Tomato reviews likes & dislikes 2015 - 2020

[Mark_Riga]

Burpee Delicious

I've grown burpee delicious variety now for a few year and been well impressed. They are a large variety that cooks well, tastes good and rarely suffers any greenback. This year in the polytunnel the temp was regularly 50degC early on and alicante toms were badly affected but these have minimal damage. Well looked after, you would get plenty of large toms an each plant, 1 example below:

[veggiechicken]

Halina

Halina tomato - seeds from Nellie-m.



Each weighed 370+grammes. I thought these were huge until I saw the 2 Marks' toms before me

Solid but juicy - that's Halina, (not the Marks!).
Not quite so juicy now as I've taken the seeds out to save and bunged the rest of the tom in the oven, stuffed with cheese.

Very sturdy cordon. Had a lot of whitefly in the GH which may account for some of the blemishes.

[Scarlet]

Perfect to go with a glass of wine VC...save it for a Friday it looks delicious.

[Jammers27]

Having give it a bliming good trim I think I managed to stop it producing.. Have had a good harvest of Gardeners delight.. 2 or 3 bowls full from 2 plants. the Marmande have been abit disappointing, each time a tomato ripens I pick it and it seems to be rotten at the bottom, even the tomatoes on higher branches. may pick some of the green ones hoping to catch them sooner.

[Zelenina]

Hi Jammers. Rotten bottoms sounds like a condition called blossom end rot. It's usually caused by irregular watering i.e. the soil getting quite dry then having a sudden flood of water. This then causes problems for the plants taking up calcium from the soil. Some varieties are more prone to it than others, especially when grown in containers. But it can happen when they're grown in the ground too if there's a lack of rain followed by a great abundance of it. I don't know if picking them unripe will stop it happening.

[elleme]

I grew Tigerella this year mostly - the one exception was 1 self-sown plum, I believe San Marzano.

I'll probably do something else next year. The Tigerella started reasonably early, plants grew annoyingly leggy and the yield was ok but not massive. Taste is pleasant enough but I've had tastier. So overall I don't hate them but fancy something more compact next time. My one San Marzano had a pathetic yield even for one plant and had a touch of BER again so I'm completely giving up on those. The last time I had a truly impressive yield and taste was from Angelle a few years back (although they too made sprawling messy plants) and that was grown from supermarket toms. I should have perhaps saved some seed but I wasn't sure it would keep coming true.

[MarkPelican]

The Tigerella started reasonably early, plants grew annoyingly leggy and the yield was ok but not massive.

One of the things I've always wondered is "what classifies as a reasonable yield?" I know it depends upon the variety but, I've grown a mix of cherry, standard and beefsteak and have (so far, the season isn't yet over) an average of just over 1kg per plant. My Summer Cider have given me about 4kg and my Garden Pearl hundreds of fruit but do people in general expect more fruit?

BTW I've given up with Tigerella and grow Red Zebra instead, I think it gives a better flavour.

[happyhumph]

I never have much luck with large toms here. Have to say the latah has been great. Flavour got better as the season went on - really lovely now. A v messy bush, but quite flexible. If you leave it as a bush you get lots of smaller fruit. If you train it as a cordon but with about 4 main stems you get fewer (though still plenty ) of much larger fruit.

Has been producing for ages - really early and keeps on going.

[Jungle Jane]

Zlatava

I planted these out really late so these have only just ripened,a little red inside,probably could be redder if I left them longer I don't know,I'll grow these again next year. The taste was like orange tomato,reminded me a bit of citrus taste for a second?

[Python15]

This year I grew Sungold, Alicante, Tumbling Tom Red and Gardeners Delight. Volume-wise the Alicante was poor but what it produced was tasty enough. This was grown outside. Sungold was very sweet; almost too sweet but the missus loved them. Gardeners I grow every year without disappointment. It seems to shrug off the poor treatment and neglect I give Tom's (not intentionally) and it always tastes great. The Tumbling Tom was grown outside and produced barrow loads of fruit. The downside was the taste; they had a sort of strong "green" taste if anyone knows what that means. Not that they were green inside you understand!

[coreopsis]

This year I grew Sungold, Alicante, Tumbling Tom Red and Gardeners Delight. Volume-wise the Alicante was poor but what it produced was tasty enough. This was grown outside.!

Wow. Did you manage to grow tomatoes outside in the Highlands??? Well done!

[Mark_Riga]

This year I tried Galina from realseeds. At first I was quite disappointed with it as the trusses seemed quite small for a cherry like tomato but, I let a couple of side shoots grow and the plants then were very prolific. If I hadn't had 'tomato leaf mould' strike, they would still have been producing now. As it is, I picked the last about end Sept. I still have about a kilo. They are going soft now (drying out) but are delicious added to mixed roast vegetables, or sliced and added to the top of a bought in pizza (like Sainsburys frozen vegetable one).


I will be growing again, hopefully in a clean greenhouse.

[Gordon Guff]

Newbie to tomatoes

Great thread and have spent ages reading through, writing down varieties then changing my mind and stroking out!!

I'm new to all this but have got my greenhouse built and desperate to get a start. Going round in circles but I think I've decided to go with:

-Sungold
-Gardeners Delight
-Ailsa Craig

I see online you can order tomato plants from May but is it easy enough to go with seeds (I don't have heater yet)

Thanks
Gordon

[Zelenina]

Why not try seeds, Gordon, and if they don't work out you can buy plants later.

[jackarmy]

you wont need a heater now Gordon, jut place them somewhere t room temp and theyll be up pretty soon, keep them moist but not to wet, much more satisfying than plants