'Legend' Tomato (Late Blight Resistant)

Solanum lycopersicum

Origin: Oregon

Improvement status: Cultivar

Seeds per packet: ~20

Germination tested 10/2024: 93%

Life cycle: Annual

Determinate. The late-blight-resistant tomato you've been looking for! Developed by Drs. Jim Myers and Jim Baggett at Oregon State University and released in 2008, 'Legend' is a big, early, productive, great tasting tomato. It would be worth growing even without its resistance to the killer late-blight fungus, simply for being the earliest big slicing tomato out there (fruits can reach 4-5" across). You should note that "resistance" is not the same as "immunity," but growers can expect two or three additional weeks of harvest from their 'Legend' plants beyond when late-blight infestation fully destroys the crops of other tomato varieties. This is also an uncommon "parthenocarpic" tomato variety, meaning it sets seed without fertilization, making it a great tomato for colder areas, where cool nights might otherwise make tomato flowers shrivel.

GROWING TIPS: Start seeds indoors in March or early April, transplant outside after danger of last frost. Space plants 2 to 3 feet apart. inches apart. They will benefit from a trellis or tomato cage. Full sun preferred.