Tomato varieties - case for the prosecution

[cottage garden]

I like many others decided to grow every unusual tomato I could find with a few gardeners delight and sungold thrown in.....The gardeners delight and sungold have given me bowls and bowls of fruit whereas the others are sporadic.....some only 2 tomatoes per plant! Many haven't produced any fruit....to me there is a very good reason gardeners delight and sungold have got such a following ...You actually get fruit!

Flummery.....Yes I grow green zebras tomatoes as well, although until I saw an earlier posting of yours I had forgotten what they were and had been waiting for them to turn red !(which they eventually do)...delicious red, haven't tried them green yet! But not many tomatoes per plant again.

[Cutecumber]

I did an inventory of my tomato plants yesterday - 31 plants in total.
I started about 50 or so, and gave the rest away (thanks goodness). I would aim for more like 20 in future, I think. Having said that, I've just made my second batch of passata, and it is the first time I have had enough fruit to be able to do this.

Apart from the four that never got potted up (whoops!), I don't grow tomatoes in the greenhouse. It is incredibly hot in there and what with cucumbers, aubergines and chillis, there is no room.

When I first started with veg growing, I tried tomatoes in the greenhouse - I did Moneymaker, Shirley and Cristal. The crop wasn't very big, they suffered from blossom end rot and the skins were tough. This, I guess, is what put me off these varieties and growing in the greenhouse. I would try again if I had more space.

Paul - I have two plants raised from your seeds, both Mme Fifi. There are some large tomatoes developing and it looks as if one is just starting to ripen. Fortunately these have been untouched by blight so far. Can't wait to taste them!

[Headfry]

Money Maker for green tomato chutney
Gardners Delight for little salad toms
marmande for taste, pasta sauces etc!

might try sungold next year as it seems to have good reports!

[Cutecumber]

I've decided to order some Ailsa Craig or Alicante seed for next year - can anyone do a quick comparison for me?

It will have to be outdoor grown, southern UK. Windy!

[moggssue]

CC - I burnt my 3 Moneymaker, Big Boy and 2 cherry toms on Sunday thanks to the dreaded 'B' word, but the Ailsa Craig are still holding their own and are covered in green toms (sown early April, all varieties at the same time which is another lesson learnt - stagger susan!! Sorry I didn't answer that question earlier, went off for bank hol!). I can't compare Ailsa Craig to Alicante but I can say they seem a little more blight resistant than some varieties, being the only ones I have left unless I've just been lucky.

[Flummery]

Flummery.....Yes I grow green zebras tomatoes as well, although until I saw an earlier posting of yours I had forgotten what they were and had been waiting for them to turn red !(which they eventually do)...delicious red, haven't tried them green yet! But not many tomatoes per plant again.

Are you sure they are green zebra, cottage garden? Mine go yellow when ripe but not red. You haven't got tigerella by any chance, instead of GZ?

Flum

[Phreddy]

An interesting discussion you have started here Cutie!

Seedsmen have only been with us for the last couple of hundred years or so. Before that people saved seed and grew varieties that grew well in their own location. In the third world, like here, many still do. I am collecting local varieties and looking for that special one but here people grow to live! Any garden will have upwards of 100 tomatoes for bottling or drying to keep them going through the winter. Popular varieties are the order of the day with many that have been grown for generations.

In my seed box I have 30 varieties, 6 collected locally. In my garden I have grown eight varieties from seed and two lots of transplants.

I didn’t understand the bit about growing difficulty but then remembered back to when I grew tomatoes in England: Short season and a lack of sun unless it is an Indian Summer.

My first priority is taste: Gardeners’ Delight; a Bulgarian F1 KOM that I will seed and grow again next year; a heritage variety Black Krim; Red Berry head my list with probably Roma, a plum variety.
I was writing to people on the forum to ask about their experiences with F1’s but to date nobody seems to have one to recommend. Maybe it is your dismal, wet summer to blame. Having said that I have a yellow variety of Gardeners’ Delight that has not been either sweet or tasty, maybe it is my soil.

Your argument has reminded me about English heritage varieties and I will buy some seed of Money Maker when I visit in October. I have Alicante and Ailsa Craig, can anyone suggest other candidates?

For your next seasons crop, may I suggest that you take a look at the Real Seeds website? They grow and trial seeds especially for the UK. There are a number of early tomatoes on their site that may satisfy your needs. They are organic although not certified as such, it is too expensive.

May I also recommend that you look at the Daughterofthesoil blog. There is an article about F1 tomatoes that makes very interesting reading.

Now, what was the question? Ah! F1 vs Popular varieties! I think that you pays your money and takes your choice! But pops have stood the test of time, how many F1s have?

Of the posts here, there is not one that I would disagree with and I think that ‘wingedone’ hits the nail with ‘hot off the vine’ and ‘Piglet’ makes me want to try Marmande particularly but all his selection.

Phreddy

[SMS6]

Banana Cream

I bought a heritage mixed pack this year and one variety is called Banana Cream. It just doesn't appear to want to ripen and the fruits keep suffering from end rot even though they are watered and fed just the same as my other varities which are fine.

I've never grown yellow toms before, do they take longer to ripen? Are they less robust?

I tried searching the internet for Banana Cream but couldn't find any info at all not even on the site of the seed manufacturer - maybe it's not a good variety

[Alison]

I don't know that particular variety SMS6 but I've not found that the yellow varieties take any longer to ripen than any others. However, some varieties can be a bit temperental and perhaps your banana cream are one of those. You've not been helped by this year's weather either, quite a few people I know are having a poor year what with the lack of sun and warmth.

[Phreddy]

SMS6
Don't know Banana Cream but I will look in my Kokopelli book as well as my list of heritage varieties.
I have Galina a yellow cherry. Don't like it myself but other people do. Plenty of fruit and a good ripener. Mind, I am in Bulgaria where it is still around 100 every day.
Be glad to swap some seed.

Phreddy

[SMS6]

SMS6
Don't know Banana Cream but I will look in my Kokopelli book as well as my list of heritage varieties.
I have Galina a yellow cherry. Don't like it myself but other people do. Plenty of fruit and a good ripener. Mind, I am in Bulgaria where it is still around 100 every day.
Be glad to swap some seed.

Phreddy

Hi Phreddy it does seem a rare variety and as I said even the seed company are not listing it this time round. It was a pack of 4 varieties so not many seeds of each. I do still have some though so wouldn't mind doing a swap if you fancy giving it a whirl. It looks plum shape but couldn't tell you the flavour as yet

I'll check when I get home see how many I have left

[Phreddy]

Looked in my Koko book, not there, nor my H list from Ibsen and others.
I bought a 50 pack of mixed seeds from Rougelands in USA, about £15 I think, $25 +.
10 were toms (in 20s at least) and a super lot they were. This is my second go with them although they were called something else last time.

Phreddy

[SMS6]

Okay I now have the packet in front of me. It's Unwins seeds, Tomato Heritage Showcase 1548. Four varieties in there

Vintage Wine
Christmas Grape
Lemon Tree

I found all of these on Google and they've all got fruit waiting to ripen.

Fourth being the Banana Cream which also has fruit but the fruit is suffering from end rot.

I have 9 seeds left of the Banana Cream so if you really want some Phreddy I'll let you have 4 or 5. Just let me know. I guess if I ever get them to ripen and they taste good I will be able to get more seed from them.

[dinah gale]

Yellow cocktail tomato

Has anyone tried a variety (a cherry one, I think) called Yellow Cocktail? I am told that it's a delicious tomato by a neighbour. She got hold of some plants last year but has been unable to source them again.

I've found they're produced by a firm called Totally Tomatoes in the USA. Have commisioned my son, who works there, to get me some seeds but it'd be interesting to know if they are available over here.

This year I've grown Outdoor Girl, Ferline, Roma, Sweet Million, an unknown one acquired at a Nation Veg Society meeting and Harbinger, the seeds of which one of the "old 'uns" at the allotments has been saving for some years since the seed companies stopped selling it. I can't tell you which might have been the most successful since they all got blight and had to be pulled up. Still, hope springs eternal and next year's another year - Yellow Cocktail will, hopefully, be added to the list.

[leona]

i grew a yellow cherry this year called snow white. it is listed as a white but its clearly yellow! i got it from simpsons seeds at the tomato day at west dean gardens which is this weekend coming. its fantastic, really yummy tasting. i really recomend the tomato day if anyone can get there though, its great!