Where To Get Sauce Tomato Seed

Below is a list of sauce tomato seed sources and online links. These are the companies that I have discovered so far and I've listed my experience with them. I will continue to add to this list.

I enjoy reading the seed catalogues that I receive in the mail over the winter. When I'm ready to order, I make my purchases online at their websites.

I've included links so you can conveniently visit these sites. You can request to receive a free catalogue from any of these companies online.

Territorial Seed Company is local to my area and so I feel that their tomato seed is going to do well in my Northwest garden. The Territorial varieties we like are Saucey, Oroma, Viva Italia and Ropreco Paste. I have also grown Bambino, a super-sweet cherry tomato and Jolly Elf, a yummy sweet grape tomato that produces very well.

Burpee has a newer variety called Big Mamma. The plants are prolific and the fruit is huge and tasty. Lots of great sauce with this one. It is a vine-like, indeterminate variety and so it requires tall supports.

Totally Tomatoes has a huge selection of all types of tomatoes. I grew three varieties last year with success, however they ranked low in flavor in our family taste test. The sauce tomatoes we grew were Martino's Roma, Roma VFA and Sausage.

Seeds of Change is great source for organic seeds. They are headquartered in New Mexico so many of their varieties are better for regions with longer growing seasons. They have a fantastic pepper grinder for enjoying dried peppers from your garden all year long.

Tomato Fest is a company that offers all heirloom, open-pollinated seeds for growing tomatoes. They offer many unique varieties that you cannot get anywhere else. They also offer fresh tomatoes in season. This is a great website for information on all things related to tomatoes including very helpful growing information. The owner has also written a book, The Great Tomato Book, that I have found to be very helpful with beautiful photos and wonderful recipes. This book is where I learned how to "tie-up" my tomato plants. We especially love the beautiful black tomato variety: Black Prince. It is delicious fresh or roasted and grows successfully in our garden.

Grow Italian is a company I discovered in a magazine. This is the East Coast, U.S. mail order distributor for Franchi Sementi spa of Bergamo, Italy, Italian seedsmen since 1783. The seeds packets are very large and contain plenty of seeds for this year, next year and maybe even the year after that! Favorite varieties include:

Principe Borghese, a fabulous drying tomato--covered plants continue to bear lots of fruit for us well into November.

San Marzano Redorta or San Marzano 2--these varieties bear very large, thin-skinned, oblong fruit that can weigh up to a full pound in some cases. The tomatoes are delicious eaten fresh off the vine or cooked in sauce--the larger size will produce much more roasted puree than smaller fruited varieties. In other words, on a given day, even if you only have three ripe ones--you'll have plenty of sauce for dinner! The consensus from my garden club was a resounding "thumbs up" for this variety!

On the West Coast, Franchi Seeds can be ordered by contacting Eda Muller, West Coast Distributor at 650.726.4980 or e-mail her at FranchiSeeds@aol.com.

Eda and her husband are farmers that successfully grow these seeds and sell the produce in Half Moon Bay, California. Please tell Eda that Robin Wyll from Woodinville sent you! They are working to get a website up at www.franchiseeds.com.

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