G'Day Lin!

I'm of Polish descent and there is no 'v' in the Polish language, so I'm suspecting it is of Balkans origin. I have a Croatian co-worker friend and have e-mailed her to make inquiries as to what the varietal name might mean. When I receive her reply I'll post again.

Cheers.

John

"skij" can be a Russian suffix.

Ventmarin has a variety "Versennii Michurinskii" listed as originally from Russia.

"ij" is also a Dutch construct, but your native speaker says no. You might want to go back to your native speaker with the following variations since there can be some contention over the standardized spelling. Try these: "Vesennei Mieurinskei" or "Vesenny Mieurinsky".

"ij" is also found in Flemmish (parts of Belgium).

Is that muddy enough for you?

That is all for today's language lesson.

For the record, I'm going with ventmarin and saying Russian.

I looked for the two words individually in Google and another search engine which classifies results by topic.

The best I could tell, Vesennij seems to be Russian, though much of what shows up has to do with a piece of music by Khachaturian which has Vesennij as part of its name.

Mieurinskij seems to appear only in the cultivar name. If you know anyone who reads German, it's a hot topic on German tomato and garden sites, so you might find your answer that way.

I suspect that Vesennij Mieurinskij and the Versennii Michurinskii that sugarmags found in Vent Marin are the same cultivar, possibly in different Slavic languages.

Mieurinskij/Michurinskii may refer to a place:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michurinsky

It's in Russian.
Vesennij=Spring. Michurin was a Russian version of Luther Burbank.

Thanks a lot, that`s great
Im so delighted by your responses.
So, its something like Michurin (s) spring.
It`s funny how things seem to move in circles/ come back sometimes. I came across Michurin as a student for the first time when doing the garden for an retired Professor of Russian History and Politics in Berlin. She is a keen gardener as well and over a cup of coffee she told me an old joke about Michurin going like: he died harvesting parsley when he fell off a ladder and broke his neck.

so, thanks again, and I will get a book on Michurin.
Cheers, Lin

Speaking of Russia, when I used to live there there were just two kinds of tomatoes(and other fruits & vegetables) - rotten, sold in state run stores, and very expensive, sold by farmers. Both kinds were medium sized, round, red. Now, 30+ years later, all of a sudden, in the USA I see many different tomatoes bearing Russian names. I do not believe that the communists back then prevented people from growing Black Krym,
Anna Russian, or Petushinyi Grebeshok. So, what gives? Where all those tomatoes come from?

Could only find it for sale on German sites and it is always listed as a red "Cocktail" tomato 20-30 grams in clusters of up to 20. It is not listed on Rheinhardt Kraft's site. My guess is that it is most likely of German origin and is probably a new Hybrid developed there. Cost is from 2 to 3.5 Euros per packet.

Maybe Ami who posts here will find this one and be able to help more. He lives in Germany.

Ted

Sorry for the late response but have been on vacation. I checked with a friend who posts at different sites and it seems to be a Russian variety and is OP. It's a indeterminate, Red, thin skinned growing in clusters of 12-16. It is also noted that if the fruit is dried and pickled in oil the sweetness of the fruit is enhanced. One company here in Germany is selling organic seeds for this variety. It is being touted as one of the sweetest cherry tomatoes in the world. I will ask a Russian friend for more detailed information. Ami

I just received a reply from my Russian friend Andrey. He said the correct spelling in Russian is "Vesenniy Michurinskiy" and he has never heard of the variety so go figure. I went ahead and ordered some seed for Vesennij Mieurinskij. I will probably send some to friends down under for grow out this winter so I will have seed for next year to compare with the seed I purchased this year. Ami

Thank you, Ami!

Lin, this should answer your question. This is a second reply I received from Andrey today. Ami

Ami, I have serached recently through a Russian internet engines and found out about this variety. Vesenniy Michurinskiy 1 has been develoepd by the famous Soviet tomato breeder professor Michail Rubtsov. He was born in 1921 and had became a real icon for generations of Soviet agricultural scientists and was the co-author of well-known Soviet book "Vegetable Gardening" for agricultural colleges, institutes and universities. He has been always a real fan of Michyurin.
I don't know if he is still alive, but he was an active scintist even at 85 in 2006.
And Vesenniy Michurinskiy 1is a standard Soviet tomato variety bred for early greenhouse yield in cold climates. The names means "Michyurin's Spring Grown".
I think it is quite forgotten now here in CIS.

Thanks a lot, Ami, and my regards to Andrey. I`m still waiting for a reply from the German seed company where I had ordered the stuff. And it`s a nice idea to grow a tomatoe which was created a long time ago.

Well, cheers, Lin