‘Petit Moineau’ Tomato

Dark as the streets of Montreal deep into the night. Early, just as the arrival of winter over Quebec. Easy, to be grown in the field as well as in a pot on a Plateau balcony. Born in our field from a cross between 2 varieties, Black Crime and Teton de Venus, this tomato kept the dark colour of the former and the shape and density of the latter. It however yields much earlier than its parents, and produces much more. The variety is quite stable, but might still display some irregular shapes. We are keeping up our breeding work with the hope of creating a perfect tomato. The fruits are slightly smaller than a tennis ball. Our team carried a taste test and found a ...steak flavour! The foliage is regular, and the plant is not prone to diseases. Package: 35 seeds. Germination rate: 100%

Plant approximately 2 to 2,5 meters tall. Fruits weigh between 180 and 300 grams and have a diameter of approximately 10 cm. Smooth red-rose skin, sweet and juicy flesh. Performs well in cool climates and short seasons. Discovered in the 1930s in the Joliette area by a farmer named Dufresne. It was given to Armand Savignac of the Clerics of Saint Viator. Due to chronic digestive disorders and a rare malformation, Savignac became a vegetarian and began to grow vegetables. Among different varieties cultivated in his garden was the Savignac tomato.   Package: approx. 35 seeds

Vigorous and prolific variety bearing fruits of 90/100 grams of a bright red. Thick skin, firm chair and intense color, ideal for cooking, peeled tomato and of course sauces. The cut and salted fruits can be dried in the sun. Envelope: 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

Beefsteak or "cuor di bue" is the name of several tomato cultivars of Italian origin. The original Beefsteak is a variety of large tomato whose shape reminiscent of a bovine heart. Can reach a weight of 500 to 600 grams. Envelope: 30 seeds  

Indeterminate. Bicolored tomato with large and very sweet marbled fruits. The pink, ferm flesh has very little acidity and has won a number of taste contests in the United States. Yellow fruits blush with red orange colors as they ripen. This heirloom tomato first appeared in New York in 1921 under the name Ruby Gold. It was renamed Gold Medal in 1976 by American seed collector Ben Quisenberry. Daughter not included.   Package: 30 seeds