Tomato reviews likes & dislikes 2015 - 2020

[Bren In Pots]

I've been picking Black Cherry they're my favourite tom for a few weeks now but nothing from Gardeners delight, Shirleys or my San Marzano.

[Bacchus]

This one was just over 1kg. Giant tree was the variety.

[Small pumpkin]

Hopefully today or tomorrow I'll be able to try my first German red strawberry.
Hopefully it's nice I'd like to save these for the seed circle. The plant produces a mass of really large toms.

Tried my first German red strawberry. It's nice flavour for a big tom, quite juicy.
I may still have to rethink for seed saving. It was pretty much all flesh, very few seeds.

[annie8]

I am also growing Shirley , gardeners delight and san Marzano. No ripe fruit yet. Other one is red cherry that I got a free packet of. Think that’ll be first as I’ve got a couple nearly ready.

[Chris11]

This one was just over 1kg. Giant tree was the variety.[ATTACH=CONFIG]82074[/ATTACH]

Probably wouldn't have space to grow this one myself, but I'd be interested to see any pictures of your plant and where you got the seeds/plant from?

[Chris11]

Tried my first German red strawberry. It's nice flavour for a big tom, quite juicy.

Grew German Orange Strawberry last year and was very happy with it.

Saved seeds (including spare seeds) and will grow again in future.

Here's one from last year alongside a Santa Fe Grande chilli:

[HoneyChild]

Like a lot of people I started growing Rosella this year. I tried one last week but was disapointed to find there was basically no taste at all so I thought maybe it wasn't ripe enough. So I waited and then this night I realised that a number of the tomatoes had split. This isn't something I normally have a problem with and my gardener's delight are fine.

Anyway, I thought I might as well eat them and they were tasty enough but I didn't think they were anything that spectacular. For me, gardener's delight are still the ones to beat. I'm not sure if there is usually a massive taste difference between tomatoes as I only grow a few of the basic varieties.

Any one else tasted a rosella yet?

[Martin H]

HoneyChild, this year I'm growing only three cherry type tomatoes: Piccolo, Roselia and Sungold.

Mrs H and I are agreed that the Sungold are the sweetest but the Roselia have the most flavour. Piccolo are in the middle, nothing special but they do look nice.

[Kitchen Gardener]

Tomato Harvest and reviews 2018

I have lots of green toms but they are slow to ripen in spite of all the sunshine. I have grown NIMBUS for the second time this year after being delighted with last years crop, they are described as being like Moneymaker but earlier?? they ate well and I am still using some I put in the freezer last September. Have also done Passion, Black Nero, Red Cherry, Sugargloss and Rainbow Blend. Chillies are doing well and cucumbers. I bought a Galia Melon just for fun and it is looking good with several small fruits so will be interested to see what happens.

[JK557]

I'm growing tomatoes this year after a 12 year break! Playing it safe with sungold and gardeners delight, which I have grown many times in the past. I've been harvesting SG for some weeks now, GD are just starting to ripen. But what has surprised me is how much bigger gardener's delight cherry tomatoes are now. I thought I had the wrong plants but a friend confirmed the same … they are most definitely not cherry sized anymore. I measured the circumference and it's averaging 14 cm!
The other issue has been the trusses have very thin stems and a long stretch to the first tomato. Many have been making a very sharp bend resulting in the stalk breaking and being held onto the plant by less than half of the original stalk. I've devised some very simple slings to support the stalks that so far are working well. Fingers crossed!

[optiminx]

My 2018 tomatoes

What are you growing, which ones are doing well? The old favourites, or the ones you are trying for the first time this year?

Are you growing in the ground, or large tubs? Feeding and watering?

Is the recent heatwave making up for the long cold winter, or bringing new problems with the drought?

Seed saving. Are you doing it, and what's your method?

What are the healthiest/strongest/most resistant plants, and which varieties have been your favourites for taste?

Pictures of your plants and fruits always welcome

I only grow the very early cropping varieties because I used to live in the Scottish Highlands, now in North/East Yorkshire. Tumbler is always reliable in pots and the ground, indoors and out, and Red Alert, we have been enjoying ripe fruits since late June and they are so tasty that the only cordon cherry I grow is Sungold, outside in the ground and the first fruits ripe enough to eat this week.

For bigger flattish fleshy fruits I like Silvery Fir Tree, ripening 58 days from transplanting and lovely flavoured, it doesn't do it's best in containers and can get blight outside, so I have this one in the greenhouse and have had two ripe fruits from my single plant so far.

More recently I've added Latah, a medium bush with variable sized tasty fruits and very early, and similarly sized Urbikani which has nice round average sized red fruits of good flavour and will overlap the last of my earliest ones and follow on till the end of the season. For a plum type I like Purple Ukraine which doesn't ripen purple really but bears lots of well flavoured large & medium fleshy fruits starting to ripen quite early on a spindly, droopy looking cordon plant which is actually perfectly healthy. I grow this in the ground, whether in or our of the greenhouse, and sometimes train two shoots per plant.
Having got used to the excellent taste of these kinds I would never grow any of the more well known popular varieties again because I find them insipid now. I do prune the foliage, more on the more vigorous ones, to direct more energy into producing and ripening fruit. I don't use any chemical feed, just worm compost, comfrey extract and seaweed extract which I use as a foliar spray as well as watering young plants with it now and then. My neighbour gives me plants of new (to her) varieties she is trying, but mostly they don't start ripening till mid or late August here so I will stick to my proven favourites, which except for Sungold are all open pollinated kinds.

[bramble]

This has been a really good year for me on the growing some early tomatoes.
I have been picking toms for the last three weeks.
Sungold is still top of the list for flavour followed by Sweet Millions, and Minibell although this one is slightly acidic.
Stupice, Salisaw Cafe, and Crimson Crush came in early.
For the larger Tom's Bieli Naliv, Burstyn, and Demidov produced very well.
Black Mauri, Heartmans Yellow Gooseberry, producing well but some are splitting.
Ailsa Craig, Alicante and Picollo are the slowest this year.
All in all I am more than happy with this year's crop.
One I have grown for the first time this year and has impressed me is North Pole.
Can't find any into on it but it's s lovely tomato,w

[Jungle Jane]

I'm growing tomatoes this year after a 12 year break! Playing it safe with sungold and gardeners delight, which I have grown many times in the past. I've been harvesting SG for some weeks now, GD are just starting to ripen. But what has surprised me is how much bigger gardener's delight cherry tomatoes are now. I thought I had the wrong plants but a friend confirmed the same … they are most definitely not cherry sized anymore. I measured the circumference and it's averaging 14 cm!
The other issue has been the trusses have very thin stems and a long stretch to the first tomato. Many have been making a very sharp bend resulting in the stalk breaking and being held onto the plant by less than half of the original stalk. I've devised some very simple slings to support the stalks that so far are working well. Fingers crossed!

They don’t sound like gardeners delight they’re huge sounding,SP had some plum shaped gardeners delight earlier in the thread,I wonder what’s going on with them. It’s awkward when the trusses weigh down the stem,I use string & tie part of the truss into the support post to take some weight off,I hope that makes sense

[robbra]

I've had quite a few trusses that are so heavy they are collapsing the vines. Apart from tying them up a small length of rubber gas tubing from a camping stove slit and placed over the vine has helped them stay intact. I've also ordered some plastic truss supports for next year, 100 for £2.50 on ebay, worth a try.
Despite all this sunshine still no red toms, like a watched kettle never boils.
Rob

[Chris11]

One I have grown for the first time this year and has impressed me is North Pole. Can't find any into on it but it's a lovely tomato

Never heard of that one either, where did you get the seeds/plant?

I wonder if it's anything to do with, or a name mix-up somewhere, with Sub Arctic Plenty?