Quick Summary of Podarok Moey Zhene (My Wife’s Gift)
- 🌍 Origin: A stunning Russian variety. The name translates beautifully to “My Wife’s Gift”.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), mid-season variety. The bush is surprisingly well-behaved—not overly sprawling, with moderate sucker production. It performs excellently when trained to 2 stems.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Deeply pleated, ribbed (accordion-style) red/dark pink fruits. While many pleated varieties (like Costoluto Genovese or Lorraine Beauty) are known for being hollow and dry inside, growers consistently praise this variety for being dense, heavy, and meaty without massive voids. Weight ranges from 200g on lower trusses up to massive 500g (7 to 17.5 oz) fruits higher up.
- 👅 Flavor & Texture: Mostly rated as sweet, meaty, and very tasty, making absolutely gorgeous slices for sandwiches. However, as with many pleated types, a few growers found it a bit on the dry/bland side.
- ⚠️ Growing Challenges: Highly susceptible to Blossom End Rot (BER)! Because the fruits are so ribbed and meaty, the plant demands high calcium. If planted in unlimed (acidic) soil, or if watering is inconsistent, it will almost certainly catch BER.
PODAROK MOEY ZHENE (My Wife’s Gift)
A variety from the pleated/ribbed category. My seeds were from Lenochka Danko. Indeterminate, I trained it to 2 stems, the bush is not overly sprawling, and produces a moderate amount of suckers.
On the lower trusses, the tomatoes were around 200g (7 oz), but higher up they reached 400g and 500g (14-17.5 oz). It set fruit right up until the cold weather, with a very extended fruiting period. It seemed mid-season to me. I really liked the taste and the beautiful shape, even though I’m usually not a big fan of irregularly shaped tomatoes.
Surprisingly, last year I planted three other varieties with a similar pleated shape, and all of them were low-yielding, but this one delighted me with its yield. Going on the permanent grow list (a keeper).
Here they are still green; these are the higher trusses, the shapes are diverse and beautiful. And here it is sliced for sandwiches.
I didn’t even get to taste this variety this year; absolutely all the tomatoes caught Blossom End Rot (BER) 😞. I guess it’s not meant for my garden.
Lena grew it outdoors in open ground, I don’t remember about her yield, but she can probably drop by and tell us herself. Mine didn’t get sick with anything at all. It grew in the greenhouse. 😉
I liked it very much. Tasty, beautiful, and productive. Not aggressive, not prone to disease. You absolutely must tie up the trusses for support. It is now a permanent resident in my greenhouse.
I agree that it’s beautiful, productive, and sturdy. Fruits were all over 200g (7 oz). However, the taste didn’t please me at all—it was completely bland (this year all my varieties were tasty, except this one). And it was a bit dry. I won’t plant it again.
Can I show my “Gift” too?
Very tasty, beautiful, didn’t get sick with anything. Seeds were from Lenochka Danko. Lenochka, thank you 💖
Here they are, fully ripe.
Tatyana wrote:
I liked it very much. Tasty, beautiful, and productive. Not aggressive, not prone to disease. You absolutely must tie up the trusses for support. It is now a permanent resident in my greenhouse.
Tatyana, did you bring me this “Gift”? Because I grew a pleated one, and I thought it was Lorraine Beauty. But Lorraine is supposed to be fussy, while this one was very productive and incredibly beautiful 👍
What a beauty! 😋 How well does it store once ripe, and how does it ripen if picked green?
Sorry for the stupid question 🙈 – are Mikhamiel and My Wife’s Gift the same thing? Which one is better?
Mine grew outdoors in open ground, good yield, the upper trusses were larger, and I liked the taste. Didn’t get sick with anything. Out of all the ribbed/pleated varieties, it was the meatiest.
I grew it in a greenhouse this season… the plants were sturdy and densely leafed (possibly due to high doses of organic matter)… but the trusses set regularly, without skipping any flowers—the fruits are firm, meaty, with no visible voids/hollows… the taste is very worthy…
My Gift, just starting to ripen.
I am very interested in this variety. Can you tell me which seed company makes it?
I really want to plant this variety. Where can I buy the seeds?
elena0508 wrote:
Where can I buy the seeds?
Yaroslavna has it in her private catalog 😉
Marina wrote:
I didn’t even get to taste this variety this year; absolutely all the tomatoes caught Blossom End Rot (BER)…
The exact same thing happened to me last year, it was growing in the greenhouse.
I liked the variety, it didn’t get Blossom End Rot outdoors in open ground, though the fruits were not very big. Beautiful, meaty, tasty.
This variety ended up in unlimed (acidic) soil in my garden, so Blossom End Rot (BER) grabbed hold of it for the entire season. Overall, the variety is not bad in my opinion, but Étoile looked much better under the exact same conditions.
