Tomato recommendations please

Hi all,

I hope I'm not too late to grow tomatoes from seed. This year has been a bit of a slow start in terms of weather.

Anyway, I'm after some recommendations for tomato varieties please. There's a few constraints.

I'm oop north, so if we go by leaf fall on the trees, our growing season ends about three weeks earlier than down south. So I need something that crops reliably quite early.

In our house we seem to prefer the smaller cherry size toms, or ever so slightly larger. If you can eat it in one bite without raising any eyebrows, great.

And flavour, sweet and fairly intense. I'm not sure how to describe it. Let's try: some tomatoes are mostly just water. Some have a sweet yet tangy flavour and a distinct aroma/fragrance. I'm leaning towards the latter.

We grew tumbling toms one year. They ticked most of the boxes, being prolific, early, and the right size, but I can't say the flavour or fragrance did anything for me.

 

I think it may be a bit too late in the season to start from seed for fruits this year.
I sow in late Feb/early March.
You'd get away with seed sown early April, but it's bit late for this year - in my opinion.

For next year, try Maskotka.
Tumbling Tom is a very bland taste - looks good but nothing special.
Maskotka is one of the best small fruited tomatoes I've had on a small patio-type plant

PS - plenty of plants available in supermarkets/nurseries that will fruit this year.

 

Bearing in mind, as you say, ooop North, I think I would look at buying a few plants.

 

Not tried Maskotka but I'm only growing Honeycomb this year, I thought the taste, last year, was sweet but still tangy.

 

I thought I might be a bit late. Oh well. Established plants it is then. I'll go and see what they've got in.

 

I saw some at the nursery. I left them there because they were a fiver, compared to £1.50 for the others. I might go back tomorrow.

 

I've never tried grafted plants, I did nearly buy some grafted peppers last year, but again the price put me off.
Maybe I should buy one and do a comparison.

 

I'm finding these Toms I'm growing to be thin slightly weedy looking plants, they were last year, I like the flavour, I put it down to them being cherry types, other I have grown have always had thicker stems and more leaf and basically healthier looking.

 

After planting seeds from Tesco tomatoes (Piccobella) I found they were super quick to germinate, up within a few days. Piccobella are rather nice, bit pricy at £2 for 220g (presently £3 for 2 Clubcard price). You've got nothing to lose with planting SM seeds and could have a lot to gain. It's interesting in any case.