Collaborative Breeding

Artisan Seeds started as two breeders collaborating on projects of common interest.  We are thrilled with the various tomato breeding collaborations now thriving.  One example is a multi-faceted breeding project between Mark/Jess at Frogsleap Farms; Dean Slater at PKS in Copemich, MI and Blane Horton in Jackson, MS.  In a complicated three way cross made by Mark and Dean, and combining both anthocyanin fruit and stripes (gs) - this winter Blane found a very surprising F1 plant with some phenomenal fruit (photos by Blane Horton).  Deep violet with indigo stripes, this beauty is one of a group of new breeding lines combining these traits in various germplasm backgrounds.

A dark striped beauty

This sort of collaboration captures the spirit of Artisan Seeds - encouraging breeders to achieve scale through collaboration and rewarding innovation through payment of genetic royalties based on seed sales.  Of the several dozen projects designed to develop future Artisan Tomato varieties - this is one of the more interesting.

Striped Cherries

Fred Hempel at Baia Nicchia Farm in Sunol, CA has been breeding for great tasting striped cherry tomatoes for almost a decade.  His elongated striped cherry - Blush, has received rave reviews.  As part of the initial Artisan Tomato^TM offering this fall, seed of the Bumblebee series (round striped cherries) and the Tiger series (elongated striped cherries) will be available both on the Artisan Seeds website (small packets), and through A.P. Whaley Seed Company (link) for seed in bulk quantities.   U.S. plant sales of these new varieties is available from SuperNaturals Grafted Vegetables (link), GardenLife (link), and to wholesale buyers at Plug Connection (link) and Log House Plants (link). More information and photos of these varieties will be posted this season.

Artisan Tomato^TM Bumblebee and Tiger cherries

Captain Lucky

Millard Murdock is an avid garderner and tomato lover in Notrth Carolina.  Several years ago he noticed an odd ball plant from seed he planted as Lucky Cross.  The odd ball turned out to be a chance outcross between Lucky Cross and an unknown pollen parent.  Over several generations of selection and seed saving, Millard stabilized a wonderful new line - Captain Lucky.


A few of us were fortunate enough to sample Millard's Captain Lucky in 2010 or 2011, and the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive.  Captain Lucky is a very unique GWR bicolor with green shoulders and a red bottom.   Extremely flavorful, this full season delight will be available at Artisan Seeds this fall.

Captain Lucky (photo by M. Murdock)

Captain Lucky (photo by Susan Anderson)

Introducing Artisan Tomatoes

Artisan Tomato^TM is a brand associated with Artisan Seeds, and signifies the tomato variety has met the meticulous "tasty and unique" standards - for which we strive.  The brand also means that the breeder of that tomato variety has specifically authorized seed sales by Artisan Seeds and that the breeder will be paid a royalty based on those authorized seed sales.

To learn more about Artisan Seeds LLC, follow this link.  To learn more about Artisan Tomatoes, follow this blog and watch for announcements on an Artisan Seeds commercial website in late 2012.