Tomatoes-choosing Your Favourite Variety

I was chatting to fellow tomato enthusiasts recently and as we nattered on about favorite varieties, I was surprised to hear that they found ‘Sungold’ (above) too sweet. Too sweet! In my book a tomato that is too sweet doesn’t exist, but this very same reaction was elicited from a buyer at a large seed company soon afterwards. Well I never!

Said buyer said that his current favorite was ‘Rosella’, another gorgeous looking cherry tomato, but reddish with hints of black, so now I plan to grow this variety in order to compare the two. In fact, I’m planning on growing 9 different varieties, some old favourites and some gorgeous looking new (to me) varieties to find out which varieties I enjoy the most.

Now I don’t have a vast amount of space to grow in, and I want to go a bit wild with lettuces this year (more posts to come on this subject), but the taste, texture (and smell) of home-grown tomatoes is wonderful, miles better than fruits bought in the shops, and growing your own offers a far wider choice of varieties to eat too!

This year I have also purchased a rather lovely greenhouse (first one ever), which will hopefully give me a little more scope with my tomato growing experiments.

So this summer I shall be growing:

• ‘Sungold’ , top pic, which never disappoints!
• ‘Rosella’-thoses hints of black do look tasty
• ‘Indigo Blue Berries’ from Nicky’s Nursery. Nicky says that these ‘just pop in your mouth and explode with flavour’ and I’m still searching for a delicious black tomato which tastes as good as it looks..
• ‘Black Krim’ , above, which ripened surprisingly well when grown outdoors and produced huge brutes of a fruit with a meaty texture and a great flavor. What’s not to love!
• ‘Ananas Noir’ Another beast of a tomato, my favorite from the selection I  tasted at the  Chateau de la Bourdaisiere in the Loire a couple of summers ago, and the cook’s favorite out of the 630 varieties that they grow! Yes, 630!  Now that I can give it some heat in my greenhouse, hopefully I’ll get a good and tasty crop!
• ‘Sweet aperitif’ A bright red sweet cheery tomato recommended  by Michael Perry at Thomson and Morgan
• ‘Gardeners Delight’ An old faithful and very reliable cropper of red cherry tomatoes and a good bench mark for the rest of the cherries.
• ‘Gold Crown’ A sweet and tasty yellow cherry tomato from Sea Spring Seeds
• ‘Green Envy’ Emerald green small oval fruits, also from Sea Spring Seeds. Can’t wait to taste these.

I have to admit to being a sucker for good looks when it comes to a vegetable. Who wouldn’t want a salad bowl full of exciting colours and shapes as well as great tastes.  Last year I was seduced by ‘Indigo Rose’. For months it provoked admiring comments from all who passed by as it grew and ripened in my front garden. Sadly, after such wonderful promise, it really came up short on taste, as well as having a mushy texture, and although Michelle at Veg Plotting did say that it made a good tomato sauce, I’m not tempted to grow it again with such limited growing space and so many other exciting varieties out there to try.

Certainly the trend for black tomatoes is strong and Nicky from Nicky’s Nursery says that her top sellers at the moment are ‘Black Cherry and ‘Black opal’ as well as ‘Rosada’ (baby red plum), ‘Sungold’ and ‘Black Krim’. In the past I’ve found that small cherry tomatoes ripen best when outdoor growing has been my only option and I’m going to grow a few varieties indoors and out to see if there’s a great difference in taste.

When I’ve holidayed in the Loire over the last few summers, it’s always been a real treat to eat/gorge myself on tomatoes  (I particularly enjoyed almost crunchy, sweet green tomatoes last time I was there), but I know I can never match such warm growing conditions, so closer to home, it’s always worthwhile seeking out local nurseries who hold tasting days at the end of summer. A visit to Victoriana Nursery back in 2011 (in Ashford in kent) was a great way to find out which varieties I might like to grow, and they’ll be holding a tomato open day agin this year on 15th August (with over 80 varieties to try and some new blight resistant varieties too).

Now I haven’t mentioned blight-resistant varieties on my list, as I’ve found when grown in the ground, plants are healthy and vigorous and have not succumbed to this crushingly frustrating disease. I grow in zone 2 in London, and fellow enthusiasts (who live in more rural settings and have had their fair share of blight) are convinced that it’s the pollution of city growing that keeps the blight at bay. Interesting. I need to research this more, but neither my potatoes or tomatoes have suffered in recent years.

In the meantime, I shall be experimenting away, and looking forward to filling my salad bowl with delicious and handsome fruits come August and September.