As a seasoned gardener, I should know better than to plant tomatoes at the beginning of February, but H & H Nursery already had tomatoes in, including my favorite cold weather variety, Stupice.  For $1.99, I decided I could take a gamble on the weather on this one variety.  It is one of the few varieties I would call “Ultra Early.”  I can’t always find Stupice, and I don’t bother growing them from seed myself, therefore, I could not resist buying one.  If it doesn’t make it, it was only $1.99.  But if it does survive, and if I am lucky, I could be harvesting my first tomato as early as the middle of April.

Out of all the tomato varieties I like to grow, Stupice will put up with cold spring night time temperatures here better than any other indeterminate slicers I have tried.  When I have planted Stupice transplants in early March, I have harvested my first fruits by Mother’s Day.  I have planted them in mid September and harvested around Thanksgiving.  When it is the only tomato producing, I love them, and they are far better tasting than any winter or spring grocery store tomato, but Stupice is not my favorite variety for a summer tomato.  There are many better more flavorful choices when it is ideal growing conditions for tomatoes. My favorites are currently Super Marzano and Sun Sugar.

What I know about Stupice from my gardening experience:

• about a 2 oz to 4 oz  fruit
• fair to good flavor, but not excellent
• grows about 4 feet tall
• indeterminate
• potato leaf
• Good choice for a late summer/early fall or early spring planting/ Cold tolerant
• 55 days to 65 days to first fruit
• Heirloom from Czechoslovakia
• It is pronounced like Stew-peach-aye.

This post is linked to Sunny Simple Life and Prairie Homestead Blog Parties