‘Black Crimea’ tomato

This tomato variety was developed in the early 50s by the geneticist and profesor Joseph-O Vandal. He worked for the Laval University for over 30 years, and created several horticultural varieties adapted to our climate. Quebec #13 tomatoes are vigorous and give average-sized dark red fruits early in the season. This tomato has an exceptional taste, very few seeds, and a thin skin which is easy to peel off. This variety must be eaten in the days following harvest as it doesn't keep as well as store-bought tomatoes. Package: 30 seeds

Wow! Our best open-pollinated cherry tomatoes, all grown at our farm! Includes:

• Poire Jaune (yellow)
• Petit Moineau (red)
• Groseille (orange-red)
• Black Plum (black-red)
• Black Cherry (black-purple)
• Mon Plaisir (red)
• Sun Drop (orange)

Package: Around 35 seeds

Ancient variety of cherry tomato, vigorous and productive. It has a nice little pear shape, 3 cm tall. Very polyvalent with a only little acidity, it can be thrown into salads, cherry tomato mixes, and used as a snack for your little ones!   Package: 30 seeds

Nice red fruits, almost round, about 10 cm long, but not very regular. Very good taste. The name allegedly comes from the fact that this variety had to withstand hail. These tomatoes were grown by Mr. Guy Bourgeois, a market gardener in Ste-Dorothée (Laval) in the 1950s and 1960s to be sold at the Bonsecours market, an old public market in the Old Montreal. A big thank you to his daughter Suzanne for sharing the seeds. We received them from René Paquet who got them from Antoine D’Avignon, a heirloom seed saving pioneer in Quebec.   Package: Around 35 seeds Picture: Philippe Panassié

This tomato dates back to 1869 according to some sources. It is an Italian tomato with a very soft taste and only little juice. Large productive plants, bearing 4 to 5 fruits per truss. The tomatoes themselves have a funny shape and a light yellow color, with just a dash pink blush. Ideal for tomato paste, sauces and canning.   Package: 30 seeds

At a Seedy Saturday in 2016, a lady came up to me and told me that her mother-in-law had a tomato variety called Mon Plaisir that stopped being available in seed catalogues for ages, but that she keeps growing year after year. We chat a bit and exchange contact informations. I end up forgetting about it until, a few months later, I receive a letter in the mail. Inside, a beautiful card containing a paper on which a dozen seeds were attached. The seeds of the lost Mon Plaisir tomato. This is what Mrs. Frappier told me when I reached out to her, after receiving her letter: "We use to order our seeds through the WHPerron catalogue, and another company. I think it was called Norseco. We were growing tomatoes in greenhouses in Abitibi, in Matamic close to Lasarre. It was the Frappier greenhouses (serres Frappier) in 1976. We grow a couple seedlings to sell, but it was mostly for vegetable production. I really like those tomatoes, they would make nice long cherry tomato trusses. We stopped producing in the early 2000s, and I had already been saving my own seeds for about 20 to 25 years because we couldn't find the variety in catalogues anymore. I really couldn't find it anywhere. I think it was replaced by either Sweet 100 or Sweet mignonne. I did taste it, but I definitely prefer Mon Plaisir." (Free translation) It is now our turn to share this discovery with you. A huge thanks to the Frappier family for preserving this variety.   Package: 30 seeds