Tomatoes, Blue & Purple

80 days. The darkest tomato we know! A dark, meaty, very rich-fleshed tomato with extreme anthocyanin expression (same antioxidant in blueberries and blackberries). So dark that some tomatoes turn solid blue-black on the skin. Deep red flesh is among the best tasting of all tomatoes. Rich, smooth and savory with earthy tones. Hangs well on the vine and stores very well, and the flavor improves with room-temperature storage. Our own Dave Kaiser tasted it at the 2015 National Heirloom Exposition and proclaimed it as the BEST tomato he had ever eaten!

• Full Sun
• Sprouts in 7-14 Days
• Ideal Temperature: 75-95 Degrees F
• Seed Depth: 1/8 inch
• Plant Spacing: 24"
• Frost Hardy: No
• Solanum lycopersicum

Growing Tips: Start indoors 6-10 weeks before last frost. Heat mat helps to warm soil and speed germination.

75 days. Beautiful black cherries look like large, dusky purple-brown grapes; they have that rich flavor that makes black tomatoes famous. Large vines yield very well; very unique and delicious.

• Full Sun
• Sprouts in 7-14 Days
• Ideal Temperature: 75-95 Degrees F
• Seed Depth: 1/8 inch
• Plant Spacing: 24"
• Frost Hardy: No
• Solanum lycopersicum

Growing Tips: Start indoors 6-10 weeks before last frost. Heat mat helps to warm soil and speed germination.

70-80 days. Savvy seed savers and heirloom connoisseurs regard this as one of the best-tasting tomatoes. This 8-12 oz slicer has smoky, complex flavor and dark chocolate colored flesh. Believed to have originated from a Ukrainian family heirloom, it is very well adapted and reliable to a wide range of conditions.

• 8-12 hours of Sun
• Sprouts in 7-14 Days
• Ideal Temperature: 75-95 Degrees F
• Seed Depth: 1/8"
  
• Plant Spacing: 24"
• Frost Hardy: No
  
• Solanum lycopersicum
  

Growing Tips: Start indoors 6-10 weeks before last frost. Heat mat helps to warm soil and speed germination.

80 days. Dark red-purple fruit, rich sweet flavor. One of the best. It always places high in tomato taste trials. It’s very juicy. An heirloom from the Crimean Peninsula, in the Black Sea with very unique looking, large fruit. The wonderful flavor is popular at many markets on the West Coast; also a favorite of many fine chefs. The top tomato in our 2014 nutritional study and voted best tasting.

• Full Sun
• Sprouts in 7-14 Days
• Ideal Temperature: 75-95 Degrees F
• Seed Depth: 1/8 inch
• Plant Spacing: 24"
• Frost Hardy: No
• Solanum lycopersicum

Growing Tips: Start indoors 6-10 weeks before last frost. Heat mat helps to warm soil and speed germination.

60 days. Fantastic, sugar-sweet tomato flavor, that is fruity, with a hint of grape and plum flavors. If you relish the experience of digging into a bowl of high-quality cocktail tomatoes, then the Black Strawberry is your tomato. This 1-ounce fruit is marbled in blue, scarlet and gold. A bowl full resembles a luminous and luxurious bunch of gems, and indeed the flavor is decadent and indulgent, with perfectly sweet and tart balanced flavor! This extremely productive and early variety makes it an obvious choice for gardeners and market farmers who want rugged, early-producing plants, and do not want to sacrifice eating quality.

• Full Sun
• Sprouts in 7-14 Days
• Ideal Temperature: 75-95 Degrees F
• Seed Depth: 1/8 inch
• Plant Spacing: 24"
• Frost Hardy: No
• Solanum lycopersicum

Growing Tips: Start indoors 6-10 weeks before last frost. Heat mat helps to warm soil and speed germination.

80 days. This recent Brad Gates introduction was selected from a cross between ‘Beauty King’ and a blue tomato. Fruit is modest beefsteak-type slicer, weighing up to 8 ounces, and the flavor is as good as its outstanding antioxidant content! Gorgeous, deep blue-black shoulders make this unique among slicing types. Excellent potential for market, as the fruit holds well on the vine. Sunburn and crack resistance are a welcome bonus.

• Full Sun
• Sprouts in 7-14 Days
• Ideal Temperature: 75-95 Degrees F
• Seed Depth: 1/8 inch
• Plant Spacing: 24"
• Frost Hardy: No
• Solanum lycopersicum

Growing Tips: Start indoors 6-10 weeks before last frost. Heat mat helps to warm soil and speed germination.

75 days. Our Favorite! A super-sweet cherry tomato, cream berries are super prolific. These boast a delicate but complex flavor and a beautiful cream color with purple-blue splashes on the shoulder. A Wild Boar variety.

• Full Sun
• Sprouts in 7-14 Days
• Ideal Temperature: 75-95 Degrees F
• Seed Depth: 1/8 inch
• Plant Spacing: 24"
• Frost Hardy: No
• Solanum lycopersicum

Growing Tips: Start indoors 6-10 weeks before last frost. Heat mat helps to warm soil and speed germination.

75 days to maturity. Superior breeding efforts have resulted in one of the most delectable and color-saturated tomatoes we have seen! Plants produce bunches of 2-inch globes, round and brilliant blue, maturing to a golden yellow with blue shoulders. This newer variety was introduced by J and L Gardens and is a cross between the famously sugary Amy’s Sugar Gem and the antioxidant-rich OSU Blue tomato. It is perfect to snack on or for salads and should be a centerpiece for market displays!

• Full Sun
• Sprouts in 7-14 Days
• Ideal Temperature: 75-95 Degrees F
• Seed Depth: 1/8 inch
• Plant Spacing: 24"
• Frost Hardy: No
• Solanum lycopersicum

Growing Tips: Start indoors 6-10 weeks before last frost. Heat mat helps to warm soil and speed germination.

Our Favorite tomato! 75 days. Elongated, large cherries in clusters. The color (and flavor!) is a full-blown assault on the senses—lavender and purple stripes, turning to technicolor olive-green, red, and brown/blue stripes when fully ripe. Really wild! Fruit holds well on the vine or off, making this amazing variety a good candidate for market growers. Olive green interior is blushed with red when dead-ripe. Crack-resistant fruit is extraordinarily sweet! Wispy foliage looks delicate but belies these plants’ rugged constitution and high productivity. This variety comes from the legendary tomato breeder Brad Gates. This release from Wild Boar Farms won best in show at the 2017 National Heirloom Expo! These range in size from a large grape to plum-sized. AMAZING!

• Full Sun
• Sprouts in 7-14 Days
• Ideal Temperature: 75-95 Degrees F
• Seed Depth: 1/8 inch
• Plant Spacing: 24"
• Frost Hardy: No
• Solanum lycopersicum

Growing Tips: Start indoors 6-10 weeks before last frost. Heat mat helps to warm soil and speed germination.

90 days. Winner of the 2005 “Heirloom Garden Show” best-tasting tomato award. These have won taste awards coast to coast in the last few years, so we were proud to locate a small supply of seed. The fruit is smooth, large, and beautiful, being one of the darkest and prettiest of the purple types we have seen. They seem to have an extra dose of the complex flavor that makes dark tomatoes famous.

• Full Sun
• Sprouts in 7-14 Days
• Ideal Temperature: 75-95 Degrees F
• Seed Depth: 1/8 inch
• Plant Spacing: 24"
• Frost Hardy: No
• Solanum lycopersicum

Growing Tips: Start indoors 6-10 weeks before last frost. Heat mat helps to warm soil and speed germination.

80 days. An old Cherokee Indian heirloom, pre-1890 variety; beautiful, deep, dusky purple-pink color, superb sweet flavor, and very-large-sized fruit. Try this one for real old-time tomato flavor. Our favorite dark tomato and one of our best selling varieties.

• Full Sun
• Sprouts in 7-14 Days
• Ideal Temperature: 75-95 Degrees F
• Seed Depth: 1/8 inch
• Plant Spacing: 24"
• Frost Hardy: No
• Solanum lycopersicum

Growing Tips: Start indoors 6-10 weeks before last frost. Heat mat helps to warm soil and speed germination.

70 days. Expect huge crops of “black,” pear-shaped tomatoes over a very long season. Chocolate Pear has the rich tomato flavor that has made heirlooms so popular! A great variety for CSAs and market growers. Light red in color, overlaid with swirls of varying hues of green or brown. Very unusual and decidedly one of the best!

• Full Sun
• Sprouts in 7-14 Days
• Ideal Temperature: 75-95 Degrees F
• Seed Depth: 1/8 inch
• Plant Spacing: 24"
• Frost Hardy: No
• Solanum lycopersicum

Growing Tips: Start indoors 6-10 weeks before last frost. Heat mat helps to warm soil and speed germination.

80 days. Indeterminate. This Wild Boar Farms heirloom is sweet and juicy with black, anthocyanin-rich skin! This small slicing tomato averages 1 to 2 ounces and is lovely for topping salads, eating out of hand, and for cooking. The beautiful purple-tinged plants reach 7 to 8 feet tall and are generously loaded with fruit. Brad Gates at Wild Boar Farm in California describes this variety as having a good long shelf life and being sunburn and crack resistant!

• Full Sun
• Sprouts in 7-14 Days
• Ideal Temperature: 75-95 Degrees F
• Seed Depth: 1/8 inch
• Plant Spacing: 24"
• Frost Hardy: No
• Solanum lycopersicum

Growing Tips: Start indoors 6-10 weeks before last frost. Heat mat helps to warm soil and speed germination.

90 days. This famous tomato has almost a cult following among seed collectors and tomato connoisseurs, who simply cannot get enough of this variety’s amazing flavor that is so distinctive, sweet, and smoky. 7 to 10-oz fruit is a red-brick color. Named in honor of the famous black opera singer, star of King Solomon’s Mines, 1937. Paul Robeson, an American, was also a Russian Equal Rights Advocate for Blacks. This Russian variety was lovingly named in his honor. We are proud to offer such a wonderful variety.

• Full Sun
• Sprouts in 7-14 Days
• Ideal Temperature: 75-95 Degrees F
• Seed Depth: 1/8 inch
• Plant Spacing: 24"
• Frost Hardy: No
• Solanum lycopersicum

Growing Tips: Start indoors 6-10 weeks before last frost. Heat mat helps to warm soil and speed germination.

70-80 days. Indeterminate. A gilded salad tomato with superb flavor, introduced by the legendary tomato breeder Tom Wagner, who bred the Green Zebra tomato and many other delectable heirlooms. The 3-5 ounce fruit is scrumptious and snackable with a unique color pattern. This newer variety will display slight variations in size and color, making for fun surprises!

• Full Sun
• Sprouts in 7-14 Days
• Ideal Temperature: 75-95 Degrees F
• Seed Depth: 1/8 inch
• Plant Spacing: 24"
• Frost Hardy: No
• Solanum lycopersicum

Growing Tips: Start indoors 6-10 weeks before last frost. Heat mat helps to warm soil and speed germination.

80 days. The true queen of black tomatoes, this richly flavored salad type variety hails from the Rhine region of Germany. The round, 3 to 3.5 oz. fruit develop brushstrokes of ebony, crimson and orange; cut into the fruit to reveal a stunning vermillion color, fragrant, sweet and loaded with rich tomato taste! Plants are indeterminate, with a compact habit, reaching 5 to 5.5 feet on average, with blue-tinged, regular leaf foliage.

• Full Sun
• Sprouts in 7-14 Days
• Ideal Temperature: 75-95 Degrees F
• Seed Depth: 1/8 inch
• Plant Spacing: 24"
• Frost Hardy: No
• Solanum lycopersicum

Growing Tips: Start indoors 6-10 weeks before last frost. Heat mat helps to warm soil and speed germination.

70 days. Massive trusses of pink to purple cherries with a smoky blush. The tiny cherries are a half-inch across, contain very few seeds--superb for fresh eating, yet solid enough for cooking or for making a deep, rich red tomato paste. Superior balance of sweetness and acidity, with a rich, lingering aftertaste. We’re crazy about it for snacking right in the garden! Bred for superior flavor by Gourmet Genetics.

• Full Sun
• Sprouts in 7-14 Days
• Ideal Temperature: 75-95 Degrees F
• Seed Depth: 1/8 inch
• Plant Spacing: 24"
• Frost Hardy: No
• Solanum lycopersicum

Growing Tips: Start indoors 6-10 weeks before last frost. Heat mat helps to warm soil and speed germination.

85-90 days. These gorgeous globes have the lustre and stunning color of a stained glass masterpiece. Its beauty is only outmatched by its flavor! The Sart Roloise tomato is bursting with sweet, fruity and complex flavor with just the right acidity, owing its tropical flavor profile to its parentage. It is a cross of the White Wonder tomato, which lends pineapple sweet notes, and the Baby Blue tomato, which explains the deep indigo blue brushstrokes on the shoulders! This variety was bred by Roland Boulanger, Sart Eustache, Belgium. This is a large beefsteak type. The big, beautiful fruit averages 10-20 ounces each, with the most captivating color and sheen, making it a must have for market gardeners, chefs and anyone who loves a gourmet flavored tomato with pizazz.

• Full Sun
• Sprouts in 7-14 Days
• Ideal Temperature: 75-95 Degrees F
• Seed Depth: 1/8 inch
• Plant Spacing: 24"
• Frost Hardy: No
• Solanum lycopersicum

Growing Tips: Start indoors 6-10 weeks before last frost. Heat mat helps to warm soil and speed germination.

75 days.  Semi-determinate.  Incredible flavor, color and history! Introduced in 1893 by James Thorburn of New York, this is one of the most sensational tomatoes we have ever grown. With honey-brown skin, orange-pink flesh, and green seed mass, this is an eye-catching slicer with an out-of-this-world flavor. The tomato produces heavily during mid-season and then drops off quickly once cool weather sets in. As a cooker it will yield a pumpkin-orange sauce with a floral aroma. We are excited to have this tomato that was painted in color in Thorburn’s 1893 catalog; at last we can offer this rare treasure! From the collection of Dr. William Woys Weaver. 

• Full Sun
• Sprouts in 7-14 Days
• Ideal Temperature: 75-95 Degrees F
• Seed Depth: 1/8 inch
• Plant Spacing: 24"
• Frost Hardy: No
• Solanum lycopersicum

Growing Tips: Start indoors 6-10 weeks before last frost. Heat mat helps to warm soil and speed germination.

This tomato came in to my grandfather’s collection from his friend Dr. Harold E. Martin (1888-1959), the creator of Dr. Martin’ s Lima Bean. Dr. Martin used it as a breeding parent to create the True Black Brandywine tomato which I discussed several years ago in The Heirloom Gardener. Fejee Improved or True Beefsteak appeared as a new cross or selection about 1883 in the seed catalogs of David Landreth and Robert Buist of Philadelphia. Ideal for slicing, the fat, oblate fruit about 4 to 5 inches in diameter features maroon or brownish-purple flesh with a red “bloody” center as shown in the picture. It received the name Beefsteak because it resembled raw aged beef. Treat as a late season tomato. Due to the heavy fruit, plants should be staked or caged.

• Full Sun
• Sprouts in 7-14 Days
• Ideal Temperature: 75-95 Degrees F
• Seed Depth: 1/8 inch
• Plant Spacing: 24"
• Frost Hardy: No
• Solanum lycopersicum

Growing Tips: Start indoors 6-10 weeks before last frost. Heat mat helps to warm soil and speed germination.

80-90 days. Potato leaf. This fine variety was sent to us by our friend, famed seed collector and food writer, William Woys Weaver, of Pennsylvania. It was passed down to him from his Quaker grandfather’s collection dating back to the 1920s. As to its history, Will states “The ‘true’ Black Brandywine was bred sometime in the late 1920s by Dr. Harold E. Martin (1888-1959), a dentist turned plant breeder who is best remembered today for his famous pole lima with huge seeds. Dr. Martin lived in Westtown, Penn., only a few miles from my grandfather’s place in West Chester, and the two were gardening buddies. It was through that connection that his grandfather managed to wheedle seed out of the good doctor, as well as the details on how he created it. Dr. Martin always had a high opinion of his plant creations and did not like to share them. He charged 25 cents a seed for his lima, unheard of in those days. And he never released his Black Brandywine to a seed company, nor did he share it with many people, so I am fairly certain it never circulated among growers like his popular lima bean. According to my grandfather, Black Brandywine was a controlled cross between Brandywine and the original brown Beefsteak tomato otherwise known as Fejee Improved. Fejee Improved is probably extinct.” We thank Will for entrusting us with this great-tasting tomato that is extra large in size and full of the deep, earthy and sweet flavor that has made blackish-purple tomatoes so popular. Some fruit tended to crack, but the yield was heavy, and the plants were vigorous and did well in our hot Missouri summer. Superior for salsa and cooking. We enjoyed these all summer, both fresh and in countless recipes. A great home garden variety that will surely become a favorite.

• Full Sun
• Sprouts in 7-14 Days
• Ideal Temperature: 75-95 Degrees F
• Seed Depth: 1/8 inch
• Plant Spacing: 24"
• Frost Hardy: No
• Solanum lycopersicum

Growing Tips: Start indoors 6-10 weeks before last frost. Heat mat helps to warm soil and speed germination.