Oxheart Tomatoes

I have always loved to garden, ever since I was a little girl.  In 2002 when I met my husband he was building a greenhouse to raise tomatoes, maybe it was him maybe it was the produce but we have been together ever since!  We grew our business to include several farmers markets we would visit every week!  I really enjoyed this work, each year it got easier because we could get more equipment to help with the planting so I could plant more tomatoes.  About three years ago while I poured over Non GMO seed catalogs a funny looking tomato caught my eye, an Oxheart Tomato.  How interesting I thought it looks like a heart, even if it tasted terrible people would still buy them because they were pretty!  I know it sounds bad but over the years, even in produce, pretty or eye catching sells even if it tastes terrible.

I wanted to tell everyone about some of my favorite seeds since the planning is going on now for spring gardens. We went ahead and planted about 200 of the Oxheart Tomatoes that year, what a success, not only were they pretty but they tasted unbelievable.  Everything I have ever read on Oxheart Tomatoes says they need full sun, I have to disagree, we planted them with the shade of the woods that first year and they grew some prolific fruit.  The Oxheart Tomatoes do need plenty of water, water them every couple days if it does not rain and you will be set all season, even when it cools off.

The fruits of the Oxheart Plant often times average about 1lb each!  I especially like to can the Oxheart because they have a thin skin(alot of tomatoes get a hard outer skin) and they peel right off or if your like me just grind them into what you make and you never know they are there.  The Oxheart tomato is sweet and juicy but actually really meaty too so it in my eyes is almost dual purpose to make sauce and ketchup. 

The Oxheart Tomato plants like to roam so I encourage you to cage them or have room for the to spread, because they will. 

Tomatoes tend to be pretty high in acid and some people can not eat them.  The first year we planted the Oxheart Tomatoes my father had his gallbladder removed and could not handle anything with a hint of acid.  That is easy enough to deal with but he loves tomatoes and who can resist a great looking and smelling tomato in the summer heat, not many people including my dad!  He helped me pick on day for a farmers market and he had to try one.  He said it tasted wonderful and surprisingly he did not get sick.  He ate them like they were going out of style after that.  Another helpful hint about Oxheart Tomatoes is if you tend to get canker sores from tomatoes, like I do, you should be good to go!

I encourage you if you want to plant a garden or already do try the Oxheart Tomato, I sell the seed in my EBay store "from our natural homestead", well give me till Sunday I am working on those listings now!  If your are not a seed starter try your local greenhouses some of them still sell the Oxheart in plant form!