Solanum lycopersicum
Saint-Pierre Tomato: for a long time, the tomato grown in French priest's gardens and family vegetable plots, it owes its popularity to a rare balance — a considerable yield without sacrificing flavor, and a skin sturdy enough not to split at the first August rains.
Characteristics:
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Remarkable yield: up to 6 kg per plant under good conditions.
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Resistant to splitting: its sturdy skin tolerates irregular watering better than others.
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Firm, flavorful flesh: ideal for stuffing, salads, or cooking.
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Heirloom, open-pollinated variety: you can resow your own seeds every year.
Sowing advice:
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Exposure: full sun and warmth.
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Soil: deep, rich, loose, and well drained. Such a productive variety is nutrient-hungry: a generous addition of well-rotted compost genuinely benefits it.
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Method: sow from February to April under cover, in fine seed-starting compost, at a minimum of 20°C — below this temperature, the seeds will not germinate. Cover with 5 mm of compost. Late sowing in April–May significantly shortens the harvest season. Transplant into pots when the plants have two true leaves. See how to sow seeds.
Planting advice:
- Transplant after the last frosts, spacing plants 70 cm apart — it needs room to reach its full yield. Bury the stem up to the first leaves: tomatoes produce roots along the buried stem, resulting in a more vigorous plant.
- This is an indeterminate variety: install a very sturdy stake at planting time, as the fruit load is substantial.
Care advice:
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Always water at the base, never over the foliage, preferably in the morning: water on the leaves provides an entry point for blight. Mulch thickly.
- Water regularly and evenly. Its productivity makes it demanding in terms of water and nutrients.
- Remove suckers — the shoots that emerge from the leaf axils — to concentrate sap on the fruits.
- Rotate crops every three to four years.
Harvesting advice:
- Harvest when fully red, when the fruit yields slightly under your finger. Store at room temperature, never in the refrigerator.
Beneficial companions:
Benefits for biodiversity:
- Its flowers are pollinated by vibration: only bumblebees make full use of them. Welcoming bumblebees directly improves your harvest.
- As an heirloom, open-pollinated variety, growing it helps preserve cultivated diversity. See our heirloom tomatoes to sow.
Uses:
- Stuffed — its firm flesh is perfectly suited to this —, in salads, sauces, or preserves. Its yield makes it the variety for large harvests intended for processing.
Saving your own seeds:
Take the pulp from a beautiful, fully ripe fruit and let it ferment for two to three days in a little water — this step breaks down the gelatinous coating that inhibits germination — then rinse: the healthy seeds will sink to the bottom. Dry them flat. See how to store your seeds.
Commitment to Quality: at SemiSauvage - Permaculture, we grow and select our seeds with respect for all living things as our guiding principle. Based near the Volcanoes of Auvergne, we choose open-pollinated, non-hybrid varieties, test them for germination rates, and carefully sort and package them, without any chemical treatment. Our conviction: to give gardeners back the ability to resow, year after year, seeds that truly belong to them.
Up to six kilos per plant: the tomato for family vegetable gardens.
