I agree with Mary, first tried growing tomatoes with Gardener's World free seeds in 2009, fantastic success. They were called Red Cherry & i made sure I got the same ones last year, and they were great. I'll be doing the same this year, stick to what you know is good !
I think tomato growing is very exciting! I try about 6 new varieties every year along with 2 or 3 reliable ones and agree that gardeners delight and sungold are always delicious.
I have I have had a mixed result with costoluto fiorentino - seems to depend on who you buy seed from, some are much more ribbed and thick skinned than others. Cuor di bue/torro gave me some massive tasty fleshy fruit, over 1 kg, and country taste have massive fruit which look too perfect to be tasty but are wonderful. They look like cafe ketchup bottles!
I am trying my own grafting this year after reading the RHS garden magazine - wish me luck
my favourite tomato is tigerella, nice and tarty, wonderful fried with bacon. This tear i'me trying a variety called superlative which is grown by all the allotment holders around here (sunderland)
I have planted some plum tomato seeds 3 weeks ago and now they have grown about 10cm. I am going to plant some beef tomato seeds this weekend. Wish we have a good summer this year and so excited already... By the way,I even had some aubergines and cucumbers in my garden last year...:-)
Sokanista – Thanks for the Rosada reminder. Anyone grown Rosada?
Alex M – ‘Black Krim’ sounds fantastic! But squishy? I’ll try it one day when I have a big garden and/or greenhouse
Mustard Seed – I don’t dislike ‘Gardener’s Delight’ – it’s a fantastic tomato - I’m just a bit bored of growing it.
Cramtele8 – Grow ‘Tumbler’, Tumbling Tom’, 100s and 1000’s’, ‘Gartenperle’ (but I think the fruits look weird). I’ll report back how good ‘Losetto’ is for hanging baskets later in the year
Old Punk – Ooh ‘Golden Nuggest’ sounds fab! I can see myself just giving in and growing loads again – will I ever have my patio space in summer??
MaryElizabeth – Thanks for the reminder. They were ‘Red Cherry’. They were good, I grew them and had and enormous crop!
David Dennis – One day I will be able to grow lots of varieties for different purposes, and those two are on my list, thanks
Peter1947 – Thanks – it takes more than that to offend me! I thought it was quite funny actually... I wonder what variety Waitrose grows. Do they all turn out the same? If it’s an F1 variety you could get lots of different tomatoes similar to the parents of the Waitrose ones, rather than the ones you bought…
Grow5aday – I’ve never grown a plum, so ‘Roma’ is quite tempting...
LuvToms – Thanks for the ‘Ferline’ tip. I’ve always been wary of blight-resistant toms, believing them to be bred for that over flavour, so I’ll give this one a go as a few people have recommended it
Damselfly – Grafted plants are amazing aren’t they? Like turbo-powered robots...
Lou – are you grafting your own tomatoes? Good luck, and please let us know how you get on...
So at the moment I think you’ve all persuaded me to grow ‘Sungold’, though I’m very interested in a fair few others, now too. Perhaps I’ll give in slightly and just grow one plant each of three varieties: ‘Sungold’, ‘Golden Nugget’ and ‘Ferline’
Knikitta – I’ll definitely let you know which I choose.
I share your passion for growing tomatoes though my expereince has been mostly with older types but whichever type I grow they get a virus leaf curl and eventual dieback before the tomatoes have ripened. Varieties I have tried are old familiar ones such as Gardeners Delight, Alicante, Ailsa Craig, Red Alert, and Money Maker. I'm not sure if any of these are newer ones but my neighbour who has far more growing experience than me said that older types are a waste of time. I think this is because we live in a part of the country that is mild and wet, so more prone to virus. However I forget which types he grows, but I would like to try a new hybrid type such as Ace 55 F1 or Early Girl F1. Has anyone tried these. My best 'success' came last year when I tried a yellow variety which was disease resistant, and which ripened against a south facing stone wall. Unfortunately I lost most to the Blackbirds.
I like growing Orange Santa, they are 'santini' type but have the most unbelievable fruity taste and smell, the also seem to crop prolifically.Cuor di bue,Costoluto fiorentino & Black russian all grow well and have good flavour, a couple of show stoppers have to be Ananas Noire and Cherokee Purple, whitch both have fantastic rich sweet and smokey flavours and produce heavyweight fruits in good numbers.
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I have I have had a mixed result with costoluto fiorentino - seems to depend on who you buy seed from, some are much more ribbed and thick skinned than others. Cuor di bue/torro gave me some massive tasty fleshy fruit, over 1 kg, and country taste have massive fruit which look too perfect to be tasty but are wonderful. They look like cafe ketchup bottles!
I am trying my own grafting this year after reading the RHS garden magazine - wish me luck
I have been reliably informed that the yield is extremely high and harvest comes round very quickly with this mini tom plants.
Fingers crossed!
Kate, can you let us know which one you choose?
Sokanista – Thanks for the Rosada reminder. Anyone grown Rosada?
Alex M – ‘Black Krim’ sounds fantastic! But squishy? I’ll try it one day when I have a big garden and/or greenhouse
Mustard Seed – I don’t dislike ‘Gardener’s Delight’ – it’s a fantastic tomato - I’m just a bit bored of growing it.
Cramtele8 – Grow ‘Tumbler’, Tumbling Tom’, 100s and 1000’s’, ‘Gartenperle’ (but I think the fruits look weird). I’ll report back how good ‘Losetto’ is for hanging baskets later in the year
Old Punk – Ooh ‘Golden Nuggest’ sounds fab! I can see myself just giving in and growing loads again – will I ever have my patio space in summer??
MaryElizabeth – Thanks for the reminder. They were ‘Red Cherry’. They were good, I grew them and had and enormous crop!
David Dennis – One day I will be able to grow lots of varieties for different purposes, and those two are on my list, thanks
Peter1947 – Thanks – it takes more than that to offend me! I thought it was quite funny actually... I wonder what variety Waitrose grows. Do they all turn out the same? If it’s an F1 variety you could get lots of different tomatoes similar to the parents of the Waitrose ones, rather than the ones you bought…
Grow5aday – I’ve never grown a plum, so ‘Roma’ is quite tempting...
LuvToms – Thanks for the ‘Ferline’ tip. I’ve always been wary of blight-resistant toms, believing them to be bred for that over flavour, so I’ll give this one a go as a few people have recommended it
Damselfly – Grafted plants are amazing aren’t they? Like turbo-powered robots...
Lou – are you grafting your own tomatoes? Good luck, and please let us know how you get on...
So at the moment I think you’ve all persuaded me to grow ‘Sungold’, though I’m very interested in a fair few others, now too. Perhaps I’ll give in slightly and just grow one plant each of three varieties: ‘Sungold’, ‘Golden Nugget’ and ‘Ferline’
Knikitta – I’ll definitely let you know which I choose.