Green Zebra Tomato Seeds

Days to Maturity: 75 from transplant

Indeterminate

If you like your tomatoes super flavorful, with that old-fashioned tart bite that grandmother's homegrown varieties always had, Green Zebra is the saladette (Roma) you've been looking for. This beautiful striped fruit is open-pollinated, but is not an heirloom, although the old favorite Evergreen did inspire its breeding and is in its parentage. Instead, Green Zebra combines modern advantages (better disease resistance, superb crack resistance, higher yields) with traditional traits (flavor, flavor, flavor). The result is spectacular.

These tomatoes are about 3 to 4 ounces apiece, with a diameter averaging 1½ to 2½ inches. They are largely green, with cream to yellow striping and streaking. The yellow tint is your clue: when it appears, it's time to harvest. Luckily, you'll get plenty of practice at this, because these indeterminate plants start earlier than most open-pollinated varieties and keep setting new fruit over a long season.

Best of all, Green Zebra has a tart flavor on a scale you may not have tasted since childhood. It's a complicated flavor, starting sweet on the tongue and finishing tangy. You can imagine the complexity it adds to sauces, stews, and other cooked dishes. It's no exaggeration to say that a single Green Zebra has as much flavor as half a dozen store-bought Romas. Plan to can at least some of your crop, so that you can add that rich tarty bite to your food all winter long.

Green Zebra is the brainchild of breeder Tom Wagner of Washington State. Interested in plants since childhood, he particularly loved Evergreen but noticed that this variety was prone to cracking. So, crack resistance was the first thing he bred into Green Zebra. Before he was finished, 4 varieties were involved, and the result, introduced in 1983, was magnificent.

Harvest these tomatoes promptly, as soon as the white or cream striping begins to turn yellow. This is not a fruit to "hold" on the plant: it will become mealy. Freshness is all—and Green Zebra is so flavorful and appealing that you won't be tempted to lose a moment before harvesting it.

Start seeds indoors 5 to 6 weeks before the last frost date. Take seedlings outdoors when danger of frost is past and night temperatures consistently remain above 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Let them acclimate for a day or two, then plant them about 2 to 2½ feet apart in the garden. Watch out for late spring frosts, protecting them with row covers or Easy Tunnels if freezing weather is forecast.