From The Vine

Grow Something Out of the Ordinary in your garden this year….

From The Vine  is a hobby of Craig and Susan LeHoullier of North Raleigh, North Carolina. Craig is a member of the Seed Savers Exchange since 1986, through which he obtains seeds from hundreds of varieties of heirloom tomatoes and unusual hot and sweet peppers and eggplant.  We are preparing for the 2008 season,  which will be out 11th spring spending Saturdays at the North Carolina State Farmer's Market on Lake Wheeler Road in Raleigh, selling a unique (and ever-changing) selection of unusual vegetable seedlings for $3.00 per plant.  Please call or email with any questions (Craig’s phone 919-271-0785; email address nctomatoman@gmail.com ). 

Updated Saturday, May 3, 2008

·       There is a slight possibility we will be at the market for the morning of Saturday 17 – watch this web site for an update.

·       We are out of town for a week starting tomorrow.

·       We still have plenty of great seedlings, though the selection is beginning to slim down a bit.  Call me – 919-271-0785 – from Tuesday May 13 onward to come by the house and get plants – or perhaps we will see you at the market the following Saturday, if we choose to go.

·       Of course, if Saturdays don’t work for you, give us a call or send an email to set up a time to come to our home to get your plants.  Note that we will be out of town from Sunday May 4 until Monday May 12.

·       We can be found on Saturdays from mid April through mid May at the  NC State Farmer’s Market, Lake Wheeler Road, Raleigh.  We never know where we will be, so check this website early on Saturday mornings our specific spot will be listed (updated each weekend)

·       Tomatopalooza 6 will take place on Saturday, July 26, and with the location at a friend’s farm in Efland.  For further info (which will develop as the season progresses), see our main web site,  http://nctomatoman.topcities.com .

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About Our Seedlings

  • Most of the seedlings are produced from seed that we have been collecting, growing out and saving for many years. The only exceptions are hybrid varieties, and some non-hybrids that we’ve yet to save ourselves.
  • We strive to look for varieties that do well in the Raleigh growing area. We have hundreds of varieties of tomato seed, but many do not thrive here for one reason or another.  Please ask us for recommendations of the varieties that tend to thrive here, relative to some of the others.
  • We do not have a greenhouse! All seeds are started in February or March in our home, on heat mats in front of a sunny south-facing window. Once germinated, we move the young seedlings into our cool garage under fluorescent lighting. We transplant the seedlings into four inch pots, using fresh MetroMix 360 as the growing medium. They live in our sunny driveway. In other words, our plants may not look as large and perfect as greenhouse-grown seedlings, but they are tough and should move easily into the final environment that you provide.
  • If you are looking for a variety that we don’t carry, let us know and we may be able to add it the following season. We rotate many varieties through our offering list, though there are quite a few that we think should be in everyone’s gardens, so offer every year.

 

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My guestbook has been disabled due to the constant spamming…please just email me with any comments!

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The variety descriptions below can be found here by category, so you can print them out (please note that these are the 2007 lists; I will update them as they become revised following germination and transplant) 

 

2008 Tomato List

2008 Pepper List

2008 Eggplant List

 

 

Variety List for 2008

 

Tomatoes (74 varieties)

 

Red Fruited:

 

Abraham Lincoln – from 1923, large oblate red, delicious

Aker’s West Virginia – very large fruit, great flavor

Amish Paste – elongated, not a paste, all uses, delicious ….gone

Andrew Rahart’s Jumbo Red – another great large fruited red

Box Car Willie  – uniform, medium round fruit, productive, delicious …gone

Cuostralee – huge red fruit, one of the largest, tasty, very tall vigorous plant   nearly gone

Druzba – reliable medium sized, perfect fruit, very tasty and productive

Dwarf Stone  – medium red fruit on a compact dwarf plant, great for pots    6 left

Kimberly – best flavored early red – potato leaf, medium small fruit

Marmande – determinate, from France, prolific medium oblate red, nice flavor

Martino’s Roma – a great Roma type, prolific

Mexico Midget – pea sized fruit, wildly productive plant, make room for this one!   Delicious!   Just a few left

Mule Team – similar to Box Car Willie – medium sized, round, productive, tasty

Nepal – one of my favorite tomatoes, medium round red fruit, very flavorful  just a few left

Neves’ Azorean Red – another huge oblate red tomato with great flavor

Opalka – very long red paste type fruit, tall plant, flavor superior to Roma types…nearly gone

Ozark Cherry – nice old fashioned large red cherry tomato

Rasp Red – another fine medium sized productive red, great flavor

Red Brandywine – very productive medium sized, slightly oblate red, delicious, reliable

Red Robin  – very short plant perfect for pots, a first early cherry tomato …sorry – sold out!

Shannon’s – new this year, family heirloom, large plum shaped red for eating as well as sauce.  Sold out

Sophie’s Choice – compact, short plant produces quite large red fruit, good for pots, tasty… nearly gone

Sweet Million F1 – the classic red cherry tomato, produces like crazy

Veeroma – another good compact growing red Roma type, prolific …nearly gone

 

Pink Fruited:

 

Anna Russian – medium to large tasty pink heart shaped fruit, a favorite ….nearly gone

Arkansas Traveler – medium sized round pink, prolific, mild sweet flavor

Brandywine – large pink, potato leaf plants, many people’s favorite tomato nearly gone

Earl’s Faux – similar to Brandywine – large delicious pink potato leaf    nearly gone

Eva Purple Ball – perfect medium smooth pink globes, very tasty

German Johnson – familiar large pink tomato, NC heirloom   nearly gone

Granny Cantrell – family heirloom, large tasty sweet pink fruit  nearly gone

Hege German Pink – new this year, family heirloom, large oblate pink, superb flavor… sold out

Mortgage Lifter – huge pink sweet fruit on a huge plant….sold out

Mortgage Lifter, pale leaf mutant strain – same fruit, but on an odd pale green leaf plant…nearly gone

New Big Dwarf – surprisingly large oblate pink fruit on a very compact plant perfect for pots, delicious….5 left

Rose Quartz – super productive small pink cherry tomato, amazing number of flowers in a cluster. …just a few left

Winsall – famous tomato from 1924, large pink sweet fruit, does very here in this climate….1 left

 

Purple/Brown Fruited:

 

Black Cherry – true purple cherry tomato, absolutely delicious

Black Krim – large oblate purplish fruit, on the tart side, productive and early

Black from Tula – another good medium large early purple, delicious

Cherokee Chocolate – brownish large fruit, tall plant, wonderful flavor, mutation of Cherokee Purple

Cherokee Purple – my favorite tomato – named by me in 1990 – large delicious purple fruit, thrives in NC nearly gone

JD Special C-Tex – very similar to Cherokee Purple (a relative), large flat purple firm delicious fruit.  ….sold out

Paul Robeson – medium oblate brown tasty tomatoes on a vigorous plant, quite early ….4 left

Purple Russian – delicious purple long fruited paste type, plant is wispy looking, prolific  ….4 left

 

 

Green Fruited:

 

Aunt Ruby’s German Green – large smooth oblate green fruit, delicious, fruit barely changes color when ripe!...1 left

Cherokee Green – descended from Cherokee Chocolate, amber skin, green flesh when ripe, superb flavor

Green Giant – very unusual large green fruit on a potato leaf plant, winner of taste contests, superb …sold out

Green Grape – small bushy plant, loads of large grape sized green fleshed fruit with an amber skin, snappy flavor 

Green Zebra – well known variety – medium, green with gold stripes, green flesh – tart, snappy flavor

Lime Green Salad – very compact plant, great for pots, loads of tasty medium small green fleshed fruits!

Spears Tennessee Green – new this year, big success at Tomatopalooza – luscious large green, amber skin….one left

 

Yellow/Orange/White Fruited:

 

Anna Banana Russian – brand new this year, bright yellow version of Anna Russian – heart shaped, delicious    5 left

Aunt Gertie’s Gold – famous large golden variety, potato leaf plant, superb flavor…..sold out

Coyote – tiny, pea sized, ivory fruit, rampant plant, nice flavor, produces tons   sold out

Dr. Wyche’s Yellow – very nice, pale orange, oblate fruit, green shoulders, large size, tasty  8 left

Elbe – another potato leaf, large fruited, delicious golden colored tomato  sold out

Golden Dwarf Champion – compact dwarf plant great for pots, bright yellow round medium delicious tomatoes

Hugh’s – immense pale yellow fruit on a very tall plant, superb flavor, one of the best yellow tomatoes

Jaune Flamme – large cherry size, pale orange, flesh is pink in the center, on the tart side, prolific  9 left

Kellogg’s Breakfast – very large orange beefsteak type fruit, mild delicious flavor, productive, impressive

Lemon Boy F1 – prolific bright yellow medium sized tomatoes, delicious, a long time favorite

Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom – best flavored bright yellow fruit, large, potato leaf, late, one of my favorite tomatoes   sold out

Malschor Isura – immense yields of small, grape shaped bright yellow fruit, mild and sweet

Orange Heirloom – similar to Kellogg’s Breakfast, very large orange fruit, delicious, western NC heirloom 7 left

Sungold F1 – hands down best cherry to my taste, prolific, orange fruit, indescribable flavor!

Taxi – nice short compact plant, bright yellow fruit, very early, tasty, perfect for pots   just a few

Yellow Brandywine – large potato leaf plant, very large pale orange oblate fruit, absolutely delicious

Yellow Pear – old timer, plum shaped bright yellow fruit and lots of them, mild flavor

 

Striped or streaked:

 

Hillbilly – by request, old heirloom, large sweet yellow/red bicolor fruit…sorry – sold out

Little Lucky – potato leaf, small to medium red/yellow bicolor, superb flavor, my own creation

Lucky Cross – large fruited sister tomato to Little Lucky – tastes like a bicolored Brandywine! Nearly gone

Rainbow Bicolor – very productive bicolored cherry sized tomato, unusual oblate shape, tasty.  Just a few

Regina’s Yellow – another large fruited yellow/red bicolor, nice fruity, sweet flavor.  Sold out

Tiger Tom – very prolific, small golf ball shaped tart fruit, red with gold stripes, a favorite

 

 

Sweet Peppers (24 varieties)

 

Blue Jay F1 –lavender purple bell shaped fruit ripen through orange to red – striking!

Chervena Chusaica – prolific carrot shaped, long, green fruit ripen red, very sweet

Chocolate Beauty F1 – blocky dark green bell ripens chocolate brown, sweet

Chocolate Bell F1 – large blocky green peppers ripen deep brown, a favorite, rare, very sweet

Corno di Toro – large, long deep green peppers ripen red, very productive

Cubanelle – also prolific, pale, lime green frying peppers ripen orange

Early Sunsation F1 – blocky green bell ripens a rich yellow, productive, sweet

Golden Marconi – similar to Corno di Toro, but ripens from green to bright yellow

Gypsy F1 – appears to be a hybrid version of the Cubanelle type – yellow, ripens to orange red, prolific

Islander F1 – similar to Blue Jay – amazing color changes as it ripens from lavender to red!

Italia – classic long Italian frying pepper, dark green ripening to red, very sweet

Jimmy Nardello – insane yields!  Tall plant yields dozens of long, slender, twisty green fruit that ripen red

Jupiter – large blocky green bell ripens red, very popular variety from the 1950s

Lipstick – compact plant, loads of elongated dark green fruit ripen deep red, very sweet

Marconi Red – similar to Corno di Toro – similarly flavorful, productive – green to red

Orange Bell – blocky green fruit ripens deep orange, incredible flavor, my favorite bell

Purple Beauty – blocky dark green fruit ripen to nearly black purple, then deep red, very prolific

Red Belgium – very early and compact, pale yellow long bells ripen red orange (very few available)

Sarga Czeresdyne – very unusual; small top shaped green fruit ripen to deep orange, spicy, sweet, peppery

Super Shepherd – a great long frying type pepper, ripens deep green to deep red

Super Stuff – new this year, pale yellow long bell type ripens red orange, great flavor

Sweet Hungarian – the classic long pale yellow sweet banana pepper, ripens orange to pale red

Tawny Port F1 – long bell shaped green fruit ripen to rich brick red/brown, very prolific

Yellow Belle II – also new this year, green bell ripens yellow, tasty

 

Hot Peppers (26 varieties)

 

Note – many are getting low in number!

Ancho – (aka Poblano) – heart shaped deep green fruit ripen brown to deep red, mildly hot  sorry – out for this year

Billy Goat – deep green, top shaped, Habanero relative, incredible heat, ripen red (just a few)

Bird – tiny, pea shaped lime green fruit, blush purple in the sun, ripen gold, Habanero heat!

Bolivian Rainbow – small flame shaped peppers, purplish foliage, peppers go yellow, purple, orange, to red

Bulgarian Carrot – new this year, medium long green fruit ripen rich orange, rich but spicy flavor  sorry – sold out

Centennial Rainbow – green leaf, white flowers, bullet fruit pale yellow to lavender to orange to red, very hot! – sorry, sold out

Festival – purple/green foliage, purple flowers, multicolored bullet shaped fruit

Fish  – foliage green and white; Jalapeno shaped peppers green/white striped, ripen red   sorry, sold out

Five Color - tall plant, purplish foliage, very hot, purple to ivory to yellow to orange to red!

Gemstone  – small compact plant, purple foliage, five colored fruit, lovely

Golden Cayenne – longer than the red Cayenne – deep green ripens to bright yellow   sorry, sold out

Gumdrop – green leaf, white flowers, round yellow fruit ripen lavender through red, very hot!

Jalapeno M – just a good productive strain of the classic  sorry – sold out

Kung Pao – big bushy plant provides loads of slender green chiles that ripen red   sorry, sold out

Leslie’s Anaheim – very nice version of the long chile pepper, mild, green ripening red, prolific

Little Nubian – great plant – purple foliage and flowers, mini black bells ripen red, very hot

Malu Miris – from a friend from Sri Lanka – long pale green, ripen orange, delicious  sorry – sold out

Peter – wrinkled, somewhat obscene shaped green fruit ripen red, extra hot (very few available)

Pretty Purple – plant is all purple – foliage, flowers, fruit black purple ripening deep red.  Great ornamental.

Purple Robe – similar color to Pretty Purple, but plant is taller, peppers smaller cones.

Scotch Bonnet – wrinkled green top shaped fruit ripen golden yellow orange.  Fiery hot  sorry – sold out

Skinny – very small plants with tiny upright green peppers ripen red, plant is loaded – great for containers

Spectral – deeper foliaged version of Five Color – lovely plant.

Trifetti – small, spreading variegated foliage plant with small dark purple peppers, ripen red, very ornamental

Variegata – darkest purple foliage of all, especially in full sun, small black cones ripen red.

Vietnamese Multicolor – dark foliage, multicolored fruit, lovely plant, very hot

 

 

Eggplant/Other (22 varieties)

 

Batu – from a friend from Sri Lanka, prolific, long white fruit blushed with pale violet, similar to Bride

Bianca di Imola – long oval shape, pure white, very tender, sweet and mild, rare

Bride F1 – loads of slender white fruit blushed with pale lavender

Calliope F1 – small round eggplant that are white with distinct purple stripes.  Striking (just a few, though)

Casper – smooth oval pure white fruit, productive, sweet mild flesh

Early Green Giant – large oval medium green fruit, prolific and delicious

Lavendar Touch F1 – very beautiful white oval fruit blushed with pale lavender

Louisiana Long Green – long, slender green skinned fruit are tender and sweet

Machiaw F1 – an improved Asian type, very long and slender, medium purple fruit

Neon F1 – bright, intense lavender fruit, oval shape, productive  sorry – sold out

New York Improved – the classic bell shaped black eggplant, grows quite large, tall plant, superb for slicing

Ping Tung Long – slender medium purple Asian type, prolific and tasty  sorry –sold out

Prosperosa – old Italian variety, round, large purple fruit, tall vigorous plant, large leaves

Ripples - oval white fruit are striped with dark purple, lovely variety, very productive

Rosita – lavender bell shaped large fruit are tender and delicious

Zebra F1 – one of the most beautiful, lavender with white marbling, oval shape, all purpose, prolific

 

Other

 

Cossack Pineapple ground cherry – large spreading plant loaded with fruits that form in husks that dry to brown and fall off, fruits are small and pale orange, unique fruity flavor – many uses.

 

 

 

Information Resources on the Web:

 

A good resource for pictures of varieties that we carry, but have yet to photograph:

http://www.tomatogrowers.com/

Is the link to the web site for the Tomato Growers Supply Company. They have pictures of most of the varieties we carry. They are also a superb source for seeds.

Other seed companies that I highly recommend

Johnny’s Selected Seeds – http://www.johnnyseeds.com/welcome.html

Victory Seeds – http://www.victoryseeds.com/

Sandhill Preservation - http://www.sandhillpreservation.com/

Seed Savers Exchange - http://www.seedsavers.org/Home.asp