Lena Mae Nolt's Holy Land June 06, 2012

This is the Holy Land tomato I bought from Lena Mae Nolt, owner of Homestead Nursery in Casey County. In the Seed Savers Exchange listings I've seen no reference to the foliage of Holy Land, only that the tomato is bright red, and has a good to excellent flavor. There have only been two consistent listings for tomatoes bearing this name, although all the Holy Lands claim to have travelled with an American tourist who saved seed from a tomato served as part of a meal in Palestine.

I was really surprised to see that Nolt's Holy Land has  the typical wispy leaves of an oxheart or elongated paste fruit. And the flower buds are very long and slender.

Nolt's Holy Land trying to escape!

This was John Maruskin's pick along with Jaune Flammee this year. I bought it on a whim from Homestead just because every year I have a workshop attendee ask about it. It's a mystery!

Look at the length of this blossom; it's longer than the first segment of my index finger, measuring 1 1/8 inch. It'll be interesting seeing these tomatoes, for sure!