About a month ago, in Carman, four special seed packets with a rich background found their way to MCC’s plant sale.
The tomatoes were called Tundra, Chinook, Cowboy, and Ruby Slippers, and the mindfully written descriptions of the unique breeds ranged from “meaty” and “rich and smooth” to “rusty brown” and “old school.”
Because of their traits (the Cowboy, for instance, has a large, dramatic appearance with a slice that “covers a [piece] of homemade bread”), these tomato breeds have been prized across Canada, the U.S. and even as far away as Germany, Denmark, Finland, and Norway.
Despite the interest they garner around the world, however, one might say the breeds are at home — or at least close to it — in Carman and the Pembina Valley.
They were painstakingly developed by a Canadian who has devoted decades to learning the practice of breeding tomatoes that flourish in the north with their own distinctive style.
The Northern Gardener
The mind behind the specialty tomato seeds is Vancouver Island-based Karen Olivier, also known as The Northern Gardener by her large following on Instagram and Facebook.
Today, Olivier has breeds that grow across the globe, thousands upon thousands of followers on social media who take in her posts of tomatoes and gardening insights, and her seeds are available in shops across Canada.
A Google search of Karen Olivier's name illuminates her prominent position in the world of tomato breeding and growing.
Although one might expect Olivier’s success to be backed by full-time breeding or a team of experts, this isn’t quite the case.
Instead, the memorable tomatoes are a solo passion project that has taken on a life of its own through years of self-taught knowledge and formal gardening education.
Growing something unlike anything
For Olivier, it all began when she was a child working in her mother’s gardens.
“I'm a prairie farm kid from north of Edmonton, originally,” she said. “That's actually where I started growing my gardens, and that's where I started breeding tomatoes.”
While Olivier’s love of gardening stems from childhood, it was in her 20s, with her first home and her first garden, that she began to be interested in growing tomatoes in as many shapes, sizes, and colours as she could imagine.
“I was starting to explore growing different things than I had grown up with. My mom and all the prairie ladies that I knew grew pretty standard Canadian early determinant garden tomatoes like Bush Celebrity [or] Manitoba, [which was developed] at the research station in Morden,” she said.
“There was a very standard sort of selection ... in any garden centre back in those days of a couple of varieties that were popular — there wasn't anything exotic.”
"Tomato plants are hungry and thirsty. Providing consistent water and using mulch to help maintain an even and consistent moisture level will help to prevent the development of blossom end rot .... Supporting plants upright by staking, caging or trellising will make them easier to manage and keeps them up off the ground promoting good airflow and allowing easier picking."
-Some of Karen Olivier's advice on growing tomatoes.
Olivier said that the tomato varieties grown were primarily for canning, but she found herself curious about other possibilities. She fed her wonder by purchasing some late-season American heirloom tomatoes that had a bit more character than what she was used to.
Because the tomatoes were “more suited” for a longer growing period than Alberta could offer, however, the plant only yielded about one perfect tomato a season.
Even so, the labour was paid back in taste, and it changed how Olivier thought about the fruit.
“The flavour was just outstanding,” she said. “I'd never eaten a tomato that I loved so much.”
From there, a passion for growing unique tomatoes was born.
The project
For Olivier, the heirloom tomato opened a world of growing possibilities.
“I started looking at how I could maybe grow more varieties that have the flavour [of the heirloom tomato] and I was excited about things like special colours other than red — things like stripes and purple tomatoes,” she said. “I really got interested in tomatoes, and that's how it all began.”
Although Olivier had a new vision for her tomatoes, there was a hurdle for her newfound passion: Much like the American heirloom tomato, varieties that offered somewhat unconventional traits had too long a growing season to yield well in Canada.
Olivier said that some of the breeds were 100-day tomatoes, which didn’t have a chance to mature in a Zone 3 garden north of Edmonton, where the growing season only lasts about 120 frost-free days.
The solution was simple in concept but more complicated in practice. Olivier began developing new breeds of tomatoes that were earlier, hardier, and contained the traits she valued, or a more “Canadian” tomato.
Fast forward to today, and Olivier is the proud creator of tomato varieties that are as rooted in the north (especially through their names) as they are singular.
“I like to say I could pick it out of a lineup. I can look at it and [say], ‘That's one of mine,’” she said. “That's what I'm trying to be. I'm trying to get a little bit innovative, a little bit unique, and a little bit creative. I see it as kind of an artistic, creative enterprise.”
Success through trial and error
Although Olivier had her work cut out for her when she formed her philosophy of breeding, she said that because she is not a trained biologist or a plant scientist, which most tomato breeders are, she learned her craft on her own terms — through trial and error.
“A lot of what I've learned is by trying different things and making mistakes and learning from that and changing things up and trying again,” she said.
To begin the process, Olivier started by looking into heirloom varieties from Eastern Europe, including Ukraine, which has a similar latitude to the Canadian prairies.
Not only did the budding breeder have more success with these European tomatoes, but she also encountered a world of people who shared her passion as she sought information about growing and breeding the tomatoes.
The online world provided invaluable knowledge for her project.
“Through online gardening forums, I had met a bunch of crazy tomato people who were great collectors and who were absolutely, in some cases, completely obsessed with tomatoes,” she said. “I actually have become one of those obsessed-with-tomato people by having the pleasure of making friends with people from all over the world who shared this sort of passion for tomatoes ... who were so generous in sharing seeds.”
"Soil rich in nutrients is critical for optimal growth and production. Regular feeding of potted plants is especially necessary. My method is to start with a good compost-based potting mix enriched with a big handful of organic slow-release tomato food added at planting and then monthly. Additionally, I supplement every couple of weeks with a drink of soluble fertilizer with kelp extract. Kelp is magic for tomato plants!"
-Karen Olivier on growing tomatoes.
One of the experts that Olivier forged a connection with is the late Dr. Fred Hempel, a “mastermind” geneticist and plant biologist who is behind well-known varieties such as the Tiger series and the Bumblebee series of tomatoes.
“I learned a great deal just by ... reading. I learned by watching YouTube tutorials, I learned by asking questions and speaking to experts, mostly online and through e-mail on these garden forums that I was participating in,” said Olivier.
Early breeding
Armed with knowledge procured on YouTube and online forums, one of Olivier’s earlier attempts at breeding — which she does by hand in a delicate process that involves tweezers and transporting pollen — featured a variety said to be from Kazakhstan called Ludmilla Pink Heart and one of her favourite bi-colour beefsteak breeds, Captain Lucky.
She said she was hoping to create a heart-shaped variety with the bright flavour of the Captain Lucky by crossing the pair.
“I was successful with that,” she said.
Midnight Sun was the first tomato that Olivier released, and it's one that is dear to her heart. It's also a variety that has resonated with the community of tomato growers, which may not come as a surprise when one sees its striking fruit with eye-catching yellow and pink hues.
Seeing success around the world
In the many years that Olivier has been creating new tomato breeds, she has gone from growing European varieties to having her own breeds grown in Europe — and elsewhere.
What’s more, they consistently flourish.
“My varieties have been growing quite widely in a number of countries .... They do tend to do well,” she said.
“You would think that maybe a tomato that's developed in a more northern garden might not do as well in California, for example, but what I find is kind of the opposite. My tomatoes, if they grow well here, will really do well in a place that's really conducive to growing tomatoes.”
Coming full circle
Something else that has happened over years of honing the tomato-breeding craft is that Olivier has become a vital component of the online tomato world.
Her seeds are commonplace in the network of traders and sellers on the web, and she is now one of the “tomato gurus” that she has learned from.
As a seasoned breeder, Olivier finds just as much joy in sharing her knowledge and communing with fellow tomato enthusiasts as she does in developing new varieties of tomatoes.
“It’s been a real journey, and the progression is something I'm proud of, because I just love helping people learn,” she said. “I'm so interested and so excited when I see people growing my varieties and sending me pictures. It's just such a pleasure to see someone in Germany ... growing my Midnight Sun in their garden.”
‘Anybody can do it’
Although what Olivier has achieved with her tomatoes is staggering, in her view, it’s a project that’s accessible to everyone.
“It's a labour of love. It really is, and it does take time and dedication, but anybody can do it," she said. "Anyone can learn what I've learned."
According to the breeder, creating new tomato varieties requires research, attention to detail, and selecting the right parents, which is a process that begins with choosing two tomatoes one likes and can imagine combining.
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It also takes some enthusiasm.
“I think it's a wonderful hobby. I think it's a wonderful passion. I think it's a creative outlet, and I think it’s just fun," said Olivier. "If I didn’t think it was fun, I wouldn’t do it."
Olivier also said that developing one’s own breed of tomatoes is a good way to go beyond commercial seeds to add some life and intrigue to one’s garden.
“There's some great work being done by all kinds of plant breeders all over the place,” she said.
“It's really, really fun to expand your horizons, and the main way you can do that as a gardener is to learn to start your own seeds. If you can start your own seeds, your horizons expand exponentially outside of what sort of very limited varieties that you will find available in a garden centre.”
An ‘antidote’ and lifelong passion project
Since her start, growing tomatoes has accompanied Olivier through various life stages, including when she was a “young wife with [her] own garden,” when she took courses through Dalhousie University to become a master gardener, and throughout the career path that she still follows today — critical care nursing.
"Tomatoes can be a little tricky to learn to grow well, especially the large slicers, but the rewards are worth all that effort. A slab of luscious sun-ripe tomato on a slice of buttered toast is the ultimate gardener’s reward and I hope that one day Canadian gardeners will consider one of the tomatoes I bred their special favorite."
-Karen Olivier on growing tomatoes.
For Olivier, who has a collection of over 1000 different seed varieties, gardening and breeding tomatoes have been a creative undertaking and a means to connect with and grow community, but it has also offered sanctuary from her demanding position.
“What I have always found as a gardener is that it was almost an antidote for my rather stressful job,” she said. “I've been a nurse for almost 40 years now, and that has been something that I found a lot of joy and a lot of peace in — my garden.”
In the end, breeding tomatoes has transcended being a mere hobby.
Olivier calls it a “passion project” to which she is dedicated.
And although the breeder’s tomatoes have made their impression around the world, from her disease-tolerant beefsteak Polaris named after the North Star to her oxheart tomato Taiga (the Russian name for the boreal forest), they continue to be a tribute and a love letter to the Great White North.
“I've been doing this for a while now, and I've learned along the way, and my goal remains the same, and that is to create interesting, delicious tomato varieties that are early enough and are vigorous enough to be successful in a Canadian garden,” she said.
