Experimenting With Alice’s Dream Tomatoes on Our Jamaican Farm

At our farm, growing food is more than just farming. It is part of our daily life, our cooking experiences, and the meals we proudly prepare for guests visiting our cooking tours in Jamaica. Tomatoes are one of the crops we use almost every single day in our kitchen, whether for fresh salads, authentic Jamaican steamed dishes, homemade sauces, or seasoning blends cooked with herbs picked fresh from the garden.

Because we use so many tomatoes both at home and on the farm, we always try to keep a steady supply growing. Some seasons we have excellent success, while other times the tomatoes humble us with challenges like blight, curly leaf problems, insects, and unpredictable weather. To be honest, over the years we never gave tomatoes as much study or attention as some of our other crops. We simply planted a few varieties every month and hoped for the best.

Usually, we grow three main varieties. One is the popular Plummy tomato, another is the large beefsteak or what many people in Jamaica call slicing tomatoes, and the third variety changes depending on what seeds or seedlings are gifted to us by friends or fellow farmers. By planting monthly, we normally have enough tomatoes in abundance for our home kitchen and for serving guests on the farm.

This year, however, something exciting happened.

I was introduced to a tomato variety called Alice’s Dream, and immediately I became fascinated. I had never seen a tomato with such unusual colors and patterns before. The fruit looked almost unreal, with shades that made it stand out from every tomato I had ever grown.

Naturally, curiosity took over.

I planted three Alice’s Dream tomato seeds, and thankfully all of them germinated beautifully. Watching the seedlings emerge from the soil was exciting, especially knowing this was not an ordinary tomato plant. As the plants continued growing, two of them developed quickly with strong healthy stems and deep green leaves. But one seedling lagged behind. It looked weaker, smaller, and almost as if it was begging for extra nutrients.

That is when I decided to turn this tomato into a personal experiment.

Over the past few months, I have spent countless hours reading articles and watching gardening videos online about what farmers place underneath tomato plants before planting. Some gardeners swear by fish heads, others recommend eggshells, bananas, Epsom salt, bone meal, or different fertilizers. After filling my head with all this internet gardening knowledge, I finally decided it was time to stop watching and start experimenting for myself.

For this weaker Alice’s Dream tomato seedling, I prepared a special grow bag loaded with rich organic matter. The soil mixture already contained plenty of cured chicken manure, rabbit manure, and horse manure. Then came the experiment.

Into the planting hole I added:

• One fish head
• Eggshells
• One whole egg
• One ripe banana
• One banana peel
• One teaspoon of Epsom salt
• One tablespoon of bone meal
• About two tablespoons of 14-28-14 fertilizer

As if that was not enough, our guests had mangoes on the farm that day, so I decided to throw in the mango cuttings as well. Honestly, I am still not sure if adding the mango was a brilliant idea or a terrible mistake. But that is the fun part about experimenting in the garden. Sometimes farming teaches you through success, and other times through failure.

And if something goes wrong, well… we can always blame the mango.

One thing I love about farming is that no two seasons are ever the same. Every crop teaches a lesson. Every experiment creates a story. Sometimes the smallest ideas lead to the biggest surprises.

I have high hopes for this Alice’s Dream tomato plant. I am expecting vigorous growth and hopefully plenty of beautiful tomatoes in the months ahead. My biggest concern right now is insects, which can quickly damage healthy tomato plants in Jamaica’s warm climate. Because of this, I decided to keep this particular tomato plant at home where I can personally monitor its progress every day.

As the plant continues growing, I plan to update this blog with photos, observations, successes, and even failures if they happen. Gardening is never perfect, and that is what makes it rewarding.

For guests visiting our Jamaican farm and cooking tours, experiences like these are part of what make farm life authentic. Farming is not just about harvesting crops; it is about learning, experimenting, adapting, and enjoying the process. Whether we are growing tomatoes, herbs, escallion, carrots, or callaloo, every plant has its own journey.

And who knows? This little Alice’s Dream experiment may turn out to be one of the best tomato plants we have ever grown.

Alice’s Dream Tomatoes week one