Tomato reviews likes & dislikes 2015 - 2020

[Scarlet]

Thanks it never rains....

I also add some dolomite lime to every ither water i give them but still had some bad blossom end rot. I think it was just the temps as well. Drying out quicker than i could water. Some of the tomato plants actually had the growing tip burned out them with the sun! I had to put up a lot of shading.

This year ill he growing in a polytunnel with beds and im hoping they retain moisture better than the containers!

Jamie

Container growing can be tricky with watering - last summer would have made it doubly hard. Some tomato varieties are more prone than others too - plum types, or bigger toms can get affected where cherries usually are fine.
I mostly use my Gh borders and I never have the problem. I grow orange banana every year without a problem except one year I put it in a pot and it had blossom end rot! So only cherries or salad toms go in pots for me!
Good luck - I don't think you will have the problem this year if you are growing in your borders

[Ms-T]

I grow orange banana in the quadgrow no more blossom end rot.

[Grimley]

outdoor varieties

Has any one here tried growing;

Glacier
Outdoor (Early) Girl
Valencia

Are they recommended or any other recommendations for tasty outdoor varieties
thanks

[Scarlet]

Off the top of my head / outdoor girl is a very good croppping plant. Valencia, I'm sure I've grown it but can't remember much about it. Never grown Glacier.

[Scarlet]

Outdoors

Outdoor Girl
I really loved growing this variety, it was so easy, its an old potato leaved heritage variety, it has exceptional cold tolerance, I put my tomatoes out a little early and it bothered some but not this one, others looked a little peaky but outdoor girl just stayed a fantastic dark green colour, very very early as well, a month before some of my outdoor ones, the following pic was taken on the 5th July, taste is only average but if you want early outdoor tomatoes this is the one.


Health and vigour 9/10
Taste 6/10
Will I grow next year - yes

I seem to remember Maverick grew it.

[Scarlet]

I have been meaning to post mine for some time now.
It has been a very bad year for my tomatoes, the heat has been unbearable at points with temperatures in July up at 45degrees. You could water all day and it wouldn't make a difference. So i have really suffered with blossom end rot, good to know as i will most likely suffer again. On a possitive I've never had such a good year for chilli´s and peppers!

Also all my beefsteak have completely failed, just as they have started to ripe, tiny little bugs would get to them first. So don´t think i will bother again and anyways i prefer medium sized and cherry sized fruits. So i won´t even waste my time writing about them.

Orange Banana

Health and vigour 2/10
Taste 6/10
Grow Again - Never-the worse out of all the plants for the blossom end rot, think i got only one or 2 tomatoes that were not effected


Orange german Strawberry

Health and vigour 5/10 the plant grew enormous and very healthy till it produced it fruits again bad blossom end rot.
Taste 5/10
Grow Again - Definitely Not, only tried 1 tom!


Black Cherry- but it wasn't really black cherry

Health and vigour 8/10
Taste 8/10
Grow Again - I don't know as they were mislabelled so god knows what they where!!! but will try and buy more black cherry and try again, you never know.


Valencia

Health and vigour 5/10
Taste 9/10
Grow Again - Probably not, nice healthy plants but hardly any fruit. But very very tasty, although no problem with blossom end rot.


Red Zebra (improved!)

Health and vigour 6/10
Taste 7/10
Grow Again - Not sure it did get slightly effect by blossom end rot, but such lovely tomatoes and very tasty


Tigerella

Health and vigour 6/10
Taste 6/10
Grow Again - Maybe i have plenty of seed, but was disappointed, little critters generally got there first. But i did over crowd which really did not help.


Charlie Chaplin

Health and vigour 7/10
Taste 5/10
Grow Again - Don´t think so, the tomatoes seemed very dry, maybe this was my fault. No blossom end rot and quite a few tomatoes


Chocolate stripes

Health and vigour 6/10
Taste 7/10
Grow Again - Don´t think so, but i think it was my fault for over crowding. But the tomatoes i did get were nice.


Golden sunburst

Health and vigour 9/10
Taste 9/10
Grow Again - Definitely, lovely fruit plentiful and very tasty


Sun Drop

Health and vigour 9/10
Taste 9/10
Grow Again - Definitely, be hard to know which one to choose between Golden Sunburst, Sun drop and sun gold, think i will do a pick and mix


Alicante

Health and vigour 9/10
Taste 9/10
Grow Again - Definitely, love this tomato, so many on each plant.


Red alert

Health and vigour 9/10
Taste 9/10
Grow Again - Definitely, was very impressed by this plant. At first i was annoyed that i had to stake as it is meant to be a bush variety, the plants did get very big, then seemed to stop after a while, but couldn´t hold their own weight. They gave me my first red tomatoes, and hundreds throughout the season and tasted wonderful. its a must for every year, i think!


Tamina

Health and vigour 8/10
Taste 9/10
Grow Again - Definitely, maybe not every year but def again. A potato leaf variety with lovely medium sized tomatoes and gave fruit early in the season, did quite well with the heat (being in the polytunnel as well) Fruited for a long time.


Roma

Health and vigour ?
Taste 7/10
Grow Again - they did so poorly in the beginning of the season (blossom end rot and the flowers falling off) i had a lot of plants for jarring etc, i nearly lost it and was going to pull them all up but they seemed to bounce back and gave lovely tomatoes at the end


Yellow and red pear

Health and vigour 10/10
Taste 10/10
Grow Again - Definitely, i think these are my favourite 2 plants, will always hopefully grow, great for cooking, salads everything really



Cherry Tomato

Health and vigour 7/10
Taste 9/10
Grow Again - Definitely, i buy them as young plants 10 for 1e did not do as well as last year but my garden is not complete without them



I won´t be around must next year for growing so need plants that will take care of themselves for 3-4 weeks at a time, will have irrigation and someone to pick them so any other bush varieties that you can think of or plants that take care of themselves will be appreciated.


Wow that took longer than i thought and i forgot how many plants i had. The last of my summer tomatoes are all being pulled up this weekend. bye till next year.

Lisa tried Valencia....

[Scarlet]

I've grown a Latah s few times, Bush Tom but pretty early so you miss the blight if we get any?

[Grimley]

I've grown a Latah s few times, Bush Tom but pretty early so you miss the blight if we get any?

May just give them a go, many thanks Scarlet that was helpful

[Scarlet]

May just give them a go, many thanks Scarlet that was helpful

Take those reviews above with a pinch of salt and put it in your thinking pot, everyone's tastes are different and growing conditions change hugely where you are based and how you grow them, how you water, etc. Lisa's reviews orange banana above and says she would never grow it again! It's on my grow list every year

[jackarmy]

Red Alert another good early outdoor tom Grimley.( also a bush tom)

[Snoop Puss]

Cadalot grows lots of varieties and he really rates Outdoor Girl as an early tom. I gave them a go but they didn't do too well for me. Possibly too hot, but I'd trust Cadalot's judgement for the UK.

[Angeldon]

Love the sweet taste of Sungold and the way they grow well in or outside - Do not like the way they perform in a hanging basket (got the labels mixed up with Tumbler!).

Also, love the taste of Tumbler - but they do not grow tall enough in the ground.

[jackarmy]

^^^
:d:d:d

[Workslave]

Grimley
I know its late but I do recommend Glacier as an outdoor variety
I tried it indoors grew pretty well but flavour so so
1 plant I had extra got put out and it was so productive for a small plant
I think its supposed to be a cherry but its between cherry and slicer to me
that outdoor plant had such a good flavour

My current favourite plant is Marmande due to its flavour

Sincerely
Steve

[veggiechicken]

Take those reviews above with a pinch of salt and put it in your thinking pot, everyone's tastes are different and growing conditions change hugely where you are based and how you grow them, how you water, etc. Lisa's reviews orange banana above and says she would never grow it again! It's on my grow list every year

Also, Lisa grew them in Spain where the climate is ever so slightly different to the UK!!