[coquille]

Hi phoebe,
You seem to know quite some things on gardening !!Me too I have my own vegetable garden which is normal here since I live in the country. I grow my own tomatos too and I was wondering : I know that at the restaurant Chez Panisse in san francisco they have , during the season 14 kinds of different mini tomatoes. Could you help me on this one ?? like have you ever heard of this or could you tell me where I could get seeds ??
Hoping for a tomato miracle !!

[Pete]

Coquille, there are many purveyors of Heirloom tomato seeds all over the internet, some of which carry hundreds of varieties of tomato, both large and small. Do a quick search and you will be rewarded with hours of tomato "surfing".

[mudbug]

Coquille & phoebe,

Hope you don't mind me jumping in here...

The absolute best source for tomatoes is the Seed Savers Exchange which lists nearly 4,500 varieties. Over 3,000 of those are heirlooms. From your description, it sounds like you're looking for tomato varieties categorized in the "cherry tomato size" under which you should look for "grape tomato" types if you want them even smaller.

Another source I'd highly recommend is this Growing Tomatoes Forum. Many experts in tomato varieties including Dr. Carolyn J. Male and Craig LeHoullier frequent this forum and if you inquire nicely, you're likely to find some who will be happy to send you free seeds for a couple of stamps of rare heirloom varieties (which Alice Waters is certainly a supporter of) that have so much flavor you won't believe it until you taste them. Here's a good thread for you.

Other excellent sources include:

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
http://www.rareseeds.com

Charles Wyatt (The late pioneer in heirloom tomatoes.)
http://www.heirloomtomatoes.net

Sandhill Preservation
http://www.SandhillPreservation.com/

Tomato Growers Supply Co
http://www.tomatogrowers.com

Cook's Garden
http://www.cooksgarden.co

Victory Seeds
http://www.victoryseeds.com

[phoebe]

Hi Coquille,

Actually, Mudbug is the real expert. I'm only an enthusiastic amateur (who has been known to inadvertently kill many innocent plants with her "experiments" ).

Do you mean cherry tomatoes? They are indeed very popular and very easy to grow. One of the big favorites these days is Black Cherry; I'm trying it for the first time this season. And Sungold is on most lists too.
Mudbug is right in that you can find loads of helpful discussions on GardenWeb's Tomato Forum. And the sites she recommends as seeds sources are definitely some of the best. Personally, I get all my tomato seeds from Tomato Growers Supply Co. and Baker Creek. And although the structure of their site is a little annoying, TGSC has great color pictures of all its tomatoes.

What do you grow in your garden?

[coquille]

My garden is very wintery at the moment. It only supplies me with leek, brussels sprouts and rosemary, the rest is frozen !!
But the rest of the year I grow everything I can get my hands on. Thanks for the ideas, I already ordered 10 different cherry tomatos...image the salade that will make !!
But seriously, I'm an organic freak, because it tastes the best so I do my best to get everything from my own garden mostly for the restaurant and custamers really appriciate it too .