, I might have to grow them at the same time and see if there is any real difference. Apparently the true Red Brandywine is supposed to be regular leaf and NOT potato leaf like stated in the seed packet description.

I might have to splurge at some point on some actual regular-leaf Red Brandywine seeds from Victory Seed. They have a decent history listed there.

You can check out the previous tomatoes I have written about this year: Tiny Tim, Chernobyl, Black Russian