Craig LeHoullier

Name: Craig LeHoullier

Craig LeHoullier lives and gardens in Raleigh, North Carolina. A Rhode Island native, he caught the gardening passion from his grandfather, Walter, and dad, Wilfred. Craig achieved his PhD in chemistry at Dartmouth College, which resulted in a 25-year career in pharmaceuticals that ended in 2008.

Craig’s gardening obsession, which started the year he and Susan were married (and their first garden, in 1981), is passing through several stages. His love of heirloom tomatoes began with his joining the Seed Savers Exchange, an organization for which he continues to serve as adviser for tomatoes, in 1986. He is responsible for naming and popularizing many well-known tomatoes, such as Cherokee Purple.

In 2005 he added amateur tomato breeding to his garden resume, and continues to co-lead the Dwarf Tomato Breeding project, responsible for creating 90 (and counting) new compact growing varieties for space-challenged gardeners. His writing career kicked off with a 2012 request from Storey Publishing to write a book on tomatoes, resulting in Epic Tomatoes (2015). His second book, Growing Vegetables in Straw Bales, soon followed (2016).

Current Projects: Dwarf Tomato Breeding Project and lesser projects on hot and sweet pepper and eggplant breeding

Connect with Craig: @nctomatoman for Twitter and Instagram, CraigLeHoullier for Facebook book page, @nctomatoman for my Facebook personal page