I got a chance to chat with Kim Lund regarding her passion for heirloom tomatoes. This woman is a steward, not only of tomatoes, but heirloom bean varieties. I know I'll be buying seeds from her for my 2023 garden season, for sure!
Q: What do you specialize in, as far as gardening?
A: I specialize in tomatoes. They are my true passion.
Q: When did you first get interested in growing rare and/or obscure heirloom tomato varieties?
A: I once, years ago, bought a Heirloom tomato variety called Belgium Giant and I fell in love with it and started researching heirloom varieties and got hooked.
Q: Do you have a personal favorite tomato?
A: I love all tomatoes, I have several favorites that will always have a space in my garden, Giant Belgium is one. Cour Antico de Acqui Terme is a great tomato, large and in charge, great for all things tomato, Monkey Ass, Girls Girls Weird Thing.
Q: On average, how many tomato plants do you grow in a year?
A: I try to get about 120 or so. I sell to the local restaurant so I need a lot of varieties.
Q: Tell me about your mentor. Who are they and why?
A: My father was my mentor, we gardened together for many years. He handed his passion down to me. Then when I met Martin Longseth and he became my mentor and teacher. The man was full of knowledge. He taught me a lot about not only tomatoes but different things to do with gardening. He was a great friend who is greatly missed.
Q: How many varieties of heirloom tomato seeds do you have for sale currently?
A: I currently have well over 4000 varieties, over 100 categorized in Seedsavers. (seedsavers.org)
Q: How would people get in touch with you to order?
A: They can contact me on Facebook or at Seed Savers Exchange online.
Q: Are you planning on having a website in the future?
A: I have been looking into it, but with running the farm and greenhouse sales and the garden I just don't really know when I will find the time, but it is in the future. I have many rare varieties. I am collecting rare to the United States varieties as we speak. I have several family heirlooms from many other Countries that are not available here in the U.S. The rarest I have now I would say is Campbells 33.
**Side note: Kim has many of the Campbell's varieties. These all come with a number. I ordered my Campbell's 1327 from her last year. She also has many of the different Heinz varieties in her collection. Those, like Campbell's, come with a number after the name. I find these varieties fascinating because I grow to preserve for winter use. Campbell's and Heinz are forever developing newer and tastier tomato varieties. My thoughts are that you can't go wrong with those if you are growing out to can up sauce, paste, ketchup, etc.
Q: What's the best tomato group on Facebook?
A: I find them all to be great groups. I like to see what the daily subject will be on all of them. I don't usually do much on them but I do peruse them all.
I very much enjoyed my chat with Kim. She's super knowledgeable and helpful when I was placing an order with her last year and told her what I was intending to do. Her seed prices are more than reasonable and shipping was fast!
As a matter of fact, I have some Julia Child tomatoes going that are from the seeds that I bought from Kim.
Click here to visit Seed Savers Exchange.
Click here to visit Heirloom Tomato Addicts Anonymous. You can always post and tag Kim in there.
Thank you, Kim, for indulging me. I know how busy you are so I do feel honored that you took a bit of time out to chat with me.
