Story:
From a Garden Web post by drhuey:
This summer I'm growing a mix of 20 hybrid and Heirloom American tomatoes. It's been my most productive season to date (fourth year) thanks to the terrific advice and tips gleaned from this forum over the years. I have one 'ring-in' in the plot. This is the story.
In the winter I was given a few seeds of a tomato which is very popular among home gardeners in the Geelong district in Victoria. During WW11 an Italian prisoner of war was assigned to a farmer in the Geelong district to provide labor. He proved such a good worker that the farmer made contact with his 'employee' in Italy and sponsored his return to Australia as a migrant. He arrived in the early '50's and settled in the Geelong area. Like many European immigrants he brought with him vegetable seeds including some favorite family tomato seeds. By the late '50's he was keeping the seeds of his most productive tomato and continued to grow this variety until 3-4 years ago. For many years he helped the local hospital by selling tomato seedlings at the hospital's annual Spring Fair. Apparently the word spread among the local gardeners and 'Mr Bruno's tomatoes' were eagerly sought after. Mr Bruno is still alive and now resides in a Senior Citizen's home. He can no longer grow his tomatoes. I spoke with him recently and he is happy to have the distribution of the seeds widened.
