* Common name: Tomato Valentine
* Botanical name: Solanum lycopersicum Valentine
* What it is: Valentine is a relatively new grape-type tomato that was developed by Penn State University’s Dr. Majid Foolad and Johnny’s Selected Seeds.
It’s distinct for its firm, sweet, dark-red, elongated-grape tomatoes that keep well both on the vine and after harvest without cracking. It’s also early, producing ripe fruits as soon as 55 days after setting plants in the ground.
An indeterminate hybrid, Valentine produces about 100 fruits per plant over the course of the season and has some resistance to the common and deadly early-blight disease that takes down so many tomatoes by Labor Day.
It was a good enough overall plant to win a national All-America Selections award in 2018, based on the variety’s performance in nationwide trials.
* Size: With support, plants grow about six feet tall. Space 18 to 24 inches apart.
* Where to use: Vegetable garden or on a trellis in any sunny edible-landscape garden.
* Care: Water well at planting and keep soil consistently damp all season. Work compost into soil before planting, scatter balanced granular organic fertilizer around the base every two to four weeks until fruits appear, then switch to a fertilizer higher in potassium. A straw or chopped-leaf mulch helps conserve water and discourage disease. Fungicides may be needed if blight or leaf spot threatens.
* Great partner: Basil, thyme, and/or oregano make good garden and cooking partners.
See George’s Plant Profiles for more on hundreds of past plant picks of the week.
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