2013 Tomato Growing

Well said John, I'm going to hold back a few weeks before sowing next seasons seed as my later sown seed this year did much better than that sown earlier.

I'll be growing, for general purpose:

San Marzano
Gardeners Delight
Harbinger

And on the heavyweight side:

Big Boy
Delicious
Big Zac (if the promised seed arrives from the U.S.A)

I might try a few other varieties as well.

 

I'd like to know what people are planning on growing please, as I want to try some new varieties.

I asked this question earlier (in the "rate your tomato varieties" thread), but may be a good time to raise it again now?

The varieties I have grown [all in greenhouse] for the last Umpteen years were Gardeners Delight, Sungold and Shirley, but I would hate you lot to call me a boring old <BlowRaspberryHere!> for not trying your favourite variety

 

That's exactly what I was thinking of earlier as something that could be useful. Perhaps one post could be devoted to a maintained list what varieties we're all growing?

It could be in first post (volunteering JWK to update) or in a subsequent post but with a link in the first post so that another person could update the info which would be relatively easy to do.

 

Sungold seems to be popular, I grew it this year and to be honest I wasn't that impressed. I'll be growing two of my old faithfuls next year, Golden Pearl and Gardener's Delight, they've not failed me yet.

Gardener's Delight
Golden Pearl
Tamina.........This is a 'potato' leaved variety I've not tried before.

I also need to find some space for the following free seeds that came from Suttons with my order. Just one or two seeds per variety.

Bloody Butcher, Christmas Grapes,
Golden Cherry, Tanaki,
Yellow Debut, Garden Peach,
Red Zebra, Snowberry,
Sultana, Tangella,
Tigerella.

 

I'll be keeping my eye on this thread. The tomatoes which grew in my garden this year simply took up residence (with no invite! How rude!).

I don't have a green house so I'll be looking for those that grow outside.

 

I joined a tomato seed circle on another forum and am expecting 40 different varieties to peruse through.
One definite has to be Sungold and I have purchased Ferline for the blight ridden allotment.
I am just hoping for a better growing year.

 

Sorry to say, but as I am the only person in this household to eat the fruit of the bush it has to be Shirley variety for me. Not to keen on others as they do not seem to do well for me.

 

Just thinking out loud:

People post Variety (and if they particularly dislike it, otherwise its a "like")

Thread owner then maintains an alphabetic summary in the first post:

Variety-A +10 -2
Variety-B +3
Variety-C -7

i.e. "+10" is 10 people who like it, and "-2" is 2 people who dislike it.

Alternative would be:

Variety-A Kristen, JWK, Fred, Bill (Dislike: Tom, Harry)

but personally I don't see the need of knowing WHO likes it, just how MANY (following posts will tell me "who" if I want to ask them for clarification)

 

Or (sorry!!!) if you want to have some "levels" of liking a particular varietiy

Have 3 or 4 "levels" of liking it:

A : Love it, would grow it every year
B : OK, would probably grow again
C : OK, would probably never grow again
D : Would definitely never grow again (either didn't like taste, or just thought it was not good enough productivity)

and then aggregate the numbers:

NAME : A - B - C - D
Variety-A : 5 - 4 - 1 - 2
Variety-B : 1 - 2 - 0 - 0
Variety-C : 0 - 0 - 0 - 7

 

My source has come through with a bonus....

Additions to my list are:-

"Big Zac" (Already mentioned, I know, but now a definite)
"Best Boy"
"Early Goliath"

I'm gonna show the yanks how to grow tomatoes, I hope!

 

So far - I have:
Stupice - which is supposed to be cold hardy so Im going to start early inside
Ace & Gartenperle - both supposed to be bush type so will probably be outside

In the greenhouse:
Burpee BigBoy
Burpee Supersteak Hybrid
Brandywine Black
Alicante
Roma VF

+ I have Tomatillo Gigante Verde, about which I know nothing !

Should be an interesting year if the weather is up to it

 

Quietly confident I'll grow the biggest tomato next year, yes, I'm cheating, what are foreign friends for?