Tomato reviews likes & dislikes 2015 - 2020

[Scarlet]

ailsa Craig has performed the best for me. Normally susceptable to 'Greenback' mine have had none of it this year and they are my best toms!

Just goes to show, some times the oldies are the best!

My Mums favourite! I start some off for her every year and usually have a couple growing somewhere....they always perform well and I think they taste pretty good too!

[maverick451]

'Superb'

Snack size pink plum tomato, extremely easy to grow, vigorous and never seems to get any diesease, taste is excellent, sweet and with an acid balance as well, ill grow these every year, also unlike my other plum varieties it doesnt seem to get blossom end rot.



Earliness - 7/10
Health and Vigour - 10/10
Taste - 9/10
Crop - 8/10

[Chris11]

Can I ask a really stupid question -

After looking through my latest batch of seed cats there are quite a few more 'green' variety toms.

How do you know when they are ripe as they start green and stay that way?

Good question actually
This might be the reason why some people give them bad reviews, they've picked them too early, tried eating unripe tomatoes and judged them unfairly as a result. I wasn't sure either, the first time I grew them, but a gentle squeeze and you'll be able to feel a slight softening as they ripen, same as any similar sized tomato.

Green Zebras get a slight yellow blush as they fully ripen, don't know about other green varieties, but would guess something similar.

Here's some of my Green Zebras from last year. These are probably over-ripe, but I left some of them to ripen as long as possible so I could try and work out the ripening stages:

[Lumpy]

Thank you Chris one of natures quandries has been answered.

I know it was a daft-ish question but it was driving me nuts and I don't even grow them!

[bobbin]

I have the most appalling failure with toms..
I've a very old greenhouse so not ideal but whilst my plants are ok I never get past "completely bland" on the taste scale.i only grew tumbling Tom this year outdoors. Masses of nice fruit. Tasted of absolutely nothing! I feed them,make sure the composts right and good sized pots. Where on earth do I go wrong???
I'm in Sussex too so quite sunny. Everyone on here raves about sun gold and I had loads of fruit last year but again tasteless. Though I grew those in the ground. Help.

[maverick451]

I have the most appalling failure with toms..
I've a very old greenhouse so not ideal but whilst my plants are ok I never get past "completely bland" on the taste scale.i only grew tumbling Tom this year outdoors. Masses of nice fruit. Tasted of absolutely nothing! I feed them,make sure the composts right and good sized pots. Where on earth do I go wrong???
I'm in Sussex too so quite sunny. Everyone on here raves about sun gold and I had loads of fruit last year but again tasteless. Though I grew those in the ground. Help.

Is there any chance you could be over watering them? I read somewhere that tomatoes get better flavour if you let them dry out slightly between waterings.

[Ladyslip]

I have grown this year.....
Shirley
Roma
Green Zebra
Akron
Black Kim
Black Cherry
Sun gold
Golden Sunrise
Indigo Apple
Big Boy
Ananas
San Marzano
Marmande
Tigerella
Cossack
Indigo Apple
Losetto
Red Velvet Bush
Red Pear
.......aaaand Maskotka

I won't grow as many varieties next year .....I don't think....:/ .....but having said that....the only two I didn't care much for this year were the Black Krim Red Velvet Bush Ananas and Big Boy......
None of which amounted to anything special.....the Black Krim I didn't like the way it grew with fruit(little that there was) splitting at the shoulders
The Ananas.....I could find a more productive variety.......Big Boy......ok.....may get another chance but I think I have better and will probably try Amish Paste again
Red Velvet Bush....well ....it didn't do anything much at all......as I recall even as seedlings they were spindly weak plants
I found my Sungold to be stretchy spidery plants this year but plenty of good sweet little fruits.

Some I've grown in Autopots......and some in plant halos in the beds :-)

[ecudc]

Sungold:

Health: 7/10 mainly great but lost one plant
Yield: 8/10 earliest to ripen and is still cropping
Taste: have not found anything that comes close yet. Is a touch sweet for certain things 9/10
Grow again? Every year. It's only downside is its tendency to crack

Roma
Health: 7/10...plant turned into a triffid it's grown so well. Grown in greenhouse soil. A few got BER and a bit of slug damage.
Yield: 8/10...have run out of freezer space.
Taste: 9/10 1st class paste tomato

Grow again? Yes

San marzano

Health: 7/10.. I think they are doing ok but it's a bit hard to see them behind the Roma
Yield: 6/10 probably a bit shaded out by afore mentioned triffid
Taste: 9/10 very good paste tomato
Grow again? Maybe.

Losetto (red cherry)

Health: 6/10 grown outside and stayed blight free until September then decimated which is not great for a "blight resistant" variety.
Yield 6/10 plentiful but few ripened befor blight struck.
Taste: 4/10 insipid and mealy.
Grow again? No

[1Bee]

*settles in for a good read*

[Penellype]

Garden Pearl
Just realized I hadn't included these - I wasn't really intending to grow them this year (I was trying to ban cherry tomatoes apart from Sungold), but somehow a couple of seeds made their way into the pots...

Earliness probably about 8/10 - forgot to write down the date when I first ate one.
Health and vigour 6/10 - seedlings looked sickly but recovered well and grew well enough. Its tumbling habit means that you get a thicket of stems all on top of each other, making it susceptible to going mouldy. Mine was attacked by caterpillars this year.
Taste - 8/10, particularly nice peeled and cooked whole when it has a lovely tang behind the sweetness.
Will I grow again next year - yes. Nice thin skins and peel easily which makes up for them being so small. Most of my tomatoes are peeled and frozen as sauce, hence the decision to try to avoid cherry varieties.

[SusieG]

^^^^^ Pene, was your only reason for not growing cherry toms because they are tricky to peel...? I found my black cherry gorgeous, very sweet (thin skinned) and will grow them again .....

(saying that ~ haven't tried peeling them yet, mine have been eaten uncooked as yet, though will need to be using them in a soup recipe soon as far too many to eat ........ )

Garden pearl a recommendation ....?

[burnie]

I have a glut of toms and remember somewhere you can brew wine from them ?

I read in Amateur wine making that you can make wine from everything except, God forbid tomatoes. I was then given a book called drink your own garden, which suggested you could make a rose type wine, so I tried it......WRONG. You could put it on your chips, but it was disgusting.

[Penellype]

^^^^^ Pene, was your only reason for not growing cherry toms because they are tricky to peel...? I found my black cherry gorgeous, very sweet (thin skinned) and will grow them again .....

(saying that ~ haven't tried peeling them yet, mine have been eaten uncooked as yet, though will need to be using them in a soup recipe soon as far too many to eat ........ )

Garden pearl a recommendation ....?

I'm really fussy when it comes to things in my mouth (textures as well as tastes). One of the things I hate is tomato skin, which seems to attach itself to the roof of my mouth and can be removed only by long, painful and unattractive scraping with a fingernail. I therefore skin all of my tomatoes before I eat them, cooked or raw.

The issue with cherry tomatoes is that in order to get a decent helping you need to skin a lot of little ones, but only 1 or 2 big ones. Preparation is therefore much quicker if the tomatoes are larger.

I would recommend Garden Pearl, but only for a tall pot or hanging basket. I am growing them at the front of a gro-bed and they are trailing on the floor despite my attempts to support them. Nice little tomatoes with a good flavour and an unusual dark pink rather than red colour.

[Plumed90]

Nobody seems to grow Moneymakers - Why is this?

[veggiechicken]

Do you grow Moneymaker?