"You say toe-MAY-toe and I say toe-MAH-toe ..." Love tomatoes? So do we! That's why we've got the best selection of heirloom, heritage, and hybrid tomato plants in Santa Fe for planting right now! Hail trash your garden? Find room for another variety? There's still plenty of time to ripen a bumper crop of "love apples" before the first frosts!Here's a completee descriptive list of all the varieties we're carrying (best selection may be found at Payne's South on 715 St. Michael's Drive)!

In the lists that follow, hybrids have “F1” in their names; seeds saved from hybrid tomatoes will not produce plants like their parent. All other varieties listed are open-pollinated ("O.P.") varieties that come true from their own seed. Most of our O.P. tomatoes are heirloom or heritage tomatoes: varieties that have been passed down from gardener to gardener, sometimes for centuries.

Days to maturity are from the setting out of month-old transplants to the first ripe fruits; days stated are approximate and can vary according to growing conditions. Remember that tomatoes need the same culture that roses do: deep, rich, organically amended soil; full sun at least 10 hours a day; and lots of water in the growing season. Red or black plastic mulch can greatly improve yields; so can tapping the vines lightly once a week — tomatoes are self-pollinating and it can aid the process.

Availability of specific varieties is subject to crop fluctuations. Most can be found at Payne's South store at 715 St. Michael's Drive.

‘Amy’s Sugar Gem’: 71 days. You like sweet salad tomatoes? You came to the right place. A very rare, hard-to-find, open-pollinated cross between ‘Red Cherry’ and the large heirloom ‘Tappy’s Finest’, ‘Amy’s Sugar Gem’ makes a tall, sprawling, indeterminate, open-pollinated, vigorous vine loaded with vast numbers of red, meaty, juicy, 2 oz, 1 ½” red golf balls as sweet as candy. From Gary Ibsen at TomatoFest in California. Thanks, Gary!

‘Anna Russian’: 68 days. Heirloom seed handed down to an Oregon woman through several generations of her family. Large, juicy, pinkish-red heart-shaped tomatoes, 1 pound or heavier, with fabulous low-acid flavor. Foliage is small and wispy on indeterminate vines. Very early for a beefsteak. Probable Origin: Russia.

‘Ball’s Beefsteak F1’: 76 days. Disease resistant indeterminate vines bear good quantities of big, 14 oz, crack resistant red beefsteak tomatoes with old-fashioned flavor.

‘Beauty Beefsteak’: 75 days. Heavy crops of gorgeous ribbed, scalloped, richly flavored scarlet fruits, 12-16 oz. each, on vigorous, manageable indeterminate heirloom vines. Fruits keep well after harvest.

‘Beaverlodge Slicer’: 55 days. One of the earliest to ripen of all the tomatoes we offer — earlier even than ‘Early Girl F1’! Extremely compact, spreading open-pollinated plants are loaded with small, scarlet, flavorful 1.5” fruits. Bred at the Beaverlodge Research Center in Alberta, Canada. Perfect for containers.

‘Better Boy F1’: 75 days. Big disease resistant indeterminate hybrid vines with heavy sunscald resistant foliage bear plump, juicy, firm, flavorful, 1 lb+ scarlet beefsteaks till frost. Customer favorite!

‘Black Cherry’: 70 days. Huge crops of round, mahogany-red cherry tomatoes with all the sweet, rich, complex flavor for which “black” tomatoes are famous, borne all season on indeterminate heirloom vines. Wonderful for salads or snacking from the vine.

‘Bloody Butcher’: 55 days. One of our earliest tomatoes to ripen! Big, fast-growing, indeterminate, potato-leaved, open-pollinated vines bear big crops of round, 4 oz, flavorful scarlet fruits that are a brilliant dark red inside and out. Very high in lycopenes. Valerie’s favorite!

‘Brandywine Sudduth’s Strain’: 90 days. The most famous heirloom tomato in the world. Many tomatoes are called ‘Brandywine’ to cash in on this delicious beefsteak’s fame, but this is the real thing, a family heirloom passed down from mother to daughter in the Sudduth family of Tennessee. Large indeterminate vines ripen dark pink beefsteaks of intense, rich flavor to 2 lbs each. The latest to ripen of all the varieties we offer, but worth it. Customer favorite!

‘Burpee’s Big Boy F1’ (pictured at right): 78 days. Healthy indeterminate hybrid vines bear 1 lb+ scarlet beefsteaks of rich, satisfying flavor with smooth, blemish resistant skins. Customer favorite!

‘Celebrity F1’: 72 days. Vigorous, determinate hybrid vines bear good yields of firm, globe-shaped, flavorful, 7-8 oz. scarlet fruits. Customer favorite!

‘Champion F1’: 62 days. High yields of luscious, solid, meaty, very sweet, 6-8 oz scarlet fruits on big, disease resistant, indeterminate hybrid vines. Customer favorite!

‘Cosmonaut Volkov’: 65 days. Our earliest beefsteak! Indeterminate, disease-resistant, cold-tolerant, open-pollinated vines bear large quantities of slightly flattened, deep red, juicy, crack-resistant 8-12 oz. globes with a rich, full-bodied flavor that has made this variety one of our best sellers for the past 3 years. From Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, named for a Russian astronaut lost in space. Customer favorite!

‘Dagma’s Perfection’: 73 days. What is it about bicolor tomatoes that makes them so addictive? We’re always on the lookout for bicolors that will ripen dependably in our short season climate, and we think we’ve found a winner in ‘Dagma’s’! This very rare, hard-to-find, indeterminate heirloom bears tons of 3”, 12 oz, slightly flattened, pale yellow, red-streaked fruits of deliciously sweet and tangy tropical flavor. Oh, what a sauce these would create — if any could make it from the garden to the kitchen … From Gary Ibsen at TomatoFest in California. Thanks, Gary!

‘Early Girl F1’: 57 days. Indeterminate hybrid vines bear 4-5 oz. round, red tomatoes early in the season. Customer favorite!

'Fourth of July F1' (pictured at right): 49 days. New for 2010! The earliest tomato by far! Delicious scarlet 4" fruits are produced all season long.

‘Glacier’: 57 days. As early as ‘Early Girl F1’, these determinate, potato-leaved, open-pollinated plants bear 1-2”, scarlet, yellow-shouldered fruits with such rich tomato flavor that you won’t believe they come from an extra-early! Origin: Sweden.

‘Homesweet F2’: 70 days. Compact, highly disease resistant, open-pollinated bushes bear 4-6 oz scarlet fruits of addictive sugar-sweetness. Developed specifically for home gardeners.

‘Koralik’: 61 days. A wonderful heirloom cherry tomato from Russia, perfect for containers and small-space gardens! Determinate bushes yield 100’s of 1”, bright red, richly sweet-tart cherries in trusses of 8 at a time. Move over, ‘Sweet 100 F1’! My 'Koralik' plants are already setting fruit as of 6/1/09 in cold Pecos.

‘La Roma III F1’: 69 days. High yields of tasty, 4-7 oz, pear-shaped scarlet fruit on compact, manageable bushes. Fruit is more than twice the size of the old ‘Roma’, up to a week earlier, and much tastier.

‘Lemon Boy F1’ (pictured at right): 72 days. Semi-determinate, well-behaved hybrid vines bear 6-7 oz bright lemon yellow fruits with a flavor that's a delicious mix of rich, red-tomato-sweetness and just enough tanginess — the flavor explodes in the mouth with a smooth, sweet finish. Sheer eating ecstasy when dressed with extra-virgin fruity olive oil and chopped sweet basil leaves. Great performer under Northern New Mexico conditions, and perfect for containers!

‘Marmande Précoce’ aka 'Early Marmande': 60 days. Healthy semideterminate open-pollinated vines bear heavy crops of scarlet, 6 to 8 oz fruits of exquisite flavor. ‘Marmande’ type tomatoes are a favorite in Europe, and this extra-early variety is prized in many European markets.

‘Martino’s Roma’: 75 days. Compact, dark green, potato-leaved heirloom vines bear very heavy yields of meaty, pear-shaped, 2 oz, 3”, richly flavorful scarlet fruits that tend to drop from the vine when ripe. The perfect salsa, sauce, and paste tomato that can also be enjoyed fresh. Origin: Italy.

‘Moonglow’: 80 days. Compact, 3’, semideterminate heirloom vines bear dense, thick-walled, few-seeded, meaty, 3-4 oz, globe-shaped fruits of a glowing neon orange and such a sweet, tangy, low-acid, heavenly flavor that you’ll understand why tomatoes (old name: “love apples”) were once considered aphrodisiacs!

'Napa Grape F1' (pictured at right): 65 days. New for 2010! Very vigorous, disease resistant vines bear all season long heavy crops of delicious elongated scarlet 1" fruits. The highest sugar content of any grape tomato on the market.

‘Omar’s Lebanese’: 80 days. Rich, sweet, meaty, juicy, superbly flavorful, lumpy, 1-2 lb red monsters are borne till frost on large, productive, indeterminate heirloom vines. From a hill town in Lebanon, this variety is known for its heat and drought tolerance. Prefers a south or west-facing wall.

‘Patio Picnic III F1’: 65 days. Ideal for containers! Determinate bushes get only 2’ tall; bear bunches of firm, round, red, tasty 3 oz tomatoes.

‘Paul Robeson’: 78 days. Customer favorite! Big, beautiful, indeterminate heirloom vines bear slightly flattened, sometimes lobed, 6-12 oz., brick-maroon-red fruits of incomparable rich, sweet, smoky flavor. Fruits have green shoulders when fully ripe. Named for the persecuted African-American actor, athlete, singer, orator, cultural scholar, linguist (he spoke 15 languages fluently), and political activist Paul Robeson (1898-1976). Origin: Russia.

‘Peron’ (“Peron Sprayless”): 68 days. Compact determinate open-pollinated vines bear 2-4 oz scarlet fruits containing up to 2 ½ times the vitamin C of most other tomatoes! Developed in Argentina, this variety is so disease- and spray-resistant that it needs no spraying. Customer favorite!

‘Polish Linguisa’: 73 days. You won’t believe this tomato! Brought over to the US from Poland in the 1800’s, this vigorous indeterminate variety bears excellent yields of HUGE, 10 oz, 2” diameter, meaty, sausage-shaped, bright red, sweet paste tomatoes that laugh ‘Roma’ into the compost heap.

‘Red Fig’: 85 days. Thomas Jefferson grew this heirloom tomato in the 18th century, not only for the flavor of its sweet, red, pear-shaped fresh fruits, but also to dry and preserve those fruits for winter use. Heavy yields of 1.5” tomatoes on indeterminate vines. Grow on a warm south or west-facing wall for best results.

‘Rio Fuego’: 70 days. From Italy comes this exceptionally rare open-pollinated paste and sauce tomato. The vigorous vines carry heavy loads of rounded, rich red, prism-shaped fruits with an unusually full, sweet flavor that make them grand for fresh eating as well as for cooking.

‘Scatalone 2’: 82 days. Chefs know ‘San Marzano’-type tomatoes are the very best for sauce and cooking. ‘Scatalone 2’ from Italy makes big healthy indeterminate open-pollinated vines that bear gigantic elongated scarlet fruits bursting with pulp and flavor. As with many Italian tomatoes, these ripen from the inside out, so they will still be showing green at the top when they are fully ripe.

‘Stupice’: 56 days. Staff favorite! One of the best extra-early tomatoes for Northern New Mexico, this heirloom from the Czech Republic makes compact, 4’, potato-leaved plants that bear all season heavy yields of sweet, richly flavored, 2-3”, 3-4 oz, clustered scarlet fruits. My 'Stupice' plant is already (6/1/09) setting fruit in cold Pecos.

'Sungold F1' (pictured at right): 65 days. Customer favorite! Luscious golden fruits all season, with an unbeatable sweet, rich flavor even before they're fully ripe. Let 'em ripen all the way, and be prepared for a burst of can't-eat-just-one delight. Think you don't like yellow tomatoes? Wrap your lips around a 'Sungold'!

‘Sunset’s Red Horizon’: 72 days. Another wonderful heirloom beefsteak, this time brought from the Rostov Don region of Russia by gardener Nik Peplenov and named by Gary Ibsen for Sunset magazine in 2003. Big, leafy, wispy, frost resistant, blossom-end-rot-resistant vines bear huge, red, 4-6”, crack resistant, heart-shaped, meaty love apples with a delicious flavor to make your head swim. From Gary Ibsen at TomatoFest in California. Thanks, Gary!

'SuperTasty F1' (pictured at right): 70 days. New for 2010! Compact vines bear heavy crops of juicy, tangy, solid, 7-9 oz fruits, satured with luscious scarlet inside and out. Very vigorous and productive determinate vines.