Montréal Market is a long-lost heirloom tomato from Montréal, Québec. It hasn’t been seen in the seed trade for awhile – oh, probably, 60 years (or maybe even longer)! We’ll explain.
We were inspired to grow this tomato after reading a post by the long-time Québec seed saver and historian Michel Richard on his website www.potagersdantan.com (‘Vegetable Gardens of Yesteryear’). Mr. Richard knew the tomato existed at one point in time but could only find the scantest of evidence. He was able to find one reference to the tomato in a 1942 Dupuy & Ferguson seed catalogue. Dupuy & Ferguson were a Montréal seed company in business from 1886 until 1964. They were based in the Seraphino Giraldi building (438-442 Place Jacques-Cartier) in Old Montréal for 78 years. We have included a photo of the building from the website www.patrimoine-culturel.gouv.qc.ca. This building (which is still standing) is just 100 m (a 1 – 2 minute walk) from the historic Montréal fruit and vegetable market Marché Bonsecours (founded in 1847).
Here is the description of Montréal Market in the 1942 English edition of the Dupuy & Ferguson seed catalogue (and see the image of the tomatoes from the same catalogue):
“Montréal Market (73 days). Prolific Medium Early – This tomato is becoming very popular wherever grown. The fruit is of medium size, deep globe in shape, very smooth and seems to have very little cracking. They are very solid and an excellent deep red color throughout. The vines are strong and very prolific. In season D & F’s Montréal Market ripens with Bonny Best. Because of its fine quality and heavy yield, we believe it will have a place for the home garden as well as market shipping and canning.”
The reference to Montréal Market as ‘D & F’s Montréal Market’ suggests the seed company was involved in stewarding it in some way. If not breeding it, then perhaps because they discovered it somewhere (Marché Bonsecours?).
After reading this description — we knew we needed to grow this tomato! But where to find it? If we wanted to grow it, we had to track it down. No seed savers we knew had grown it; no seed saving organizations had it. We asked at the Canadian government’s seed bank, but no luck. Finally, we were able to find Montréal Market at the USDA seed bank (GRIN) where it had been donated in 1963.
Considering that Dupuy & Ferguson closed their doors in 1964 — 1964 might have been the last year Montréal Market was available in the seed trade (or even earlier if Dupuy & Ferguson stopped offering it before the seed company closed).
_____________
Sixty-plus years after Dupuy & Ferguson closed their doors, seeds for Montréal Market were now in our hands. It was a very special feeling to plant these seeds and see the beautiful, healthy seedlings grow and thrive in our garden. Montréal Market lived up to its 1942 catalogue description. Plants are productive and the tomatoes are a deep red colour with good old-fashioned tomato taste. The globe-shaped tomatoes range in size up to 140 g. Plants are about 4 ft tall.
_____________
As soon as we received the seeds, we reached out to Michel Richard to let him know we had found Montréal Market and offer him seeds. Although he is no longer gardening, he was very pleased that the tomato had been found. He continues his preservation efforts on his website, which is a wealth of information about Québec and Canadian heirlooms (update: Nov. 2026, the website seems to be offline, hopefully that is only temporary). We also reached out to another long-time Québec seed saver René Paquet to offer seeds, and we are happy to report he is now also growing this tomato!
_________
How to Grow Tomatoes? Start seeds indoors 6 weeks before the last frost. Plant seed 5mm (¼ inch) deep. Transplant after the danger of frost has passed/later spring.
