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Old December 20, 2008   #3
carolyn137
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Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a
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Originally Posted by Medbury Gardens View Post
After reading about a tomato call Earlo of Edgecombe that was apparently a New Zealand heirloom variety,i contacted a few people within the heirloom seed industry here asking if they know of this tomato,for which no one had.I then indicated to them that i would find the seed,bring it in, grow it on with the view to build up seed stock so as to have this NZ heirloom available to the general pubic.

So thanks Zana for the three seeds,only one has made it to date but is looking great,i`ll post progress photos later.

Knowing a bit more about Earl of Edgecombes history is something i hope others in Tomatoville may have some ideas as to finding out ,who was that sheep farmer that took those seeds to the UK?,and in what year?and did he breed it?

Any ideas??

Richard
When the 6th Earl of Edgecombe died in England the nearest living male relative was in NZ and when the man designated the new 7th Earl of Edgecombe moved to England, and he was a sheep farmer, name unknown, he apparently gave the seeds to the then Henry Doubelday Foundation.

There is no information on whether it was a family heirloom or he bred it himself.

At the same time I had a friend, Ulrike Paradine, who lived in England and was a member of the Henry Doubleday organization and she got seeds and sent them to me and I grew it out and listed the variety in the 1997 SSE Yearbook for the first time.

It's a variety a lot of folks like and was one of the varieties I featured in my book, with the above history, and I like it as well.

It doesn't surprise me at all that no one in NZ knows of it. And seeds for it are widely available at a number of sources which I could name for you if you wish or you could find by Googling or even ask for more seeds if you need them in the Want subforum of the Seed Exchange Forum here at Tville.

Hope that helps.
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