We have some new tomatoes that I was just tickled to find. They were developed locally at the University of Idaho. Latah, Moscow, Sandpoint, and Shoshone, I have great expectations for these four. Here is what I found on the Snake River Seed Cooperative site. I discovered this company only just last year. I was happy to find seeds that are bred to be acclimated to our region, (although there are many microclimates in this area). I also believe in buying local whenever I can. This is what the Snake River Seed Cooperative has to say about themselves and their seeds (the short version):
“Snake River Seed Cooperative is a collective of family farmers in the Intermountain West who work together to produce a wide diversity of locally-adapted seeds.”
LATAH Early, productive, and yummy variety bred by University of Idaho–perfect for containers! Latah county growers Kelly and Russell Kingsland grow this little gem, and they offer this description: Compact determinate. Bred at UI (in Latah County), Latah is well suited to Idaho’s cooler nights and relatively short growing season. A prolific producer of 2-3 oz, delicious well balanced, red fruits with good texture.
MOSCOW The largest of the U of I bred tomatoes. Good slicer and canning tomato. Not the earliest of the U of I bred tomatoes, but certainly the largest. Big, indeterminate plants spit out dozens of large, 4-5″ red fruits good for slicing and canning. Almost lost to the ether but for a Utah gardener who kept it as his main canning tomato.
SANDPOINT The smallest and earliest of Idaho bred varieties…great for containers! Extremely early variety bred by the U of Idaho in the 1960s. Small fruits range from cherries to saladette size, on very compact plants–excellent for containers, and for short-season areas.
SHOSHONE Early-ripening Idaho-bred tomato! Compact plants with lots of round red fruits! Of all the varieties bred by the U of ID in the 1960s, Shoshone tied for the earliest harvest and blew the standard early-ripening varieties out of the water for taste, compact plant size, and productivity. Excellent for containers and small spaces. Fruits vary in size from cherry to large saladette tomato.
Keep in mind that I haven’t grown these yet in my garden so these aren’t my pictures. They are ones that I found in doing an internet search. Next year they will be my own. I love taking lots of pictures of everything I grow. Most of them I am pretty proud of.
I hope that these varieties will help some of my more northern customers be more successful with their tomatoes.
Notes From The Tomato Lady 
4″ to 5″ tomatoes are too big for a quart jar. Is Moscow intended to be canned as sauce? That is the only way I can tomatoes anyway. I still like them to be firm, although I have canned slicing varieties if there were too many of them.
I quarter my tomatoes after I slip the skins. As this will the first year I grow these, I will let you know whether they can be eaten fresh or are better for cooking or both. I use all of my tomatoes to can and it makes for some serious layers of taste and some mighty pretty colored jars! Kinda like using multiple varieties of apples for an apple pie.
I grew Shoshone this year. We had a warm spring then in May and June the weather cooled and night time temps were consistently in the low 40s, even so the Shoshone had ripe tomatoes by 4th of July!. My other early varieties weren’t ready until July 18th. Shoshone is a true dwarf, with rugose leaves, and 2-3 ounce red tomatoes with good flavor. The plant is so small, about 20″, that it can easily be grown in a 12 inch pot. Next year I will start indoors in Feb then move the pot to a warm sheltered spot in the garden when night time temps are above 55. That might actually give me tomatoes in early June. Will definitely grow again but only a few for my early tomatoes as there are many other better flavored mid-season tomatoes.
where do you live?
I have Shoshone plants started under lights April 7, ready to plant May 15, great thick stems and blossoms. Going back to Moscows next year for big tomatoes along with Shoshone.