Tomato Love Seed Vault

I sold out of Cherokee Purple and then realised I have you the next best thing...Black Krim.

The seed has been sitting quietly in my collection, waiting. Then this season I ran out of Cherokee Purple, went looking through what I had tucked away, and there she was.

I remember this tomato being bloody delicious. Smooth, deep, intense flavour — the sort of tomato you remember years later.

So, here she comes again.

This time she's coming with me into a completely different garden, from Whangamatā to Hokianga.

And the seed is good!

Fermentation followed by refrigeration is fantastic for keeping tomato seed fresh. Five years tucked away, and she's waking up again.

Love dark, richly flavoured tomatoes? Grab Black Krim heirloom beefsteak tomato seeds in NZ — open-pollinated, full of character, and returning to the Tomato Love collection.

Big, dark, beautifully imperfect — and bloody delicious.

Long, lean and built for the kitchen, San Marzano is the tomato that knows exactly what it was born to do. Thick flesh, fewer seeds and that unmistakable elongated shape make it a beauty for sauces, passata and preserving.

She's a proper Italian classic, originating in Campania around the volcanic lands of Mount Vesuvius. The story gets a little murky around exactly how she arrived there. Tradition tells of tomato seed arriving from Peru around 1770, while historical evidence places the San Marzano type in the area by the early 1900s.

And then came the canning industry.

San Marzano's firm, fleshy fruit held its shape beautifully when peeled and processed, helping turn this humble tomato into one of Italy's most famous culinary exports.

One thing worth knowing: "San Marzano" and "San Marzano DOP" aren't automatically the same thing. The protected DOP designation applies to tomatoes produced and processed within the defined Agro Sarnese-Nocerino area under specific rules.

So if you're growing one in your own garden, don't worry about the passport.

Just grow her well, let those long red fruits ripen, and make something ridiculously good with them.

Buy San Marzano heirloom beefsteak tomato seeds in NZ — open-pollinated, rich in history and grown with care in Hokianga, Northland, Aotearoa.

When you first meet Moonglow, you just know she’s something special. That skin — so yellow it’s almost luminous — is firm, never mushy.

Slice her open and you’ll see: no sugary wateriness here. Just pure, golden flesh that’s meaty, juicy, and sweet without going soft.

She turns any salad from zero to a ten with one bright splash.

Her flavour? Sunny and full of charm. Moonglow is high in disease resistance, modest in yield, but full of heart.

She's like the dependable friend who always shows up with good vibes.

I noticed that NZ Heritage Seeds has just released a cherry variety called Moonbeam — and you better believe I’ll be growing it this season.

If it’s anything like its golden big sister, we’ve got another star on our hands.

If this tomato had a soundtrack, it would be “Walking on Sunshine.”

Love flavour and colour. Grab Moonglow, open-pollinated, chemical-free seeds today — looks so good in the tossed salad.

Bold, bright, and guaranteed to lift the mood.

Pink Brandywine is a beautiful old-fashioned beefsteak tomato with large, rosy-pink fruit, meaty flesh and a rich, complex flavour. Even as seedlings they stand out, with broad, smooth-edged potato leaves quite different from the familiar jagged tomato foliage.

Give these indeterminate vines plenty of room and good support — they like to sprawl, and those big fruit can get seriously heavy. Pink Brandywine has been part of my tomato story since the early days, and it's lovely to have her back in the Seed Vault.

Ready to grow a big pink beauty? Shop Pink Brandywine heirloom tomato seeds — open-pollinated and available from Tomato Love NZ.

This one is rare, so rare it nearly slipped through time’s fingers, and it needs to be in more gardens across Aotearoa, not just tucked away in Hokianga. It’s too good, too precious, too full of quiet history to stay a secret.

When I received the seeds, I was given 400 and told they were old, likely to fail. But I had to try. And wouldn’t you know it? About 10 plants came through. Strong. Glowing. And the rest... well, the rest is history.

Now they live here in the Vault. Safe. Watched over. Replanted year after year until this gem shines in gardens all across Aotearoa.

Ready to grow something rare? Shop Pink Mexican Oaxacan heirloom tomato seeds — open-pollinated and grown in Hokianga NZ.

At first, I honestly forgot what I’d grown. The flavour was rich, the size just right — but I knew it wasn’t Black Cherry. It was something else. Something sweeter, something superior!

So I did some sleuthing, dug through my old seed orders like a tomato detective, and there it was: a seed packet labelled "Chocolate". Mystery solved. And just like that, Chocolate Cherry claimed her throne.

This is the one — the tomato that gets people stopping me on the street in springtime asking, “Do you have that brown cherry?” And when I say YES... I swear, some of them do a little dance right then and there.

She’s juicy, sweet, and unforgettable — the kind of cherry tomato you plant once and then always make room for again. Gives me a cheeky little wink identical to the one Marilyn Monroe cast her spells with every time I walk off with a basket full of her glorious gems.

Oh if you wondering the difference between this tomato and Black Cherry, Chocolate Cherry is less inclined to crack. Otherwise they look identical and flavour is similar.

She's juicy, sweet, and unforgettable. Plant chocolate Cherry heirloom tomato seeds today — and get ready to taste perfection.