Cherokee Purple Tomato

Isn't this just a pretty tomato? This is one of the new varieties of vegetables I'm trying this year in the vegetable garden. Cherokee purple is an heirloom tomato that actually has a Tennessee origin. In 1990 man in Sevierville, TN named John Green sent a package with an unnamed tomato variety to Craig LeHoullier in Pennsylvania. According to Green it was a century old variety that had originally been cultivated by the Cherokee people. You can read more about it at Wikipedia.

What drew my attention about the Cherokee Purple Tomato was the purple color of the tomato combined with a flavor that reportedly rivals that of the Brandywine.  I love Brandywine tomatoes so you can see why I sought out the Cherokee Purple. I just planted six seeds on Friday and hope to have them ready to plant outside in a few weeks. I don't need all six plants, two will probably be fine for us and a few other lucky people may receive my leftover plants! I always like to raise few extras just in case something happens.  They take about 80 days to reach production age which will hopefully put a few purple tomatoes in our vegetable baskets by July.

Cherokee Purple Tomato Details

Indeterminate
Maturity:70-80 days
up to 16 oz. tomatoes
Beefstake