Seed source: FM (Maybe 1999?)

Heirloom potatao-leaved variety, producing large, beefsteak Tomatoes, usually pink (though other strains are available.) Reckoned by many people to be the Best Tasting Tomato In The World. (I'd agree!) Ideal Tomato for sandwiches, grilling; we use them a lot for pizza-base sauce.

Plants grow to over 1.5m given good nutrition and water. 90 days.

The Brandywine Struggle#

We were the first people (as far as we know) to have any success with Brandywine in South Africa. After several years of unsuccess by many people who were given seed by Franz, we were down to about 8 seeds. The Great Debate: Put them all into seed-trays, or keep some for the next year should we suffer yet another failure? Add into the quandry that by then the seed was getting pretty old, so we could expect good germination rates of vigour. We chickened out and kept some back. Happily we had the first success -- I believe mainly due to our climate and soil conditions rather than anything clever we did -- and were finally able to give seed back to Franz, as well as many other people, thus ensuring the ongoing success of this Brandywine strain in SA.

SummerSeason09#

First harvest: 13 Feb 2009. Fruit was not completely ripe on the bush, but we feared the deadly MouseBirds might get there first! Slight sun-scald on one side, but nothing serious.