Featured sale; Heirloom Brandywine Tomato Garden stater plants: $2.15 each, (includes tax) 23-29 April, or until supplies run out. Reserve now, pay upon delivery (local only).
$2.15ea – Order Now!Brandywine tomatoes are a beefsteak-class tomato, offering a meaty and juicy characteristics great for sandwiches and on burgers. Best flavor comes from vine-ripened beefsteaks. Johnny’s Selected Seeds calls the flavor of Brandywine tomatoes “very rich, loud, and distinctively spicy”.
As an indeterminate tomato plant, the Brandywine will continue to produce fruits until killed by frost. Indeterminate tomatoes can grow to be 12 feet tall, but are normally in the 6 foot range. Obviously this only comes with adequate staking and support. Indeterminates will bloom, set new fruit and ripen fruit all at the same time throughout the season.
This particular variety of tomato has a potato leaf usually has fewer cuts or serrations on the leaf edge versus a the typical serrated-type tomato leaf. Sometimes there are a few large notches in the mostly smooth leaf edge.
Maturity and harvest averages around day 78 from seeding. Harvest weights of the fruits can be up to and over 1 pound.
Indeterminante varieties, like the Brandywine may benefit from occasional pruning of the suckers that form between stems. Doing so will allow more light penetration to your plant and allow fruits to grow larger because nutrition isn’t being used up be extra stems and leaves. Once you’ve gotten your first few sets of flowers, you can prune the branches below the second lowest set of flowers to help with airflow and circulation around your plants.
When transplanting, a tomato plant’s stem can be buried deeper than most plants due to their ability to create new root formations along the stem. Doing this will help ensure your tomato has a nice strong base to grow tall.
Transplant into medium-rich garden or field soil and 14-20″ apart, with adequate staking. If possible, avoid setting out unprotected plants until night temperatures are over 45°F (7°C). Frost will cause severe damage! Abundant soil phosphorus is important for early high yields. Too much nitrogen causes rampant growth and soft fruits susceptible to rot.
Enjoy!
-Jim