Rate Your Tomato Varieties

Went to the Seed Sale at local Garden Centre today (re: 50p/packet seed sale),
and there were no interesting Tomato varieties on the racks ... so I'll need to stock up mail-order.

I think I might take the opportunity to have a go at 2-each of several varieties. I normally grow 18 plants ... so what are the 9 varieties you would recomend?

Maybe list the varieties you have grown with a score from 1(lousy) to 10(heaven!) and I'll see what I can do by way of a summary

If you have any other attributes that you think are worth mentioning please list them too (such as "early /late fruiting", thin /thick skinned, and so on

 

A good thread this Kristen. It will become a useful guide to many tommie growers. I only grew the Maskotkas - outside in a window box. They fruited early and have provided a bowl of fruits most days for 6 weeks I reckon. Good flavour but not fantastic.

 

I grew Gardener's Delight this year and they weren't nearly as tasty as my friend's crop last year...... so it must be me

 

Lack of Sun SuzieQ ... try again next year, and cross your fingers

 

I've grown Gardeners Delight and they never let me down, even this year though they are late to develop and ripen. Good flavour and mid harvest are sweet.

Sungold for the first and last time. They cropped and ripened well but I wasn't impressed with the flavour, semi-sweet.

Previous years I've grown Golden Pearl, good to crop and ripen, a mild flavour and very sweet. In fact I eat them like sweets!

 

Surprised just how tasty my Beefmasters are,Gardeners Delight and Alicante never fail to disapoint...found the Maskotkas nice but wouldn't rave over them

Beefmaster...Gardeners Delight and Alicante .....Grown in GH...
Maskotka ....Outside.....(Blighted)

 

Unheated greenhouse in Fife Scotland
Tomato plants in GH SOIL BORDER A very wet and cold season
Aug 3 2012
My greenhouse ones are weired ? All planted same day
The shirleys down one side are in fruit, the stalks are pencil thin
The aisla craigs down the other side, are mainly flower only, but
those that are fruiting on a truss I have four small fruit and four dead flowers ?
the stalks on these plants are an inch thick
The best and quickest are two Tigeralla I put in to try, they were fruited first
and seem the most healthy

I have had one orange tomato "supersweet" everything else is GREEN
Aug 6 2012
The Shirley, that snapped in half and I stuck the top half in the ground, now has three set trusses, very healthy though half the height of the others
　
Aug 13 2012
Nipped the tops out on mine on Tuesday Aug 7 2012, disapointing at four trusses, and all green, along with each truss alternate pea size or flower dropped off
Aug 18 2012
I have had my first ripend fruit, and I ate them :-) Only one ripened of each

The shirley F1 I will have to retry as it was a bit bland but also small, so no real opinion 5/10 after some Sun the following trusses were better 8/10
The Supersweet was nice, sweet and tangy 8/10
The Gardeners delight was the best so far 9/10
Totem small mini bush type was the first to ripen 7/10
I am still awaiting the Ailsa Craig, the Money Maker, Tigerella and the Maskotka
Aug 19 2012
Today Tigerella, taste test The best so far to me, from Shirley, supersweet, totem,gardeners delight, Only Ailsa Craig, Money Maker and Moskatka to go

? All this year the skins are like apple skin, tough
Aug 22 2012
Another truss of Shirley ripened, this time they ARE tasty and the skins are normal
Tigerellas are going daft producing and tasty
No ripe Aisla Craigs yet or Money makers
The Maskotka will be eaten tomorrow, it was just orange today
Aug 25 2012
Mastkota eaten today, quite tangy, but really I am not into cherry/minature tomatoes, I like standard size ones

Only two more to actually give me something, the Aisla Craig which are slight orange and the Money makers still green

All planted same time, cropped
First Totem
Second Supersweet
Third Tigerella
Fourth Shirley
Fifth Gardeners Delight
Sixth Maskotka
Seventh Aisla Craig
Eighth Money Maker

Tasty, first Tigerella close second Shirley and Gardeners Delight
Aug 28 2012
Today I managed to eat one of the Shirleys, quite tasty with a bit of bite
Only the Money maker to make a show yet, still very green, and up here
the nights and the cold are drawing in, so not much of a crop at all really

Still I now know what I will grow next year (worth the effort) and what not
Aug 31 2012
Greenhouse now only 4c at night 18c daytime
Summary
First Totem 7/10
Second Supersweet 8/10
Third Tigerella 9/10
Fourth Shirley 8/10 initially 5/10 for first truss but after some sun
Fifth Gardeners Delight 9/10
Sixth Maskotka 8/10
Seventh Aisla Craig 8/10
Eighth Money Maker Still Green 31 Aug

Jack McHammocklashing

 

Well retrieved summary, from the thread(s), Jack, ta.

 

In the greenhouse, I limited myself to two small varieties, Sungold and Rosada. As usual, Sungold had (imo) a fantastic flavour, so sweet I only grow Rosada for cooking purposes, and are therefore a bit of a treat. Once cooked, they too are really sweet. Indeed, last night I had some cooked in a bit of olive oil, with some onions, garlic, mushrooms, a few dried herbs and mixed with some rice(with a few added runner beans). Oh boy, that was good!
I can't rate my outdoor toms as they all succumbed to the blight, although I DID manage to try a couple of Ildi, which were a bit sharp tasting, not to my liking at all.

Cheers...Freddy

 

Where do folk get their Sungold from? I see names very similar to that from a number of seed-sellers, but the only one I have ever grown is Unwins

 

They seem to be widely available, Suttons, T&M...

I bought some recently, half price

 

Don't think I've seen them in the racks at my garden centre (certainly none left when I looked on Friday)

 

You gotta be quick, a very popular variety

 

That's my dilemma ... I want to buy them in the 50p-a-packet sale!

I need to get there early in the season and stick a packet at the back of a column of something that I know will never sell in a million years - and retrieve it out when the sale starts.

Hypothetically speaking of course