Market Farming

[road's end farm <organic101 AT linkny.com>]

On Aug 17, 2006, at 8:50 PM, Christine & Marlin wrote:

> Now I am thinking of using Brandywine instead of Blosser to cross with Eva,s
> Purple Ball.  Brandywines and Blossers are pretty much in the same league
> when it comes to superb flavor and are about the same size, the only
> difference being that Brandywines tend to be a little flatter than Blossers.
> I often cannot tell them apart once I have them on the table.  I would
> interplant EPB with Brandywines at a ratio of about 1 to 5 in the row and
> save seed from the EPB plants about mid to late season.  

You might need to hand pollinate. Many varieties of tomato self pollinate and don't cross to speak of, even if planted right next to each other. I believe that a few will cross without hand pollination, especially among the potato leaved types; but don't know whether Brandywine and Eva's Purple are among the crossers or the self pollinators.

-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale