which "brand" of tomato do you grow??

[Deleted User]

I grew strillo and ferline and a couple of heirloom ones called old brookes

Strillo and ferline were fab, very productive and flavoursome. I froze most of the strillo as they are great to throw into roasted veg, with breakfast etc. Ferline were very easy and the longer I left them, the sweeter they became. I had lovely moments eating them sliced on hm sourdough. Old brookes were an experiment and are really for cooking as they are dense. good flavour and good results in passata but not one I`ll be bothering with again as not that productive

Next year will be ferline and strillo again, I still have enough seeds and they are very easy in bad weather, good in and out. I don`t have a proper greenhouse and not that much space so they all grow in old bags or buckets with a growpot on top. 18 this year but only 10 next year as my freezer is groaning. That will be 7 strillo and 3 ferline

Davesnave

kittie wrote: »

Next year will be ferline and strillo again, I still have enough seeds

Yes, it's worth knowing that the seeds will keep for a long time if in a cool, dark place.

I sowed some seeds that I'd squeezed onto kitchen paper in 2006, and they still came up like weeds!

Davesnave

A._Badger wrote: »

I am in awe of people who grow so many tomatoes. What on earth do you do with them all?!
!)

I grow 100+ plants, then give most of them to fund raising events and friends. It seems almost everyone wants to grow a few.

They all go somewhere.

Funky_Bold_Ribena

Sungold; the nicest tasting but an F1 so can't save the seeds and get the same plant next year; so I bought the one plant and stuck the sideshoots into the ground to make new plants. We will also try and overwinter some cuttings of this.
Dark Purple Beefsteak - from Garden Organic - lovely big purple toms.
Salt Spring Surprise - again from Garden Organic - really the most juicy tomatoes I've ever encountered.
Imur Prior Beta - from the Heritage Seed Library - a fantastic tasting red tomato, really smooth and delicious.
Yellow Perfection - from Garden Organic - yellow and yes, a perfect taste.
Mine Estonian Yellow Cheery - from Garden Organic - nice small and yellow, what's not to like?
Cuore du Bue - from Franchi - huge heart shaped red toms
Rio Grande - from Franchi - gorgeous egg shaped and great for sauces
Piglet Willie's French Black - from swapping and saving - dark green foliage that stays healthy right up until November and dark purple/black tomatoes which taste so deep and rounded it's unreal.
And then....I have a range of about 20 more Heritage or European Varieties growing this year from swapping and saving:
Arkansas Traveller
Costuluto Fiorentino
Dawson's Russian Oxheart
Peacevine Cherry
Srednjevelika
Stonor's No 2
Sugar Plum
Plus others I can't remember off the top of my head

My biggest at home tomato is a self seeded bush type though - probably one of the blight resistant ones from the trial 2 years ago as it's growing where I did the trial...I must try and work out which one it is.

I have seeds for approx 130 vine tomatoes and about 50 bush ones. I grow them in community gardens and schools; but this year's polytunnel growing was the first in a new tunnel and we have been so successful the frames are falling over with the weight of toms. And still hundreds to come.

We use them mainly in cooking for the students or volunteers and make excess into passata and freeze it.

cyclonebri1

DaftyDuck wrote: »

I have to confess to planting far too many varieties, and far too many of each. As well as the seed I had from previous years, my local garden centre had a clear-out of seed, priced down at 50p a packet.... so, I bought a few. Then the ##### reduced the price to 10p a packet... Well, I used my pocket money up and grew:

Orange Pear - Delicious, firm fruit, but tended to split
Sweetie - superb flavour. Juicy too
Tumbling Tom - very small toms, fun, but why bother.....
Pomodoro ciliegia - small, OK, but not noted anything down tastewise
Moneymaker - Refer to answers above. They are round and red...
Marmande - did suffer from end rot but otherwise good texture & flavour
Tigerella - super-juicy and rich flavour. One of the best
Red Cherry - Pretty good flavour, just so productive and easy
Golden Sunrise - huge crop, good flavour, did split rather readily
Oxheart giant - didn't crop well, my fault, try again
San Marzano - plum, used for puree, taste OK
Shirley - OK, cropped well, but flavour not special
Roma - tasty, firm texture of a plum tom, fun size
Incas - Solid cropper, plum texture, flavour not superb
Hildares - superb size and shape, texture good, heavy crop
Sunbaby - drop-dead lovely toms, superb taste

(um... I suspect there were rather more than these... :eek: These are just the ones I noted down in my trusty notebook....)

I posted a picture at the beginning of the season of my tomatoes on their racks. (If I can find the link, I'll repost). "Unfortunately", I had near-on 100% germination and, however many I gave away, I just had more... and more. The garden paths are still blocked with plants in pots. I say "never again"... but I still have the seed, and I just can't say no to growing stuff.

My name is Dafty, and I am a seed addict... no, no, it's not a problem, honestly, it's under control, honestly, no, it is, now, let me just pop down the shed... it's just... I need to.... check the .... lawnmower um.. that's not soil under my nails, really.

Must get a note book dafyD:T, my report was just from memory, but I wanted to get a feel for what others grew this year to sense check my findings.

Regarding what to do with them, I reckon we easily got over 100lb of toms this year.
We eat them like apples, but also we do loads of bolognese type sauces, so the freezer is full of skinned toms at present.
The other thing is her indoors is a health freak, lots get turned into soup, and many liquidised into tomato juice.

The only reason I grew different varieties this year was that my seedings got off to such a poor start that I decided to buy plants from the local nursery, so went with what they had. Results have been good.
As an aside they are about 90% finished now, but the seed plants, (I persevered with a few), stopped at 2 trusses, will ripen their 1st fruit within the next 2 weeks.

Bought a small propagator for next year to avoid the same issue.

While I have this topic open I'd just say to anyone who ends up with a greenhouse full of unripened toms this year, (as we did last year, hence my push to have early plants), don't chuck any, we had about 6 seed trays sat on the kitchen top units for weeks.
They ripened perfectly and we only lost a handful out the lot:T:T

cyclonebri1

esuhl wrote: »

My mum grew several varieties of toms. As well as many of the ones mentioned above, we really liked the Brandywine variety -- big and juicy with slightly soft fleshy innards, and beautiful delicate flavour. They're not sharp or acidic like some varieties, and are great with salads... or just a dash of balsamic vinegar and a dab of salt.

I'm not sure of the overall yield compared to others... We only got a handful of toms off of our one plant, but they were huge and tasted heavenly!

If I was going to grow any variety myself, Brandywine would be my first choice! :-)

We have already decided to go for fleshy/beefy type tomatoes only next year, have already got the seed:D. Just a couple a back up "bankers" as the yield is much lighter.

Forgot to add earlier another conclusion is that bush tomatoes aren't for us.;)

Another thing, I had about 15 plants left in fibre pots, they all fitted on a single seed tray. Never 1 to throw anything I just left them.
They all fell over, I just piled compost on top and watered.
Topped any plant that made a truss, probably 1/2doz. Fruits nearly ready, but you should see the mess, horizontal tomatoes anyone??:rotfl::rotfl:

DaftyDuck

I joke about seed-growing being an addiction.... but I suspect there's a germ of truth there. I'm a bit OCD about collecting stuff, organising it all into boxes, labelling the boxes, and putting them on the shelf in the right place.

I do enjoy growing several varieties, as the flavour, size, usage and season differ so much. However, the veritable sea of tomatoes I have this year is... excessive, to say the least. The seed tends to survive a year in the compost heap as well, so tomato weeding next year.

One entertaining "triumph" was to grow some cherry toms, strawberries and melons in an old wheelbarrow. I produced the "salad course trolley" at a barbecue of non-gardening friends, who were confused and delighted at the whole concept of pick your own. I probably thought they were as weird as they thought I was!

Funky_Bold_Ribena

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

We have already decided to go for fleshy/beefy type tomatoes only next year, have already got the seed:D. Just a couple a back up "bankers" as the yield is much lighter.

Forgot to add earlier another conclusion is that bush tomatoes aren't for us.;)

Another thing, I had about 15 plants left in fibre pots, they all fitted on a single seed tray. Never 1 to throw anything I just left them.
They all fell over, I just piled compost on top and watered.
Topped any plant that made a truss, probably 1/2doz. Fruits nearly ready, but you should see the mess, horizontal tomatoes anyone??:rotfl::rotfl:

Bush tomatoes are brilliant - you just let them do what they do. Esp if you grow in schools as they don't need anything doing to them.

Tomatoes are originally a vine plant, and the best harvest I got ever was from 4 plants left in a garden which I didn't have a key to all summer, I was taking trug fulls home each week for a month in September. That was 2 summers ago and I only finished using the frozen passata ice cubes in about May this year. Glorious result. They were just mulched and left and grew sideways and rooted themselves all over the place. Just fantastic.

Farway

esuhl wrote: »

My mum grew several varieties of toms. As well as many of the ones mentioned above, we really liked the Brandywine variety -- big and juicy with slightly soft fleshy innards, and beautiful delicate flavour. They're not sharp or acidic like some varieties, and are great with salads... or just a dash of balsamic vinegar and a dab of salt.

I'm not sure of the overall yield compared to others... We only got a handful of toms off of our one plant, but they were huge and tasted heavenly!

If I was going to grow any variety myself, Brandywine would be my first choice! :-)

Your post jogged the brain cells, I also grew Pink Brandywine this year, I saw it growing at West Dean gardens last year & was impressed with size

Not sure if I will grow it next year or not, in same "should I shouldn't I" box along with Black Russian & Mortgage Lifter

WTFH

We grew several different varieties (mainly cherry tomatoes).

I can't remember all their names, but I can tell you we won't be growing chocolate tomatoes again. They look good, but have a very tough skin.