Amakko Cherry and a random act of kindness

[kygreg]

We all know that tomato people are pretty good people, except for those 2 or 3 whose initials I won't list here.

Anyway I have been interested in Amakko for a couple of years. Somewhere down the line I read it was an excellent tomato, a cherry and a favorite in Japan. Actually I am not sure of any of that, but I decided I wanted to try it. I got 6 seeds in one of those general swaps on another site. Those swaps where you send in x number of packets of seed and get the same number back with maybe a bonus packet or two. You can send in a want list but you really never know what you will get back.

Anyway, I got 6 seeds of Amakko. I tried to germinate them and only 1 germinated. For about two weeks in the germination cup, it did not grow beyond an inch high. So I put it in the garden and watched it a week and still no growth. I then put an ice cream bar stick beside it and market it height on the stick and decided if it didn't grow any in a week, then I would pull it. It did grow slowly and produced a few fruit= about 6 oz, definitely not cherry size.

Anyway, I digress (as old men sometime do), I found the email address of a Japanese gentlemen in an heirloom seed publication. I emailed him and asked for description information on Amakko and Sekai Ichi (seeds I acquired a few day before).
I heard nothing back and assumed either the email didn't get through or went into his spam folder or he maybe just didn't choose to answer. Then a couple of days ago, I got a letter from Japan. Inside, you guessed it, were seeds for Amakko and Sekai Ichi. The Amakko seeds had a green commerical coating on them were labeled Amakko F1.

It was a very nice surprise and a nice unexpected act of kindness. I of course am returning the favor.