I grew up in the South West of France in a small town called Aiguillon. I grew up on a farm. My father is a farmer, my brother is a farmer, my grandparents are farmers. Farming runs in our blood!
Many years ago my father gifted me some tomatoes seeds, I call them “tomate de Papa”. My father does not grow tomatoes at the moment, he came across these seeds through a friend of his and I tried them in my garden. Out came huge, prolific, slicing tomatoes, similar to “la tomate de Marmande” except bigger! I have since saved the seeds and plant them diligently each year. Growing tomatoes is one of the most rewarding experience and also can be somewhat frustrating. You seed them and they come out screaming (high germination rate with the right conditions), they grow and they thrive and then it is time to plant them (my first round goes in the greenhouse). I do a mixture of watering them with calcium water (to hope and prevent blossom-end rot) and fish fertilizer. Then I wait! The frustration comes when/if the blossom-end rot makes an appearance. The calcium water definitely has proven helpful in my garden (the blossom-end rot appears to stem from an imbalance of calcium within the plant). Happy Tomatoes!
