Favourite Varieties of Tomatoes

[Wombat]

That's for sure!

[gunners71uk]

i have put 2 tomato plants in old flower buckets from the florist for 10p each and one in the ground the one in the ground is smaller fruit and taking longer to rope the other 2 on the otherside of garden are bigger and doing great i dont give them much feed just a good watering i think tomatoes are very sensitive to positioning even a few metres i think can make a diffrence, i be buying ep more florist buckets next year too ,i wont growthem on me allotment as i can keep an eye on them better. i am know expert but tell me what you think.

[wulf]

I'd concur on the thing about positioning. I planted all of my 'Garden Pearl' bushes out on the same day. A bunch went in the planned position but the leftovers got distributed round other parts of the garden, which get less sun or are closer to other plants. The main group have been cropping well for a couple of weeks now but, while most of the others have fruited, none have ripened yet.

To be fair, the main area got the first pick of the plants, with all the most vigourous specimens but I am inclined to think that positioning is quite a key factor.

Wulf

[Millymollymandy]

Had my first Gardeners Delight cherry tomatoes - yummy yum yum . So much better than the yellow ones! Ina did you eat yours yet?

[ina]

Now, I went to a Church of England school when I was a lad, but I can't immediately bring to mind any bible stories that mention Jesus running anywhere. However, we do know that he was a keen motorcyclist - there are a great many references to the Triumph of Jesus.

Now, that's another thing my brother used to have in common with Jesus... The beard, the sandals, and the Triumph!

Hope he wasn't biking in sandals, though, that could be dangerous. Oh, and my brother often had to run to catch the bus, so I suppose he didn't quite come up to biblical standard.

Gosh, I'm beginning to see the bible with quite different eyes!

Ina

[aka-Flippa]

My favourite variety are the Tiny Cherry tomoatoes....I grow Sweet 100 here in NZ.

Apparently tomatoes like a bit of potassium to produce sweet fruit, the banana skin theory is based on this.
Also you can buy Potassium permanganate from the chemist (Kondy's crystals), dissolve a few in water & feed this to your plants. Not sure if it is 'technically regarded" as organic though....
I tried it one year but can't say that I noticed much difference, however I may not have given them enough as I didn't want to kill them with kindness!!

[Millymollymandy]

I've grown Sweet 100 in France several times when there wasn't much choice of plants in the garden centre, but I found their skins hard and inedible, though nothing wrong with the fruit or taste though!

[ina]

Had my first Gardeners Delight cherry tomatoes - yummy yum yum . So much better than the yellow ones! Ina did you eat yours yet?

Picked the first ones today!

And there's more to come... However, the other varieties still need some time. Hopefully the temperatures hold up a bit. Haven't checked the weatherforecast today, but yesterday it said 12 degree for Sunday ! It's not even autumn yet! But as long as the sun is shining, the polytunnel isn't too bad (despite too much ventilation from the sides... Should be doing something about that. Next year. )

Ina

[kevin m.]

I work an allotment with my bro' in law,and this year we have tried out twelve different varieties of Tomato,in our two greenhouses and outdoors.
I have been particularly pleased with 'Lidl',which I bought online from 'Thompson and Morgan' (not meant as a 'plug'-I've no attachement with this firm).
They bear small pear shaped Yellow fruit,with up to fifty on a truss-for once reality looks like the picture on the seed packet!
'Russian Black' have a superb flavour,but ours haven't produced a lot of fruit,and they tend to be a bit rambling in their growth habit,and rather prone to fruit splitting.
'Tigrella' have produced very tasty striped fruits.
I'll certainly grow these varieties again next year.
Good old 'Moneymaker' has once again delivered the goods,though a friend on our site has had tremendous results with 'Shirley',which I might try.
I always like to grow something different,so I was pleased to receive my packet of 'Russian plum Lemon' yesterday from Anioleka seeds of Oregon,USA.
You can see them here:
http://www.seedfest.co.uk/seeds/tomatoes/cold/cold.html
They are shown at the bottom of the page.
I've never ordered seeds from abroad online before,but they have arrived within a week (with some free Pepper seeds too!).

[Wombat]

G'Day Kevin,

sounds like you have done very well! good stuff. Are you going to process or preserve any or are they for fresh eating?

Nev

[kevin m.]

Most are eaten fresh,or given away to family and friends.
My mother does make chutney with the green toms though.

[Wombat]

Fiar enough!

Last summer was a good one for tomatoes for me and I made a few bottles of pasta sauce that went down well with homemade pasta.

Nev

[The Chili Monster]

Ina wrote:

The banana skin treatment must have paid off. All my colleagues know that they have to keep their banana skins out of the bin

How does that work exactly? Do you wrap it round the plant? Stick it in the pot/growbag?
It's just I've never heard of this before and I get through a rake of bananas, plus I got some toms on the go (1st fruit appeared at the weekend!) 8)

[ina]

I just hung the skins on the stronger shoots, somewhere close to the tomaotes... Looks like the plant has grown some weird fruit - bread fruit, maybe?

[The Chili Monster]

Great, thanks Ina.
Will give that a go.