Brandywine Pink tomato
Brandywine Pink tomato is regarded as one of the best tasting tomatoes around the world. An heirloom from 1885, it produces some very large red-pink tomatoes with potato like leaves.
These ripen later but are well worth it for the flavour. Do well in hot houses being earlier to ripen in cool climates. Fruits can weigh up to 450 grams of outstanding flavour.
2022/23 Season: Planted in hothouse 23/11/23, first ripe fruit 1/3/23 98 days
2023/24 Season: Planted in hothouse 18/11/23, first ripe fruit 19/2/24 93 days
Sow – Start on a heat mat or indoors in late August, plant out after risk of frost and soils warmed (November cool climate). Can start earlier if planting in a hot house. 8 weeks from sowing to planting approx.
Cool Climate: mid JUL– NOV (Heat mat)
Temperate: SEP – DEC (soil temps <16C)
Sub – Tropical: MAR – DEC (Humidity induces disease)
Tropical: mid APR to JUL (Humidity induces disease)
- Tomatoes enjoy lower humidity and 20-30 degree daytime temps and night times above 8 to 10 degrees. Plant out only after risk of frost (protect if late frost)
Spacing – 60cm to 80cm. train to two leading stems or let it go wild.
The wild ancestor of the tomato is native to western South America. These wild versions were the size of peas. Aztecs and other peoples in Mesoamerica were the first to have domesticated the fruit and used in their cooking. The Spanish first introduced tomatoes to Europe, where they became used in Spanish food.
In France, Italy and northern Europe, the tomato was initially grown as an ornamental plant. It was regarded with suspicion as a food because botanists recognized it as a nightshade, a relative of the poisonous belladonna. This was exacerbated by the interaction of the tomato’s acidic juice with pewter plates.
The leaves and immature fruit contains tomatine, which in large quantities would be toxic. However, the ripe fruit contains no tomatine.
