Talkback: Growing tomatoes: best tomatoes for flavour - Page 2

Hi Grew Piccollo grafted tomatoes in my shady unheated porch last year - taste and crop were fantastic. Sweetest tomatoes I have ever tasted, plants produced more than we could eat and kept going until mid November! Grafted toms well worth the extra cost.

I agree with Mary, first tried growing tomatoes with Gardener's World free seeds in 2009, fantastic success. They were called Red Cherry & i made sure I got the same ones last year, and they were great. I'll be doing the same this year, stick to what you know is good !

I think tomato growing is very exciting! I try about 6 new varieties every year along with 2 or 3 reliable ones and agree that gardeners delight and sungold are always delicious. I have I have had a mixed result with costoluto fiorentino - seems to depend on who you buy seed from, some are much more ribbed and thick skinned than others. Cuor di bue/torro gave me some massive tasty fleshy fruit, over 1 kg, and country taste have massive fruit which look too perfect to be tasty but are wonderful. They look like cafe ketchup bottles! I am trying my own grafting this year after reading the RHS garden magazine - wish me luck

I am trying Micro-Toms this year which I purchased from GardenbyMail.com I have been reliably informed that the yield is extremely high and harvest comes round very quickly with this mini tom plants. Fingers crossed! Kate, can you let us know which one you choose?

my favourite tomato is tigerella, nice and tarty, wonderful fried with bacon. This tear i'me trying a variety called superlative which is grown by all the allotment holders around here (sunderland)

I have planted some plum tomato seeds 3 weeks ago and now they have grown about 10cm. I am going to plant some beef tomato seeds this weekend. Wish we have a good summer this year and so excited already... By the way,I even had some aubergines and cucumbers in my garden last year...:-)

Thanks for all your comments… Sokanista – Thanks for the Rosada reminder. Anyone grown Rosada? Alex M – ‘Black Krim’ sounds fantastic! But squishy? I’ll try it one day when I have a big garden and/or greenhouse Mustard Seed – I don’t dislike ‘Gardener’s Delight’ – it’s a fantastic tomato - I’m just a bit bored of growing it. Cramtele8 – Grow ‘Tumbler’, Tumbling Tom’, 100s and 1000’s’, ‘Gartenperle’ (but I think the fruits look weird). I’ll report back how good ‘Losetto’ is for hanging baskets later in the year Old Punk – Ooh ‘Golden Nuggest’ sounds fab! I can see myself just giving in and growing loads again – will I ever have my patio space in summer?? MaryElizabeth – Thanks for the reminder. They were ‘Red Cherry’. They were good, I grew them and had and enormous crop! David Dennis – One day I will be able to grow lots of varieties for different purposes, and those two are on my list, thanks Peter1947 – Thanks – it takes more than that to offend me! I thought it was quite funny actually... I wonder what variety Waitrose grows. Do they all turn out the same? If it’s an F1 variety you could get lots of different tomatoes similar to the parents of the Waitrose ones, rather than the ones you bought… Grow5aday – I’ve never grown a plum, so ‘Roma’ is quite tempting... LuvToms – Thanks for the ‘Ferline’ tip. I’ve always been wary of blight-resistant toms, believing them to be bred for that over flavour, so I’ll give this one a go as a few people have recommended it Damselfly – Grafted plants are amazing aren’t they? Like turbo-powered robots... Lou – are you grafting your own tomatoes? Good luck, and please let us know how you get on... So at the moment I think you’ve all persuaded me to grow ‘Sungold’, though I’m very interested in a fair few others, now too. Perhaps I’ll give in slightly and just grow one plant each of three varieties: ‘Sungold’, ‘Golden Nugget’ and ‘Ferline’ Knikitta – I’ll definitely let you know which I choose.

I started to sow Brandy Wine long time ago. They have very good flavour, great size, very sweet and great in salad.

Noone mentioned San Marzano which I found to be the very best for Past sauces.

I share your passion for growing tomatoes though my expereince has been mostly with older types but whichever type I grow they get a virus leaf curl and eventual dieback before the tomatoes have ripened. Varieties I have tried are old familiar ones such as Gardeners Delight, Alicante, Ailsa Craig, Red Alert, and Money Maker. I'm not sure if any of these are newer ones but my neighbour who has far more growing experience than me said that older types are a waste of time. I think this is because we live in a part of the country that is mild and wet, so more prone to virus. However I forget which types he grows, but I would like to try a new hybrid type such as Ace 55 F1 or Early Girl F1. Has anyone tried these. My best 'success' came last year when I tried a yellow variety which was disease resistant, and which ripened against a south facing stone wall. Unfortunately I lost most to the Blackbirds. :(

I like growing Orange Santa, they are 'santini' type but have the most unbelievable fruity taste and smell, the also seem to crop prolifically.Cuor di bue,Costoluto fiorentino & Black russian all grow well and have good flavour, a couple of show stoppers have to be Ananas Noire and Cherokee Purple, whitch both have fantastic rich sweet and smokey flavours and produce heavyweight fruits in good numbers.

I agree that 'Tumbler Tom' is great in hanging baskets and window boxes. If you can source it there is a yellow T T as well as the easily available red one. My dog ate the ones I planted in the window boxes on my potting shed last year (and he obviously gave them his vote!) so I'll plant them in hanging baskets higher than he can reach this year. I also love 'Sungold' and 'Tigerella', 'Gardeners' Delight' is a family favourite and I grow plants from seed to give to a greenhousless friend.

does any one have any suggestions for other out door growing tomatos because i don't have a greenhouse.

what are the best tomato plants to grow outside?

igrew suncherry, sungold, brandywine red, golden cherry, eva purple ball, all excellent growing sasha's altai, from russia cold tolerant i asume good for outside mishca, maria's paste, silvery fir, yellow tiger strip,green zebra,brandywine red, eva's purple ball,looking forward to season will keep all informed as to progress especially sasha's altai

Hi Kate. Must be Gardeners Delight for me and Sungold for my wife.I also try Tesco vine toms.Have grown Amoroso and Brioso in the porch with excellent results but Moroccan Vine was a failure.

Like most things in life there is a compromise with toms. Flavour v yield v sweetness v lack of pips v thickness of skin v disease resistance etc etc Because it is difficult to choose just one we grow different varieties for differing purposes, some for cooking, some for chutney, some for salads, some for juice ad nauseum. Despite this I still reckon the best tomato is the one you can pick & pop into your mouth in one tomato scented moment....and that is.....

Hi all, I have seen a tomatoe called florida something? suppose to be a small and very good cropper, so has any body know the proper name please. thankyou.

I would like to grow tomatoes for the first time so I am new at all this. I don't have much room so would like to grow in tubs or pots on the patio. What would be the best kind to grow? And should I begin now with seeds indoors?

I always grow too many toms, both in quantity and in terms of varieties. This year I'm trying to limit myself to four plants of three varieties - Sweet n Neat, Fantasio and Sweet Olive. I've not grown any of these varieties before. I was always a Moneymaker man but have had poor crops the past three years. If I get grey mould again this year I'll set my greenhouse on fire, with myself inside dressed as a tomato as the grey mould inducing insanity takes over me.