I took a call through the Spring from an interesting reader; retired history teacher and avid Tomato grower. Right up my alley. The caller recommended I look up dwarftomatoproject.net
I did and I personally think the Dwarf Tomato Project is exactly what is best about the internet. Two enthusiasts with a passion for gardening and Tomatoes start a project to breed tasty Tomatoes on dwarf plants suited to back yards and patios, Oh and one of them, Patrina lives in Australia and the other, Craig USA. They now have a passionate band of breeders.
You can't work in our industry supplying plants for home gardeners without being concerned about the corporatization of food production. Similarly I have issues with the use of Plant Growth Regulators being used to force plants to grow a certain way to suit particular environments but with no care for the gardener who takes the plant home only to find their pride & joy does not perform as expected. Using old fashioned care and patience home gardeners have produced these Tomatoes and many more that do exactly what they say... produce tasty fruit on dwarf plants.
So far our trial has proven very successful. The seed germinated beautifully; produced sturdy, consistent seedlings and now they are solid little plants that don't require staking... can't comment on the fruit yet. We have trialled 5 varieties:
Banksia Queen. Medium sized oblate fruit. Golden skin with yellow flesh. "They are fruity with a fresh aftertaste, unusual and delightful".
Bundaberg Rumball. Very prolific with small brown/black globe fruits on a compact plant with regular leaves. This is a great salad tomato.
Boronia Medium-large oblate purple tomatoes. They are tasty, tangy sweet with a hint of saltiness, and a smooth meaty texture.
Rosella Crimson. Produces medium oblate deep pink fruits with tangy sweet flavour. They are meaty, smooth, juicy and delicious.
and Sleeping Lady. Prolific and tasty, slightly sweet, Chocolate coloured tomatoes. The fruit are medium sized and slightly oblate. The green shoulders fade as the fruit ripens further.
Please give them a try and we'll look into growing them commercially in the future, the only issue we have at this point is the seed is only available in very small quantities so we will have to find a way to collect and save our own seed.
Tomato Crimson Rosella.
Alyssum Snow Crystals in a Great Scot punnet... because I liked it.
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