Joe's Pink Oxheart

[Fred Hempel]

I will never clutter this forum with threads about individual varieties. But every once in awhile something hits you like a bolt of lightning, and a thread must be started.

I got this variety from Carolyn this year, and it has been growing in a horrible little corner of my tomato field. Everything else in that area is growing very poorly and is disease-ridden. In addition to below average soil, the plants are dealing with the fact that I put them in too early.

Joe's Pink Oxheart stands out for 2 reasons --
1. The plant is a vigorous vine that has strikingly resisted my (unconscious) efforts to kill everything in the area.
2. The big, plentiful heart-shaped fruits are absolutely phenomenal. As the description below says, there are few seeds in the fruit, but the flavor is fantastic. A great slicer.

I suggest that interested folks go to the source for seeds.

[Fred Hempel]

Note: I have read lots of websites where it seems like EVERY TOMATO is described with a string of superlatives like those seen in the link above. This is a rare case where the description is probably an understatement.

[linzelu100]

OOooooh does sound good and the picture of the lil girl holding the tomato on homestead's site looks delish! Is that how big your's have been?

Oh and please clutter the forum with individual varieties...I love reading about all of them!

[Fred Hempel]

Mine have been mostly 8-12 ounces. Seemingly big for an oxheart.

[KarenO]

wow quite an endorsement coming from someone we all respect. I imagine they will have a "run" on those seeds now at the site you mention. I have added it to my own wish list based on your opinion and I too enjoy reading posts like this. By the way, I grew your blush tomato this year and it is definitely a new favorite of mine and it was the earliest indeterminate cherry size to ripen in my Northern garden. I am looking forward to trying more of your creations. I am a fan
KarenO

[Heritage]

Thanks Fred, it sounds like a great tomato. They also had a few other varieties that I've been wanting to try. Next year's list is growing

Steve

[carolyn137]

I offered this variety in my Jan 2013 seed offer and will be offering it again, but see below.

Two years ago I did get seeds from Margie at another message site. Neil L grew it out for seed production, and it was one of the best hearts he'd ever grown, and that's saying a lot since he's grown thousands of varieties/

But his seed production was very low so in my next seed offer I asked for volunteers to do seed production and they were:

Joe's Pink Oxheart

PaulF
lurley
Linda 10

Many times you've seen me post, especially when folks are talking about seed trading, that I would like to think they would consider buying at least half of their seeds from the smaller family run businesses b'c they need our support in these economic times and also are the ones who are also preserving varieties by making them available to thepublic..

Margie was generous with me,I sent her several varieties she didn't have, as thanks,and I do hope some of you will buy from her and she has some other good varieties as well,

Just tell her that Carolyn Male sent you.

And yes,I did send Fred seeds for several heart varieties b/c I'd like to see him and
Mark come up with some hearts, whether bees, or wasps, or whatever.I love his breeding accomplishments, I l love hearts,so there you go.

Carolyn

Edited to add that in the Fall I put up the performance thread for all the varieties that folks got from me in this last offer,and I know that there were quite a few who requested Joe's Pink Oxheart, so let's see how it did for folks in different parts of the country.

[Alfredo]

Thanks for the Link!
~Alfredo

[Douglas14]

Thanks for the heads up Fred. I'll definitely keep Joe's Pink Oxheart in mind for next year.

[carolyn137]

I was trying to remember how I first made contact with Margie, I knew it was at idig,so did a search right now and found the thread.

http://idigmygarden.com/forums/showt...s+Pink+Oxheart

You can see that I pushed Margie to find out more about the variety, and she did, and that's what she now writes at her website.

At first, I didn't even know she had a website until we started exchanging e-mails, and at the bottom of her e-mails was a link to her website.

Going through the back threads I did see someone else listing it in a grow list so she must have sent seeds to some others as well.

I SSE listed it in the 2013 SSE Yearbook and also sent seeds for trial to those seed company owners I've known for a long time, as well as offering it in my Jan 2013 seed offer.

It really does deserve to be well known IMO.

Carolyn

[Fred Hempel]

As noted above, by others, Joe's Pink Oxheart produces very few seeds. While this makes it a challenge to save seeds, it makes the tomato great for sandwiches. It doesn't soak the bread, because most of the interior is silky, solid flesh.

[Doug9345]

[QUOTE=carolyn137;369654]

Margie was generous with me,I sent her several varieties she didn't have, as thanks,and I do hope some of you will buy from her and she has some other good varieties as well,

Just tell her that Carolyn Male sent you.

What seed company does she have?

[Fred Hempel]

http://stores.homestead.com/LazyOxFarm/StoreFront.bok

Lazy Ox Farm

[Mark0820]

I purchased seeds for Joe's Pink Oxheart and a few other varieties from Margie this year, and the service was very prompt.

[carolyn137]

[QUOTE=Doug9345;369738]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Margie was generous with me,I sent her several varieties she didn't have, as thanks,and I do hope some of you will buy from her and she has some other good varieties as well,

Just tell her that Carolyn Male sent you.

What seed company does she have?

Fred linked to it in his first post here, as SOURCE.

Thanks Fred for linking to it again.

I'd like to let Margie know about this thread, but I don't think she's a member here, and thus sending her this thread won't help, b'c she can't read it.

OK, Fred's thread is already found on a Google search, so I saved the whole search and his thread seperately, and will send both to her via e-Mail, with the hopes she can read them and know that she has a great variety there,

I went through her other tomato seeds early this Am andsaw that she was also listing Anna Maria's Heart, which is one that I sent her. I can't remember theo thers, except for PSR-37 without finding the right data notebook.

Carolyn