'Roter Heinz' and 'Onkel Gustav' – these are not only the names of often quirky relatives, but also of old tomato varieties.

From small and round to oblong mottled yellow and green, there is something for every taste: the community garden Acker Pella in Langenhagen near Hanover grows more than 130 varieties - to preserve biodiversity.

And the demand is increasing.

"This year the rush was so great that we had to stop selling young plants earlier," says Jan Heeren, who, together with Maren, founded the non-profit association Acker Pella e.

V. founded.

"After all, we also need tomato plants ourselves - for the seed removal."

The start of the initiative was more of a coincidence.

Actually, they just wanted to find a garden for themselves and friends.

When they bought the old nursery, they wanted it to be accessible to everyone.

"We quickly realized that it's not possible to just do something for yourself here, which is why we founded the association.

We like to eat tomatoes ourselves, but we also have other vegetables and are also involved in environmental education.” Heeren's main job is a landscape architect, you are responsible for campaigns and activities at BUND Niedersachsen.

your drive?

Preserving and spreading biological diversity - for better taste, but also as an answer to the climate crisis.

After all, the variety of varieties has been dwindling for years, due to industrial agriculture, which focuses on yield instead of variety and cultivation in monocultures.

The global pioneer is the Indian environmental activist Vandana Shiva, who campaigns for the preservation of old varieties, especially for Indian smallholder families.

Because: Many old varieties are regionally adapted, get along better with the respective climate and soil and produce stable harvests because they are less susceptible to pests.

In addition, a rich variety of varieties contributes to better soil health and more robust biodiversity - in the fight against the climate crisis.

The customers are private and allotment gardeners.

Their main business is from April to May when they sell the young plants.

In summer, when the tomatoes are ripe, the seeds are removed to propagate them for the next year.

The tomatoes themselves are boiled down into a sauce, dried, given to friends and neighbors or donated.

"As noble as the conservation approach is, it also has its limitations," says Heeren.

“Do you really need 15 different red salad tomatoes?

It's a lot of work to sort it out.” He points to the small bags hanging around the tomato blossoms.

“They ensure that the plant is not cross-pollinated and that it does not cross.

The tomato is self-pollinating, but it can also be pollinated by another variety if insects fly by.”

Heeren and you keep trying here and there from the bushes.

“We also work a lot with old tomato varieties like 'Aurelia' and 'Harbinger', a very old German variety.

This was bred in the 1930s and 40s,” says Heeren.

“It is always important to us that the variety is seed-solid and not just any hybrid.

There are also beautiful seed-resistant varieties that are not that old, but still taste very good.

Because it's always: Oh, the historic old varieties!

But that doesn't always have to be the case.” Heeren leads the next aisle to his favorite variety, a bright red cocktail tomato with a slight heart shape.

“This is 'Ruthje', a relatively new variety.

She is only 20 years old, very productive, has a great taste, is super stable and seed-fast.

That means I can move them on.”