Harlequin tomatoes

Again this year my Harlequin tomatoes have been the first, by far, to set and produce fruit. This is useful to know when planning a successional season, ie. so that you can have veggies ready for the longest period possible. These Harlequin seed were saved from last year's crop. Last year this variety was new to T&M and was on the front cover of their veggie catalogue. A packet of only 6 or 7 seeds cost me about £2.99 !! This year from about a hundred saved from only a couple of last year's tomatoes - for nothing. It really is worth saving your own seed. Having said that, not all vegetable varieties will come true to type. Squashes and pumpkins will cross pollinate with any likely partner (without wearing a condom!) and if you save seed this way you may not get what you expect. Cucumbers are the same, as are runner beans. Plant a long line of different varieties of runner bean and if you save the seed produced, you will probably create a hybrid variety - which might be interesting.