What tomato varieties are you growing?

[BreanneRN]

I would love to try what you are doing, but haven't found the time for it. I am just getting back into gardening after moving from a high elevation location.
This year I only have eight tomato plants. I planted Big Beef, Sun Gold, Sun Sugar, Roma, and Lemon Boy. I plan on saving the seeds from them for next year.

Same here, only 4 plants this year, 2 the same as yours, that Sun Gold has been a winner for me, bought it early, and if froze, but came back from the roots and 6 ft tall now, love the orange color, snack on it all day. Lemon boy does well, but fruit only 1 1/2" diameter, but tasty. Celebrity, bought twice because 1st one froze, but doing well (I grow my tomatoes in very large pots, and this one does well in pots) good flavor. Only fail, the Black Cherry, got hot and doesn't set fruit anymore. Wish I could have found a Black Prince, fantastic flavor, low acid, better for me these days, but couldn't find one. Wish I had planted a Roma, so good with pasta dishes.

 

[Trish1974]

Here is a link to the Ten Fingers of Naples tomatoes I mentioned in my first post:
https://www.totallytomato.com/P/00756/Ten+Fingers+Of+Naples+Tomato

What I like best about this variety is that is grows a bunch of tomatoes in clusters that ripen all at once, which is super handy for canning.

 

[MROO]

Not to get off topic, but speaking of salsa... has anyone successfully grown cilantro? It ALWAYS bolts on me. I even planted it in mostly shade the last time, and it still bolted!

Mine bolts quickly, too. I keep it trimmed and plant it in waves about ten days to two weeks apart. That way I always have fresh leaves and seeds, to boot. If I can keep my kids (and myself) from snacking on them, the seeds are great in crunchy salad toppers and pickling mixes.

 

[oregonkat]

Wish I could have found a Black Prince, fantastic flavor, low acid, better for me these days, but couldn't find one. Wish I had planted a Roma, so good with pasta dishes.

I grow Black Prince also, love the size as well as the taste.

Here is a link to the Ten Fingers of Naples tomatoes I mentioned in my first post:
https://www.totallytomato.com/P/00756/Ten+Fingers+Of+Naples+Tomato

What I like best about this variety is that is grows a bunch of tomatoes in clusters that ripen all at once, which is super handy for canning.

Thanks for the link, this is one I will try for next year. I have been looking for a Roma replacement.

 

[BreanneRN]

Going to try that "Fingers of Naples"! Thanks for the link...

 

[oregonkat]

One of the Russian varieties that I have grown in the past is the Malakhitovaya Shkatulka green tomatoes. (I know, a mouthful right?) I don't grow a lot of greens mainly because I haven't found one that blows my door off flavor wise, but this Russian came pretty close. I may revisit her next year, perhaps with the idea of a cross . I seem to remember that the plants were big and healthy, production medium. Anyone else grown her?

 

[MROO]

I am growing in grow bags this year, since our soil is rocky and has a lot of clay. I have never had such growth with my tomato plants! I will have to try tomatillos.

Have you ever tried bale planting? I keep strung straw bales around the base of my run all winter as a windblock/insulation. By Spring, they're pretty well broken down, and make really great planters.

You can use new ones, but older ones are better. To plant one, make sure the bale is sitting lengthwise, with the strings running around the outside (like barrel rings.) Figure out the spacing for mature plants. We have big bales, so we can fit three, sometimes four plants across.

Using a hand trowel, open up spaces along the top end, Drop in some good potting soil, just a bit if your bales are well broken down, more if they're new. Put in your plants just as if you were using a flower pot or garden bed. You may have to water them more than you would ground-plants, at least at first, but they should adapt easily.

This works really well for most vegetables and even flowers, although we learned the hard way that the bales aren't stable enough to support really big sunflowers. We didn't even have to stake the tomatoes We just planted one good plant in the middle and let it crawl over the top and cascade over the sides. It was pretty impressive.

At the end of the season, just haul the whole thing to the compost pile and break open the bales ... you'll have green matter, brown matter and "hot" matter all in one fell swoop!

Happy Gardening!

 

[MROO]

Oh, I almost forgot... My favorite tomatoes have no name. Many years ago, they started as a mix of individual grape, slicing and plum tomatoes in my sister's side garden. The veggie garden morphed into a flower garden, but the tomatoes never went away. Tucked in between the Cleome, the Sweet Annie and a hundred other gorgeous flowers are the sweetest, healthiest little hybrid opportunists I've ever eaten. I always "weed" a few out of her flowers every year. They're really versatile. They can, they sauce, they slice and they salad perfectly ... and they taste amazing straight from the warm summer sun!

 

[21hens-incharge]

Just standard early girl, big boy, and lemon boy here. Those are always great producers for me.

Oh I do have one oddball. I found one called Goliath so plunked it in a big pot. It is doing well.

 

[MROO]

Just standard early girl, big boy, and lemon boy here. Those are always great producers for me.

Oh I do have one oddball. I found one called Goliath so plunked it in a big pot. It is doing well.

Goliath is wonderful! It makes the kind of killer tomato sandwich my StepDad called a "Run-down-your-arms" sandwich"... because it was so juicy ... and so delicious!