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~ BUSH TOMATO Seed ~ We like tomatoes a lot, so this is a really important part of the catalogue for us. We think much of the tomato seed offered commercially isn't really right for home growers. What we want are varieties that germinate well in cold conditions, start to set fruit early, and yet are still very productive over a long period, with a really good 'tomato' flavour. Vine tomatoes are on another page. For an explanation of the differences between bush & vine plant types, click here.   SUPER-EARLY BUSH TOMATOES: We have found some very quick-growing varieties, many from Russia. In our trials these had flowered before our others had grown their third leaf! Not only does this help get a better crop in a short summer, but you have more chance of them fruiting before blight strikes. We have listed these in approximate order of ripening. As always, the earlier varieties have a slightly smaller yield. Grow more than one to cover a longer season. Aurora (Early sauce type) This one comes originally from Siberia. Not only very early, it also germinates well at low temperatures. The slightly flattened red fruit are bigger than the Latah below, so it starts to fruit about 6 days later, but you get a higher yield and the plants are more manageable. More of a paste-type with thicker flesh, this one is particularly good for cooking down into a rich sauce. Medium-large bushes don't sprawl so much but do need a little bit of support - perhaps a 2ft cane to tie it to. Good juicy fruit, excellent flavour. 2-3oz red fruit. Mmmmm! Bush SORRY, ALL GONE NOW. Latah (Super-early Salad type) One of our favourite tomatoes. Our super-early variety that tolerates short or cool summers, with 1" spherical red fruit on a sprawling bush. The leaves are very far-spaced on the stem - the plants look a bit odd - but of course this lets in more light to reach the fruit so they ripen even earlier! Not only early, but also really tasty, with a good balance of acid and sweetness, this is just great. Absurdly early red tomato. Sprawling bush. I had my first tomato appear on the Latah on the 18th May and it has just turned red (June 26th) . . . Never in my life have I had a tomato this early! well done all - Tracey Campbell Order ToLA - 20 seed [OG1] £2.25   CORRECTION: We originally thought this was from Russia, but several people have written to correct us. It seems that somewhere along the line someone got Moscow, Idaho, USA and Moscow, Russia mixed up. Among others, Bonnie Gomez wrote: "The Latah Tomato is not from Russia. It was developed in Latah County at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho in the United States. We have a short growing season (just over 4 months of the year) in Northern Idaho and have unpredictable springs (i.e. frost and snow) and that's why "absurdly early" plants seem like a good idea! Thank you! " Urbikany (Early salad type) Another great variety from our trials of early tomatoes, this one has a high yield of 2-inch, perfectly round red fruit. Large seed get the plants off to a vigorous start. They are ready about a week later than Aurora, but then they're bigger and juicier - and this is still much earlier than normal tomatoes. The large sprawling bushes only grow about 3' tall, but definitely need several stakes to support the weight of all the tomatoes. A dual-purpose tomato, good for cooking and salads, as it has thick flesh but is also quite juicy. Normally we collect fruit from our trial plants into little bowls, but with this one we had to go back and get two buckets! Enormous yields of fruit with good flavour and lots of juice. 2" spherical red fruit. Tall Bush. Some of this years seed was kindly grown for us by Barbara Morrison. Order ToUR - 20 seed £2.10 Legend Bush (Moderately early salad type, some blight tolerance) Blight is a problem for everyone growing tomatoes outdoors, not just you! The spores are everywhere; and if you're interested why it only happens sometimes - they can attack the leaves only when two conditions are met: temperatures are high AND the leaves are wet at the same time for several hours. This is why it is such a disaster if you over-water your greenhouse so it is hot and muggy, or we have hot wet weather at the end of the summer. There has been lots of excitement and spin in the gardening press in the past about supposedly 'blight-resisitant' tomatoes such as Ferline - but to be honest after trying them out we came to the conclusion that there's not really any tomato that is completely immune to blight. It's not like the situation with potatoes where there definitely are ones that just sail throught it! With blight-resistant tomatoes, the best you can hope for is a longer period before they succumb to the infection, but of course this can still make the difference bewteen no crop at all and a good harvest if you have an early variety. Many people have reported that Legend really does seem to fall prey to blight a couple of weeks later than most other tomatoes, and it tastes good , so it may be worth a try if you've been reduced to tears by our last few wet warm summers. Developed by Jim Myers and James Baggett, for cool areas, it will set fruit without pollination and so often fruits well even when the spring temperatures are very low. Not a 'magic bullet' but may be worth a try for those struggling with blight. Order ToLB - 20 seed £1.85 Our very own 'Lettuce Leaf' Bush Cooking Tomato Back in 2002 we noticed one very peculiar seedling in a huge plot of Urbikany plants under trial. This had very different leaves from all the other tomatoes we had ever grown. Rather than pulling it up, we let it be just to see what would happen. It soon got bigger, and bigger . . . Eventually we had a vast bush, all covered with dark green, 'lettucy' leaves, which then set a silly number of medium-sized red round tomatoes. We just kept picking them and picking them! In our tasting sessions, we decided it wasn't really a salad tomato (though you could use it that way) , but a very productive cooker. The fruit are quite juicy, so not ideal for thick sauces, but very nice for cold gazpacho soup for example (tomato, cucumber, green pepper, garlic, bread, oil, vinegar, water and ice-cubes all blended together). Anyways, this is unique. We've grown it every year since and it seems perfectly stable and equally productive, though we've no idea where the original seed came from. Probably somewhere in Siberia (where the Urbikany comes from) there are fields of it! Do have a go, you shouldn't be disappointed. Order TOLE - 20 seed [OG1] £1.69 And a final Special Tomato: We also have just released an amazing cherry bush tomato on our 'Breed Your Own Vegetables' page.   Saving Tomato Seed: Here you can seed the seed and juice squeezed into a jar & let ferment for 3 days (no more, no less!) Good seeds sink and bad ones float. (And, yes, it is supposed to be mouldy & smelly) Water is added and poured off several times to clean them, the seed is rinsed in a sieve and put on a plate to dry. Detailed seed-saving instructions are included with your seeds, so you can do this yourself. And of course this is only possible because these are all real, non-hybrid varieties.