Tomato recommendation

[PaulM]

This probably should be in the fruit forum, but anyway. Every year I grow Sungold cherry tomatoes in my greenhouse and although I love their sweetness I’d like to grow alongside them a tomato that is larger and has more of a balance between sweetness and acidity. Any recommendations on varieties that would satisfy this would be appreciated.

[Karen]

hello Paul,

definitely my favourite subject! lol

I can’t or don’t really know how to describe the flavours, however I can vouch that I have tried over 50 varieties since we established our garden. And the impression of decent tasting toms.

mid-size to beefsteak :
vintage wine and chocolate stripes (very similar in colours and stripes – love the flavour)
omars lebanses (large, I had mine at about 13-14 cm)
black from tula
sundrop

other cherry varieties:
black cherry and chocolate cherry (very similar too, but I noticed the latter doesn’t crack as much as the former)
sungrape F1
supersweet 100 F1
sweet million F1

I am trying a few new varieties this year, namely
amish paste
green zebra
Cherokee purple
indigo rose
jaune flame
pantano romanesco
costoluto fiorentino
sweet aperitif F1
Suncherry premium F1
Modus F1
Apero F1
Rosada F1
Ace 55 VF
Harzfeuer F1
Maskotka

I have been reading this book ‘Epic Tomatoes’ by Craig LeHoullier… he is supposed to be a tomato expert… also mentioned by Mark Diacono 🙂

There´s way too many varieities out there and too short a planting season!

[PaulM]

Thanks, Karen, for your recommendations. Wow, over 50 varieties – that’s some going! Karen, do you grow your tomatoes solely undercover? I have just a small greenhouse border.

I did try the variety ‘Black Russian’ last year. It had a subtle but distinct smoky flavour.

Just had a quick google for ‘Epic Tomatoes’ . It looks some book.

[Karen]

Hello Paul,

Haha! That’s what curiosity, a polytunnel and an over-eager attitude got me started!

The tomato plant must (am using this word rather cautiously) never be wet. That is, the leaves and stems mustn’t be wet or splashed with water. When we didn’t have our polytunnel in the first year, I still wanted to grow some tomatoes and they were grown outdoors. They fruited beautifully, however that year got rather wet and rainy. And as a result, the leaves and fruit and stem turned brown and black and eventually the plant just got killed off. Many people I know too have this problem when their tomato plants aren’t grown under cover. Keep the stems, leaves and fruit off water!

The tomatoes I recommended tend to gear towards the sweet side, some not overly sweet. (Btw, my husband’s favourite tomato too is Sungold! It is predominantly everyone’s favourite! However, I still love to experiment and try new varieties.) We also have another tomato house only about 1.5m tall (compared to our 3m tall polytunnel) and I will be experimenting this year by letting the side shoots of the tomato plants grow.

Have a look at this too:
http://savvygardening.com/five-questions-with-tomato-expert-craig-lehoullier/

http://www.southernexposure.com/blog/2014/12/tomato-tastings-and-epic-tomatoes-how-to-select-grow-the-best-varieties-of-all-time/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/howtogrow/fruitandvegetables/11499631/Meet-the-tomato-expert-who-knows-the-best-varieties-for-you.html

ps: spelling error for one of the tomato variety … it should be Omars Lebanese

[Rhys]

Paul

Rosada has a fantastic taste, as do Black Cherry and Apero where small cherry tomatoes are concerned.

I’ve always found Alicante to have a very good taste where salad tomatoes are concerned.

Beefsteaks I grow outside tend to be used for cooking, so I won’t comment on flavour there, however Super Marmande, Black Russian and Black Krim have all proven reliable.

[PaulM]

Hi Karen,

Oh, how I long for a polytunnel. I did buy one of those lightweight kits you can get from garden centres that was described as a ‘mini-arc’. It look liked one of those tents firemen pass through to decontaminate after dealing with a chemical spill. Needless to say, I’d really just built a big kite and it lasted only a few weeks.

Thanks for the links. I look forward to following them up.

Rhys,

Thanks for your recommendations. Alicante looks about the size I’m after.

[Author]

Posts