Now we get down to the nitty-gritty of choosing the best flavoured tomato, and to my mind it has to be...
Ask me to recommend just one vegetable crop to grow for great returns and it would have to be tomatoes. Which other crop can match it for variety? Whole catalogues are available, listing literally hundreds of different varieties of tomato seed. Every one is different and unique in some way (although not all of them are worth growing).
There are bushy, spreading varieties that are great for pots, baskets and borders, and upright ones for training as cordons. These can be grown in the greenhouse or outside, but require support and need their side shoots pinching out regularly.
Plant growth and habit is only one characteristic, as fruit quantity, size, colour, quality and flavour are far more important. Now we get down to the nitty-gritty of choosing the best flavoured tomato, and to my mind it has to be 'Gardener's Delight'. They're deep red (surely tomatoes have to be red), bite-sized, juicy, sweet and full of flavour. If you haven't grown it then make a point of doing so next year.
While 'Gardener's Delight' is great for eating fresh in salads I'm looking for something meatier to cook in soups or sauces, so for this my tomato of choice is the large Italian plum tomato called 'Roma'. It's fat, fleshy and very productive when grown outside in a sunny position.
Just one word of caution. In my neck of the woods in the East Midlands I really can't risk growing tomatoes outside without plants succumbing to blight. This really is a devastating fungus disease, attacking the foliage and fruits of tomatoes (as well as potatoes). To guarantee a crop then I have to apply a preventive spray using a fungicide like Dithane 945 (containing mancozeb).
I know this is disappointing if you're trying to grow crops organically, and want to avoid spraying, but I don't know of a viable alternative. Yes, there are a few varieties that claim some natural disease resistance (like 'Ferline', 'Legend' and 'Fantasio') but this isn't any use if it's the flavour and character of other old favourite varieties that you're after.
Plant breeders are busy working hard on this 'Holy Grail' of tomato breeding, trying to develop new varieties with disease resistance to blight. Until they do a combination of cultural and chemical control is all we have available.
That won't stop me sowing a selection of new tomatoes next year, as I always try and grow about ten different ones. 'Gardener's Delight' and 'Roma' will be among them, but what about the rest? Any suggestions?
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