comparing tom varieties - quality, taste and yield

foreign_correspondent

HappyIdiotTalk wrote: »

For the folk who are unimpressed with the flavour of some of these toms, would you say they are still better flavoured than the supermarket varieties? None of mine are ready yet and I'll be mortally disappointed if they dont at least beat the stuff you can buy in the supermarket considering the effort I've put into growing them... and its the toms I'm looking forward too most.

no, green sausage tastes rubbish! Most of the others are ok though, but personally I think the smaller cherry varietues seem in general to have the best flavours... paste (plum) tomatoes and beefsteaks seem to be generally not so good, although marmande seems to taste ok when very ripe.

what varieties are you growing?

HappyIdiotTalk

Good question, I cant actually remember what I planted and I cocked up my plant labelling system so dont really know whats what. Most are gardeners delight, but I've also got some sungold, marmande and a couple of others.

foreign_correspondent

ah yours should taste pretty good then! - gardeners delight are great flavour-wise, and I have heard good things about sungold too, and marmande are not bad when fully ripe! Good choices :-)

HappyIdiotTalk

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

ah yours should taste pretty good then! - gardeners delight are great flavour-wise, and I have heard good things about sungold too, and marmande are not bad when fully ripe! Good choices :-)

Excellent, I just hope they ripen in time. There has been little sun all month where I am. And because this is my first time, I have't been the best tom grower and most of my fruits are small and green. I think I've let the plants grow to big, and packed them all too close together. I think I've cured both problems now, but the damage might already have been done. Still its all experience and next year will be much easier and more productive... with any luck. I'm certainly not using grow bags again. They will all be in flower buckets and big yogurt pots from the local indian restaurant! All my potted plants are thriving, unlike the grow bag plants.. which have been very iffy.

cheerfulness4

I've just picked some Mini Charm cherry toms and they were lovely and sweet. Gardener's delight are a bit hit and miss this year but I've just had one off a plant that was beautifully sweet & saltyish. Love those!

I've got lots of other varieties growing, including the Green Sausage Tomato. Its producing well, some around 3" so I'm assuming I should be eating these now. Tried one at around 2" and thought it was ...well, different is all I can say. Definitely fun to grow and impressed the kids.

Loads of Tigerella, Moneymaker, Gartenperle, Golden Sunrise starting to get that transparent orangey look so getting very excited.
Still look like I've a way to go with my Yellow Pear, Brandywine, Red pear and Roma.

Can't remember what the others were, Jersey Sunrise and black cherry spring to mind as some but the sun bleached my HM labels so I'll have to get my journal out and guess whats what.

Primrose

cheerfulness - do post the results of your black cherry tomatoes. I'm growing Black Russian for the first time this year so look forward to tasting them, and although I love Gardeners Delight, would love to try the Black Cherry next year as well if anybody reports favourably.

cheerfulness4

Primrose wrote: »

cheerfulness - do post the results of your black cherry tomatoes. .

My dad grew those last year and he said they were fine, good yield and matured quickly but he still didn't rate them as high as his beloved Gardener's delight.
I tried one of his and loved it. I did find the skin to be a little 'thicker' than other cherry toms that I've tried but liked the flavour and they will look lovely on the salad plate.

Perhaps you could let us know how you get on with the Black Russian. I keep hearing about these and have yet to try some.

Smeg77

How long do Tom's normally take to ripen, been waiting a few weeks now for mine, they're just a nice deep green colour at the moment

foreign_correspondent

Smeg77 wrote: »

How long do Tom's normally take to ripen, been waiting a few weeks now for mine, they're just a nice deep green colour at the moment

depends on the tomato variety, when they were planted, whether its under glass or outside, and the weather, so its hard to say... I have been picking ripe toms for a couple of weeks now, but only on a few varieties.. some are still quite under-ripe.

NJW69

Just read this thread and then went out to check my one and only tomato plant. It's a 'tumbling tom red' and it's in a hanging basket at the side of my back door where it gets some shelter. I've just counted and I've got over 150 tomatoes so far. The first one is just starting to turn red. It's still flowering and there are lots of little ones just starting. I'm really pleased.

I've also got a chilli plant on the windowsill in my garden room (like a conservatory but with a proper roof!) and that has about 40 chillis so far (not sure of the variety it just says finger chillies (hot)).

I feel like a market gardener! :j