Patrina Nuske-Small
Organization: Dwarf Tomato Project
Location: Bemboka, New South Wales South
Biography
Breeding tomatoes was not something Patrina envisioned after graduating as a Speech Pathologist at Flinders University in Adelaide South Australia. Her interest in gardening piqued as internet gardening forums revealed that a humble tomato could be one of several thousands of varieties, but not in the dwarf category which was quite limited back in 2005 when the idea of the Dwarf Tomato Project was born. Patrina successfully made eight crosses between dwarf tomatoes and heirloom non-dwarf varieties which became the breeding material to start the Dwarf Tomato Project in January 2006. Patrina’s more recent breeding of dwarf tomatoes is her Gowanda Series incorporating anthocyanins from Jim Meyer’s Indigo Rose. They are also OSS pledged. Patrina co-manages the Dwarf Tomato Project from Australia with Craig LeHoullier in North Carolina who manages the Northern Hemisphere team in this fun project.
