Join us for our 9th annual Salsa Festival at North End Organic Nursery, in partnership with City of Good!
Sample locally made salsas from producers and restaurants, and you can even enter your own salsa into the amateur competition to win prizes! We will have food, drinks, activities, and a bounce house! This is an all ages event!
Keep an eye on our Facebook page for more details as the event gets closer.
Tomatoes not ripening on the vine?
Lindsay, owner of North End Organic Nursery, explains the process required for tomatoes to turn from green to red.
She also offers a surprising tip for ripening tomatoes that have already begun to change color.
Are your tomato plants refusing to set fruit?
Lindsay, owner of North End Organic Nursery in Garden City Idaho, explains the pollination process required for tomato flowers to produce fruit. She also offers tips for getting the most fruit possible from your tomato plants.
It’s so easy!
Get to know tomatoes!!
Today’s featured variety: Hill Marmande
Certified organic plants available at NEON, grown from seed from Snake River Seed Cooperative!
Meaty French heirloom tomato with excellent eating qualities. Superb slicer.
This is a selection of the famous French heirloom market variety done by discerning grower Kristi Appelhans. Fruits produce heavy yields of hearty, meaty fruits excellent for slicing. On the earlier side for a medium-large slicer, and mighty pretty to boot!
Get to know tomatoes!
Today’s featured variety: Aunt Ruby’s German Green
No, I know many people have an aversion to green tomatoes because they look unripe, and they fear they will not know when to harvest them… But don’t worry, it’s not that tricky. Most green tomatoes don’t stay completely green, they will turn hues of Golden and pink.
“The biggest surprise I’ve ever experienced in tomatoes,” said the late Chuck Wyatt, vintage tomato collector. Until you try it, you won’t believe a green tomato could be this good. I rate it second only to Brandywine for flavor and it is on just about everyone’s top-ten list. Oblate 12–16 oz fruits blush lightly yellow and develop an amber-pink tinge on the blossom end when ripe. Don’t allow them to get too soft before picking. The green flesh of this beefsteak is faintly marbled with pink. Flavor sweet and tart, rich and spicy.
(85 days) Open-pollinated. Indeterminate.
Get to know tomatoes!
Today’s featured tomato is: Mortgage Lifter
Also known as radiator Charlie’s mortgage lifter, the tomato has a fun backstory of it being developed by the owner of a radiator shop located at the bottom of a steep hill in West Virginia. Over six years, he bred and developed this tomato, and sold them to customers and passersby for one dollar per plant back in the 1930s. Legend has it that he paid off his repair shops mortgage through the sale of the plants, not by fixing radiators!
Mortgage Lifter is an abundant and dependable producer of dark pink beefsteak tomatoes weighing around a pound each. We’ve been impressed at the variety’s ability to produce beautiful tomatoes under a myriad of challenging conditions. The flavor is exceptional and the large size makes them perfect for sandwiches—one slice more than covers a slice of bread!
80-90 days from transplant.
Get to know tomatoes!
Today’s featured variety: Pruden’s Purple
Spoiler alert! It’s not purple!
72 days. Vigorous indeterminate vines with potato leaf foliage produce 1 pound fruits with excellent sweet, balanced classic tomato flavor. This dark pink beefsteak tomato dates to the 19th century when “purple” was used to describe pink tomato color, long before the more recent proliferation of black and purple tomato varieties. Sometimes incorrectly listed in catalogs as being related to Brandywine, it is a comparable beefsteak type but ripens a week or two earlier and is much less finicky about growing conditions, especially less susceptible to cracking. Has some resistance to late blight.
A great choice for new gardeners looking for a dependable heirloom beefsteak tomato.
In stock now at NEON!
Get to know, Tomatoes!
Today’s featured variety: Holy Myrrhbearer
Grown from seed through Snake River Seed Cooperative!
I freaking LOVE this tomato! Truly heart-shaped, with velvety texture–SO GOOD!
These seeds reportedly came from Russia in the 1800s and passed down from a monk to one of the Sisters of the Holy Myrrhbearers, who shared them with grower Kristi Appelhans. They make beautiful, heart-shaped tomatoes, mostly 3″ with a few honkers. Excellent for sauces, canning, and fresh eating.
Tomatoes are native to northwestern South America and by at least 500 BC they had been domesticated and were being cultivated as far north as modern-day Mexico, enjoyed by Aztec and other civilizations. They spread to Europe and the Caribbean through the Spanish colonizers, where they became staple parts of the food culture in many European countries as well. Their circuitous journey brought them from the Western hemisphere to the Eastern and back again!
Indeterminate. Open-pollinated.
