The weather has been such here at Struan Farm that I'm taking things to the garage, once again.
This time it's about getting the growing trays of tomato seeds organised and into the glasshouse for germinating. Varieties this year will be "Big Red Heirloom," basically seeds I've saved from last season's fruit that I don't identify properly, "Oxheart," "Black Oxheart," "Cherokee Purple," my discovery from last season and now a favourite, "Black Cherry," back by popular demand from the Piopio Community Fruit & Veg Stand community, "Black of Tula," and three small packets of seeds given to me by a recent farmstay guest from the Heritage Food Crops Research Trust in Wanganui: "Moonglow," "Mini Orange," and "Tangella." Oops, almost forgot about "Vintage Brandywine," seeds I saved from rather beautiful striped heirloom tomatoes I purchased last summer at the Clevedon Farmers Market.
In checking out this Trust's website, its work is focused on researching the medicinal properties of fruit and vegetables, like Monty's Surprise apples and certain tomato varieties, just my sort of thing. I'll explore their work a bit further when time permits. While I'd intended to be more selective this year in terms of the varieties I was going to grow, to take a more "curated" approach (note the "word du jour"), this lovely gift has pushed me back over the tomato cliff. (Thanks Lisa!) Last year I grew eight different varieties, this year it looks to be ten. I've stocked up on wooden sticks and tape for the label maker to keep track once again-- it's all on.
Tomatoes don't go to waste in our house and community, so I'm not fussed, rather intrigued to learn more about the purported medicinal benefits of these three special varieties I've been given.
I managed to get everything planted out in seed trays and installed in the glasshouse, except for about eight trays of "Big Red Heirlooms," since I'm needing more bags of seed raising mix to get those done and dusted.
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