Jo's Purple - Tomato

Solanum lycopersicum

Story: Our chef Jo March found this vibrant purple capped tomato at a farmers market in 2021. We have grown it out ever since and found it to be a tasty, large, Cherokee-like tomato, though even more purple than the official Purple Cherokee tomato. We love the contrast of the deep purple/black with the reddish pink, and they are very tasty for a big tomato - great in salads or cooked.

When to sow: from late February indoors to early April ifyou will be growing the plants outdoors.

Requirements: nutrient-rich soil, regular watering, and a lot of sun.

Harvesting for eating: Typically July/later summer in southern England

When to harvest seed: June - Oct when fruits become fully ripe.

Need to isolate: No 

Number of plants to save seeds from: minimum 1. 3 or more ideal 

Saving Seed: Tomatoes largely self pollinate before the flowers open so there is no need to isolate them. There is an exception - some potato leaved varieties have protruding stigmas which can technically cross with the help of insects. You can grow as many tomato varieties as you like - we recommend keeping varieties 2 meters away apart to avoid confusion and reduce the chance of cross pollination. Allow fruits to fully ripen on the plant before picking. The seeds require fermentation to clean off the gloop and stop them sticking to each other - here's some instructions on how to do that.

How to send seed back: Please label all seed with variety, type, date and your contact, if you didn't get a chance to fill out our online data collection form, you can also send us a few lines about how it grew for you/flavour etc. Please aim to send back 1 tablespoon of dried seed or more so that we can continue to share with network members. Send to: The Seed Saving Network, Omved Gardens, 1 Townsend Yard, N6 5JF.

Please remember, if you’re an individual grower you can order up to 4 packets of seeds. If you order more than this, you will receive just four packs to begin with. This is to ensure we get plenty of data in return and to keep our stocks sustainable for years to come.* 

*Community groups and Experienced Growers can order larger quantities, please email us if this is the case.

If an item is out of stock we will send a close alternative.