Hot on the trail - of Blaby's Special.

[michael johnson]

I cant claim to have discovered it,because it was only about three days ago that I heard of it for the first time from another interested TV enthusiast, who provided me with most of the initial info.

The Blaby's special is indeed a very rare tomato, resurected from donkeys years ago from stock first grown in a place called Blaby, near Leicester in the UK. and according to legend-people used to queue for hours just to get some of the tomatoes in a long line outside the tomato farm, they were famous for their flavour and taste.

However it was a young scientist who first took up the challenge,at one of the universities, when trying to obtain some seed from that original farm which had long been closed down 30 or 40 years ago, no seed was to be found anywhere- as he thought one or two of the locals might have saved some-but No.

Then he discovered at a seed bank in the Netherlands a single entry called (Blaby)- seeds were obtained and sown and plants were produced and a small private hoard of seeds was stock piled, then the BBC took up the story and it was decided to give out samples to anyone who applied for them, over 900 people got samples of seed and grew them during the 2006 season and apparently with great success , with excellent crops.

The story was printed with full details in the Leicester Mercury newspaper ( and Darn and double Darn it) I never heard a whisper of it until now 6 months later, I e-mailed the young scientist concerned but he said he had no seeds left at all and had given them all away, and he said the best place for me to try would be some of the Leicester growers who received the free batches of seeds in 2006,
But the only snag is- that both he and the newspaper failed to keep any sort of records as to names and addresses of all the people who recieved the free seeds, as they all had to provide stamped addressed envelopes at the time.

Now I am faced with the infuriating dilemma of trying to find a few of those 900 odd people to see if any of them have a few seeds to spare or even saved any at all.

I shall probably place a small pre paid advert in the gardening section of that same newspaper hoping to catch the eye of some of those people. as a tomato like that is well worth saving.- the hunt is on once again- tally ho tantivy and all that.

[sweetwm007]

michael- sounds like you could have a good time in a telephone booth!
william

[michael johnson]

Here is the BBC report on the Blaby special tomato, which gives very detailed information about it and its heritage.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/leicester/conte..._feature.shtml

[elkwc36]

Michael hoping you find some seeds soon. Jay

[mdvpc]

Michael-Great story and good luck on your quest.

[michael johnson]

Its going to be quite hard- as two scources I have contacted so far have drawn a blank. but I will keep on trying.

[michael johnson]

Got some at last- "yippee"- one of my contacts came through with an offer of a sample ten seeds to try of the (Blaby's special) which I should get later this week in the post, so if I can get some of them to germinate ok, then there will be lots of seeds to share with Tomatoville members come the autumn.

[amideutch]

"Yippee" comming from a bloke!! You must be happy or you were down at the local pub celebrating. Don,t let your wife hear you say that or she will think your going daft. Ami

[elkwc36]

Good news Michael. Will be waiting for updates on germination. Jay

[michael johnson]

Yes -Jay I shall treat every seed as though it were made of gold, first I will try five seeds, if I get two seeds or more to germinate, there will be an air mail letter in the post to you next day after, :wink:

Ami- Nah' I wasnt P----d, just happy, after a couple of weeks of hard searching, e-mailing and writing, etc,

I am 100% teetotal for 363 days of the year , totaly blotto for christmas day and boxing day

[michael johnson]

Here are some actual photo's of the Blaby special plus more history, as grown by other people in the UK.

http://russell.g.sharp.googlepages.c...ecial%22tomato

[michael johnson]

Yes-they seemed quite adamant that the horse manure had a lot to do with the flavour, as well as the soil they used.

The best horse manure we used to be able to get years ago- was from a stable where they kept about six of those big shire stallion cart horses, now that used to be realy good stuff- you could feel the quality and texture as you were shoveling it into bags to take home,

[blatanna]

I was lucky to receive 4 Blaby seed from a friend in England. They arrived this morning and will be sown on Saturday and watched over anxiously until they germinate.

[mdvpc]

Please keep us informed on this one-and save seed.

[maryinoregon]

Please let us know how your season goes, taste, etc. Thanks for posting the story.

Mary