May 21 | Heirloom Tomato plant sale! | Winnetka, IL Patch

2022-05-29 02:17:18 By : Mr. Jason Chen

This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Rare, organic heirloom tomato plants for your garden or containers-locally grown!

Hello lovely neighbors! This weekend (Sat 5/21 12-5pm and Sun 5/22 12-5pm), we will offer a limited quantity of rare, organic heirloom tomato plants to local home gardeners. All varieties are hand selected to do well in our growing conditions-yielding the most delicious and unusual tomatoes you have ever grown!  Also, this year we have grown several of the very popular “Dwarf” and “Micro-Dwarf” varieties that grow wonderfully in pots, containers, and small spaces….

My nine year-old daughter and I grow them out under commercial LED grow lights in our living room at 1030 Hubbard Place, Winnetka. All the seeds we use are certified organic, and produced in an organic fashion.  We also grow with my “magic extras”: mycorrhizae, kelp extract, worm castings, and LOVE. The plants are fantastic, and last year our customers freaked out at how robust, healthy, and grown they were. Each plant has been double transplanted to insure a HUGE root system. A couple varieties look smaller in their pots, but they have a root system of a plant 3x’s larger, due to us twice burying the stem under the soil by 3-4”. This yields the best roots for the biggest, tastiest tomatoes, and good disease resistance.  

Please email me at heatherballou17@hotmail.com, if you wish to reserve plants in your name before the sale opens, or if you want to inquire about all of our varieties.  Please put “Tomatoes” in the subject line. You can pick them up anytime during sale hours, or arrange another pick-up time by emailing us.  

Each organic, locally grown, rare or popular plant is $ 17 each (1-4 plants), and $14 each (6+ plants)....with no exorbitant shipping costs!

Our plants are healthy, strong, with HUGE well-developed ROOTS and ready to be planted!

A sample of just some of the 30+ available varieties:

Brad’s Black Heart-yields copious amounts of 12 oz., pink-black, heart-shaped tomatoes with exceptionally rich sweet complex flavors, typical of the best of the black tomatoes. Disease resistant. (This one was a tomato producing MACHINE in my garden last year). 75 days.

Mortgage Lifter-The quintessential red beefsteak! Large plant produces 1-2 pound red beefsteaks with old-fashioned big sweet flavors. A classic. 82 Days.

Candy’s Old Yellow-A very productive plant bearing 3 to 4", pale-yellow fruit with mildly sweet fruity flavors with a light touch of acidity. (Huge producer for me last year, and my best friend’s favorite for flavor out of close to 20 varieties I grew.) 75 days.

Fred’s Tie-Dye Dwarf- a dwarf container (or pot) sized plant with produces 5-6 oz., medium sized, purple tomatoes with jagged gold and green stripes and the deep crimson flesh of black tomatoes. Rich, intense, and balanced flavors, more acidic than sweet. 75 days.

Isis Candy- Cherry- This tomato produces a delightful, 1-inch round, yellow with red tinge and marbling within the gold flesh. Typically, a 'cat's eye' star of yellow appears on the blossom end of fruit. The delicious sweet taste is rich and fruity. Great for kids!  67 days.  

Black Krim-Beefsteak-Good for containers (10”-12” pot)-dark mahogany-brown with green shoulders-Black Russian heirloom tomato. Shorter, bushy plant produces 3-4” purple/black beefsteak tomatoes. Fantastic, intense, slightly salty taste. 75 Days.

Anna’s Russian Heart-oxheart variety (my favorite!). Wispy, viney plants that yield 1 lb., red-pink, heart-shaped (!), large meaty tomatoes with few seeds and delicious fruity flavor. A great sandwich and salad tomato. 75 days. Good producer. One of my top favorite tomatoes of all time, a MUST GROW every season!  

Striped German-beefsteak-yellow/pink bi-colored, Beautiful 1-2 lb. fruit with red-yellow stripes and dense, juicy, red-yellow streaked flesh. Excellent sweet, complex flavors. Produces till frost. 78 Days.

Many, many more…..I’m getting weary of writing them all (lol!)…….come by on Sat or Sun and see!