Mortgage Lifter is the name given to a cultivar of tomato developed by M.C. Byles, also known as "Radiator Charlie", because he used it to save his house, selling it for a dollar per plant (back in the 1940s) in order to pay off his mortgage. When his radiator repair business slumped during the Great Depression, Byles started cross-breeding his four best tomato plants, until he came up with a stable derivation which he felt tasted better and had larger fruit.[1] He promoted it as being able to feed a family of six, therefore asking for and getting the sky-high price of one dollar per plant, and paying off his $6,000 house mortgage in just four years.
Big Rainbow – One of dozens of large fruited yellow tomatoes with red swirls, having a mild, sweet flavor. Hillbilly, below, is another. According to some sources, tomatoes of this color were never sold by American seed companies; their origin is not known.
Green Zebra – Often called an heirloom, it is not. It is an open-pollinated cultivar bred from four heirloom varieties and released by Tom Wagner of Lancaster, Kansas in 1983.
The Early Girl tomato is a medium globe type F1 hybrid popular with home gardeners because of its early fruit ripening. Early Girl is an indeterminate variety. It is tall growing and needs support as the plant grows. Fruit maturity claims range from 50 to 62 days from transplanting, which appeals to growers in climates with shorter frost-free seasons.
Of course I can't quit thinking about the Ahwatukee house. Could it be our diamond in the rough!
