This is the latest we’ve sown tomatoes for quite a few years..we could still hang on a bit but most of them will remain in the greenhouse so it seems a reasonable time. Three (maybe four now) Ballerina seedlings are already on the bathroom windowsill but the bulk went in yesterday. We tried Black Cherry last year and I really liked it (quite a few people seem to take it or leave it) so wanted to try a couple more dark varieties this year. No room for Black Cherry as a result though!

Green Tiger
Saved from M&S fruit bought last year. Quite tasty, even given that they were probably under-ripe and over-chilled, with burgundy flesh behind green and burgundy striped flesh, cherry tomatoes. Have a picture somewhere I think. The only question is..cordon, or bush? I grew a few plants last year, three in each way, but they were started quite late and grown outdoors – all did equally badly so we couldn’t reach any conclusions. Haven’t been able to find a suggestion of how you tell a cordon from a bush variety without waiting for it to be too late!

Purple Ukraine
A cordon from Real Seeds, purple plum shaped tomatoes, sounds promising.

Black Master
Be careful if you try to Google this one…it turned up on Real Seeds’ site after I’d already got my main order but when the Yacon turned up too I thought I could treat myself to a packet. It seems to be a beefsteak, cordon type, the photo on their site shows some cracking in the fruit.

My Girl
This is my new tomato from the HSL this year and the one I shall grow most of. If I remember the catalogue right it’s a cordon, thin skinned, few seeds, a commercial variety from the 50s, pepper shaped, whatever that may mean. I’m hoping to eventually pick a regular tomato which is edible fresh but thick enough to make good sauce for freezing, and this sounded promising.

Saltspring Sunrise
Seed from 2006 from HSL seed. Along with the Ballerina, I’m growing a few of these this year to maintain my seed stock. I need to check it against the HSL catalogue, but remember it as being fairly tasty, normalish tomato, varying in size, and I think it’s a bush type.
Other sowings
Field beans from some friends as an experiment

Canadian Wonder dwarf beans which are probably far too old..it’s a bit early for these really but I suspect they won’t germinate anyway and if so I will be able to make a bit more room in my seed box for those beans who *do* want to do some work, so there.

Some more spinach as the first lot germinated badly

Bath cos lettuce from the Heritage Seed Library. I’ve been encouraged by Sue Stickland’s book that I might be able to successfully save seed from these (failed in the past with Bronze Arrow..but then, I wasn’t very taken with Bronze Arrow anyway so have lost little sleep over it). By all accounts this should be a tasty lump of lettuce, which will be a first…