If you only grew 3 tomatoes this year – which cultivars would you choose?
I’ve never had this dilemma before as the greenhouse is usually a jungle of tomato foliage by June and I always defend my excessive tomato habit by claiming that growing for the school fete necessitates producing several extra trays of tomatoes – as indeed it does. But this year, having passed the responsibility of the stall onto fresh hands, I might have to acknowledge the other reasons for the tomato chaos, which include:
- An inability to compost unwanted seedlings
- An endless desire to try out new cultivars
- Too much focus on sowing: not enough on growing
So this year, with no pressure to grow for others, I’m going to raise fewer plants and make more time and space to care for them better. I’ve decided to choose only my 3 favourites – the ones with the best flavour – along with 4 new cultivars. I’m just intending to grow one of each type (please hold me to this) and thus I’ll be reducing my normal tomato numbers by three quarters.
Beautiful summery colours
Reading back through my records to decide on the 3 ‘keepers’, I’ve come across a few which just don’t quite make the grade:
- ‘Millefleur’ – a centiflor variety with hundreds of small yellow fruits, but a little disappointing on taste
- ‘Indigo Rose’ – a deep black cherry tomato with beautiful red skin under the calyx and a sweet, meaty taste, but doesn’t quite make the top three
- ‘Black Russian’ and ‘Black Krim’ – lovely mellow beefsteak tomatoes, great for salads, but not quite enough yield to make the grade
- ‘Gartenperle’ – my favourite hanging basket tomato with a sweet taste and excellent yield – would be my number 4
Other good tasting tomatoes have included ‘Tumbling Tom’ – red and yellow, ‘Tigarella’, ‘Sungold’, ‘Black Opal’ and ‘Heinz 1370’, but my self-restrained top 3 would have be:
- ‘Green Zebra’ – my children’s favourite with vibrant green stripes and a fresh tangy flavour which adds a real zing to summer salads
- ‘Gardener’s Delight’ – an unsurprising favourite for its reliability, thin skins and sweet taste
- Golden Sunrise – a deliciously sweet yellow tomato and my top tasting cultivar
Tomatoes form the basis of so many summer meals
Alongside these I’m trying:
- ‘Rosella’ – a smoky rose-pink cherry tomato with high anti-oxidant levels and very few seeds
- ‘Red Zebra’ – high levels of lycopene, excellent flavour and I can’t resist the stripes
- ‘Sweet ‘n’ Neat Red’ – a sweet container tomato for the kids to grow, reaching only 30cm
And I’d like to add another tomato based on flavour recommendation, so please leave me a comment about your top tasting tomato. I’ll choose one from your delicious favourites and sow all my tomato seeds in the next few weeks. Then hopefully, come June, the greenhouse will be home to seven healthy, heavily-cropping tomato plants, with plenty of room left over for my chillies, cucumbers, marigolds and cucamelons.
Happy sowing and growing! If you’d like to follow the progress of my tomato crop in 2018, do keep in touch via social media and subscribe to the blog below…
Thanks for all the recommendations. Here are your top tasting tomatoes, shared yesterday and today on the blog and social media:
Purple Ukraine, Japanese Black Trifele, Tigerella, Sungold, Gardeners’ Delight, Dona, Sweet Millions, Super Sweet 100, Black Russian, Tornado, Rapunzel, Bumble Bee, Black Prince, Ship Saint, Black Krim, Pineapple, Green Zebra, Rosada, Chocolate Cherokee, Maskotka, Roma, San Marzano, Rose de Berne, Tumbling Tom
What a glorious selection of assorted colours, shapes and flavours! I’ve chosen Rose de Berne to try this year. What a great excuse to order some seeds from Real Seeds and it’s just possible that some quinoa and tomato ‘Purple Ukraine’ may have snuck into the basket when I wasn’t looking… 😉
My favourite variety is “Maskotka”. Very tasty and very prolific.
Thank you – I’ll have a look and add it to the list.
Contrary to rule #2, I would still grow ‘Roma’ as one of the three choices. It has always worked for us.
Sounds like me with Sungold 😊
I grow San Marzano – an Italian plum tomato – it doesn’t always ripen in my garden but it produces beautiful fruits. It would ripen in a greenhouse, I’m sure.
Thanks – it’s a variety I’ve heard a lot about but never tried. Maybe this year’s the year? 😊
We are a family of tomato obsessives, especially after tasting an amazing range in France last year. We made notes and are trying to source the seeds! This is a great post, and lovely pics!
Oooo, great! Glad it’s useful. Most of my seeds are from Real Seeds, Suttons and Kings Seeds.
I love Rose de Berne: meaty, thin skins, a pinky glow and mellow flavour. I also love Sungold, and like you, the super reliable Gardener’s Delight. I always grow Tumbling Tom too, because they are so easy, and crop early.
Thank you – Rose de Berne sounds lovely! Might give it a try 😊
My dilemma is … you have a packet of seeds but you only want to grow one plant.?? Do you share the rest? Do you start a bunch and keep only the ‘best’ one? I agree with San Marzano – my fave for cooking- but you can buy tins of them so inexpensively I’d use the space for something new.
That is a good point. I often share seeds and tomato seeds do last a good few years, so a packet often lasts 2-3 years, unlike carrots and other seeds which have a much shorter shelf life. Also I intend to sow 4 seeds of each in case some fail, just not my normal 8-10 seeds of each. And I WILL pass on or compost unwanted seedlings this year – honest!
I’m growing Gardener’s delight and Golden Sunrise on the plot, and Sweet n Neat on the windowsill at home.
I know others rate Maskotka and Sungold. xx
Yes, I’m trying to decide between Maskotka and Rose de Berne as my 7th tomato, at the moment…
Sungold is my favourite. Shirley is a great tasting all-rounder. Rosella sounds lovely, so I shall shoe-horn into the tunnel! This is a great post, thanks for sharing.
Thanks Sharon. I know that shoe-horning feeling!! 😊