This enterprise started over 10 years ago on the South Hill in Spokane, WA. We always had a big garden when I was a child and grew up with the ubiquitous early girls, romas, beefsteaks, and red cherry tomatoes. As an adult, I grew bored with the current selections that I found in local home improvement and other big box stores, I started ordering seeds from different catalogs. I was amazed at how many other kinds of tomatoes there were, purple, yellow, orange, white, green, pink, gold, striped, speckled, fuzzy, bell pepper shaped, banana shaped, heart shaped and the tastes… amazing differences in taste. Sweet, tart, winey, smokey, smooth, fruity and juicy.

So, I planted. I would use an entire seed packet, X 10 varieties. Needless to say, after planting my one or two of each variety, that left me with lots of 'babies". I didn't have the heart to toss them on the compost heap so I put them out in my driveway and left a box for money. It worked! People in the neighborhood would stop by, pick a few plants out and leave the correct change in the box. It was an honor system and it worked very well.

As time went by, I went from 50 to 150-200 plants. I heard about a new event, the Garden Expo, which was being held at Spokane Community College and decided to participate. It turned out very well and I've done it ever since.

In 2000, I met and married the love of my life along with his four children. He supported my continued efforts to sell tomato plants and now knows more than he ever wanted to know about them. All of the family has become involved in growing and selling them. The kids have learned about propagating plants, sales, dealing with money, the public, and are developing a work ethic.

We now plant and sell between 2500 and 3500 tomato plants. I have a small greenhouse, made of recycled airplane hangar windows and we made a larger one out of two Costco carports which we covered in greenhouse grade plastic. We start them in the house under lights in the dining room, and as we transplant to successivley bigger pots, we move them first to the small and then the larger greenhouse. Our heat source is a couple of space heaters. Strategically placed, they keep the plants from freezing. It does mean a cooler environment but I find they develop very healthy and strong root systems and are less prone to going into shock once they've been put into the garden.

In spring 2008, we sold out all of our plants in 1.5 hours with over half of them being sold from my home. This year I hope that more of my customers come to pick them up from the house for more selection and convenience.