Kaleidoscopic Jewel Tomato
Kaleidoscopic Jewel Tomato is a modern variety bred by Wild Board Farms. It truly looks a treat as it grows. So many colours, it starts off green with purple anthocynin stripes and splashes. As it ripens it turns multiple shades of red and black with dark stripes. I have seen some variations in this variety so it is likely not fully stable, but it is well worth growing purely for the spectacular colours and the nice meaty fruits. A few fruits are large with the majority in the small to medium size. Ready to pick when it gains a red tinge and is slightly soft to squeeze.
In the hothouse, was sown early August 2021, planted mid October 2021 with majority of fruit picking beginning early January 2022.
Sow – Start on a heat mat ideally in late August to October and plant out after frost risk and soils around 10 deg at night (after 7 days consecutively).
Can start earlier if planting in a hothouse. 8 weeks on average from sowing to planting if using a heat-mat.
Spacing – 60 to 80cm
- Back to Tomatoes
- How I Grow my tomatoes post
- Tomatoes on the Wiki
- 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.
