Let the 2023 planting season begin!
Note: the story of how our family garden came to be is here. Below are brief updates from the garden.
2023-Feb-26: We started a new grow operation with approximately 300 seeds of 12 different varieties. These included favorites that we re-plant from seeds collected, year after year. There were also at least three new varieties of tomatoes – one is a large yellow tomato that we found while dining at the Addams Tavern in Westfield and really liked; an orange tomato with red blotches that we found at the farmers market in Waltham, Massachusetts; and a red Roma tomato from Isle La Motte in Vermont that we happened across while doing a 10 mile bike ride around the island.
| Color | Size | Variety | Recent source |
| Red | Medium | Campari | Metuchen, NJ |
| Red | Large | Midland Red | Metuchen, NJ |
| Red | Large | Rutgers (Solanum lycopersicum) | Metuchen, NJ |
| Yellow | Large | Addams Tavern | Westfield, NJ |
| Pink | Cherry | Metuchen, NJ | |
| Red | Cherry | Metuchen, NJ | |
| Orange with red blotch | Medium | Waltham, MA | |
| Red | Medium | Roma | Isle La Motte, VT |
| Black | Cherry | Metuchen, NJ | |
| Yellow | Cherry | Cotton candy | Metuchen, NJ |
| Yellow | Cherry | Metuchen, NJ | |
| Yellow | Cherry | Cotton candy | Metuchen, NJ |
2023-Mar-03: After closely following the plantings all week long, the first ten sprouts sprung up through the soil today. We expect many more to follow.
2023-Mar-12: Leaves for the more mature plants are starting to show. Eventually the two leaves that started growth will fall off. Now two weeks after first sowing seeds we are seeing good growth and over 200 plants. Will soon transfer to the 3.3 inch square pots prior to planting outdoors.
2023-Mar-19: Moved first batch planted three weeks prior to the dining room where we have two large double-hung windows that get plenty of sunlight. Started two additional seed trays with around 150 seeds total upstairs. This will stagger the plant growth stage and hopefully allow for later season fruiting. Two of the varieties were collected by Chrissy when she was in Maryland.
| Color | Size | Shape | Variety | Recent source |
| Red | Large | Round | Metuchen, NJ | |
| Black-red | Cherry | Midnight Snack | Wittman, MD | |
| Orange | Cherry | Sun Sugar | Wittman, MD | |
| Yellow-orange | Medium | Round | Metuchen, NJ | |
| Red | Heirloom | Kremer variety | Metuchen, NJ | |
| Yellow-green | Heirloom | Metuchen, NJ | ||
| Red | Medium | Round | Metuchen, NJ |
The heirloom varieties date from among the first seeds we collected in 2019 and that were planted for the first time in 2020 and every subsequent year. This is the fifth season that we will be growing these varieties.
2023-Mar-26: The second batch is starting to sprout. As of this morning we had around 8 seedlings.
A form is now ready for Tomato Plant Adoption. Please take a few minutes and let us know the plants that you are most interested in. We’ll then get back to you with availability and directions for pickup.