Mikado Tomato | Solanum lycopersicum | Certified Organic
Rare American heirloom with exceptional flavor and reliability.
The first commercially available potato leaf tomato released in 1886, Mikado was once known as Turner's Hybrid. After Turner shared the seeds, it was renamed after a once popular and now controversial opera. It then took a back seat to its own progeny; the now famous Brandywine that started the heirloom tomato craze in contemporary times was bred from Mikado. Just as the Kitsune Fox's many tails signal its wisdom, the many tales of Mikado hint at its valuable place in the pantheon of garden tomato history.
Yields 6" diameter fruit weighing as much as 1½-2 lbs. Best for slicing or county fair competitions!
Start seeds indoors 6-8 weeks before last frost, then transplant outdoors to indicated spacing after all threat of frost has passed. All tomatoes benefit from staking; indeterminate varieties like this one require it. Prune tomatoes when they reach about 24" high and are starting to produce small suckers. Keep plants from coming into contact with the soil, and water at the roots to prevent the spread of soil borne disease. When fruits begin to ripen fully, harvest every couple of days for the highest quality tomatoes. At the end of the season, harvest any fruits that have begun to take on colour to ripen indoors.
Days to Germination 5-10 days
Days to Maturity 85 days from transplant
Planting Depth ¼"
Spacing in Row 24"
Spacing Between Rows 42"
Height at Maturity 60"
Sun Preference Full Sun
Growth Habit Indeterminate
Artwork by Kiriska. The Seattle-based artist illustrated these tomatoes with a traditional Kitsune Fox, a recurring character in Japanese folk tales. The more tails the fox has, the more wisdom it has gained over its long life as a spirit creature.
About Hudson Valley Seed Company
They are a values-driven seed company that practices and celebrates responsible seed production and stewardship. Hudson Valley are best known for their beautiful artist-design seed packs (Art Packs) that appeal to gardeners, gift buyers, and lovers of art and nature.
These Art Packs, most fundamentally, tell stories. Hudson Valley challenges artists to convey in a manner that is fully their own, the history and meaning of the seed variety contained in each pack. These stories were once integral to traditional societies-stories of seeds were often origin stories for entire communities and peoples, and the lore and beliefs that accumulated around seed varieties reflected the nearly familial way in which gardeners and farmers regarded their crops. Our society is, by and large, no longer connected to plants this way. But we like to think these Art Packs help to stitch our fragmented world back together: useful seeds, evocative art, both equally valuable to our experience of being human.