My first interest in potato leaf tomatoes began at the age of 6 when I first became aware of and began to participate in gardening with my paternal grandfather, Charles Sokolowski. “Grandpa Charlie” , as I called him, was a Polish coal miner who came to this country in 1904 as a young man and settled in Scranton, PA area (Dickson City). GC soon found work in the anthracite coal mines around Dickson City, PA.
Grandpa Charlie brought from Poland in 1904, seeds of an unnamed tomato variety with unusual smooth- edged leaves and a large flattened globe shape. The juicy, flavorful pink fruits weighed from 12 to 18 ounces each. I later named this unnamed family heirloom of his “Grandpa Charlie” in his honor.
GC was an avid gardener and tomato grower who always had a large home garden to help support his growing family.
I spent many hours in the garden with my Grandpa Charlie when I was a young boy and was constantly peppering him with gardening questions. One question I remember asking was ,“Where do the smooth leaf edges come from? on the GC plant. He answered, “that’s the way god made them” .
It wasn’t until I took botany and genetics courses at Penn State in the early 1960s that I learned that these smooth edged tomato plants were a distinct variety call “potato leaf”. The smooth- edged leaves were caused by a recessive gene, “c” , on the short arm of chromosome 6 of the 12 chromosome of the tomato plant.
GC had a 50’ x100’ garden plot which took up half of a vacant lot next door. The other identical half was a garden owned by Mr. William Ottey, an English immigrant who came to southeastern PA in 1912. WO brought with him another unnamed red, globe shaped PL variety, an Ottey family heirloom from the 1870s. My second family heirloom PL tomato was named “Grandpa Willie” in GW’s honor.
WO was my adopted grandfather, and I lovingly called him “Grandpa Willie”.
I learned much about gardening from these two uneducated men who had an encyclopedia of gardening know-how and experience in their heads.
Both men were fierce competitors but gave each other encouragement and help when needed Each was not above trickery on the other. I remember one incident when Grandpa Willie wired a store-bought ripe tomato on his vine to win the "first ripe tomato" of the year contest they always had, beating his gardening buddy, GC by 7 days that year.
Dean, it looks like these two guys are still at it a hundred years later with their one upsmanship in your grow outs.