Last updated on December 2nd, 2011
BECAUSE HINDSIGHT IS 20/20, and also because we can learn from each other, I hope you’ll participate in this unscientific survey: Which tomatoes did you grow last year, and how did they perform for you?
Here are my winners from 2010, any of which I’d gladly plant again:
Cherokee Purple. Heirloom variety; only moderately prolific for me, but welcome for its deep, acidic taste and extreme juiciness. My first choice for making succulent tomato sandwiches.
Roma. Very prolific, and the only paste-type tomato I grew last year. Delicious in my Lazy Sunday Tomato Sauce, if nothing else.
Striped Cavern. Extremely prolific heirloom variety. The medium-sized fruit has gorgeous, yellow-brushed orange skin. Save for a few seeds, the fruit is completely hollow. Marvelous for garlicky Stuffed Tomatoes Provencal, as well as sauce.
Early Girl. Extremely prolific, medium-to-large sized fruit. Nice, moderately acidic taste. I relied heavily on this one for the dozens of Classic Tomato Pies I made last summer. Update: YIKES! I just discovered the evil Monsanto Co. owns this seed. No more Early Girl for me.
Rose. Sorry, I can’t find a solo shot of this one. Prolific, even though its vines received sun for only half a day. Skin is pinkish-rose. Large sized fruit, very juicy; somewhat less acidic than Cherokee Purple.
And my Losers of 2010? The following produced so little for me I didn’t bother to take pictures:
German Pink
Italian Heirloom
Golden Sunray
Who were your winners and losers in 2010? Or did you only have winners?
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Related Posts:
Keep Monsanto OUT of Your Veggie Garden
Classic Tomato Pie
My Lazy Sunday Tomato Sauce
My Super-Duper Tomato Trellis
Tomato Trouble: Cracks in Skin
Tammy says
Kevin, I grew Roma and Red Brandywine last year and would grow both again. The Roma were prolific and we're enjoying the sauce through the winter. The Brandywine were less prolific but delicious.
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Tammy – thanks for the report. I'll probably include Roma in this summer's garden. On trial will bed Amish Paste, and San Marzano.
Terry says
I planted 3 varieties,
Beefsteak – did ok
Livingston – did well
Sugar Sweetie cherry tomato – always goes crazy!
I plan on some roma's this year or Amish Paste, I want something that has less seeds for canning sauce.
The beefsteak and livingston just seemed to take forever to ripen.
Shelley Orr says
I planted purple cherokee's, romas, and early girls. The heat did a number on them, but I highly suggest the purple cherokee's for an heirloom!
I'm hoping to try some San Marzano's too this year.
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Terry – Thanks for the list. I'm not familiar with Livingston — is it an heirloom?
Dressmaker 8 – Nice to meet you! I adore Cherokee purple…it is the most succulent tomato I grew last year. San Marzano is supposed to be excellent for sauce.
Hope to “see” you again.
Terry says
Kevin, yes Livingston is an heirloom, I got it from victoryseeds.com. They were a medium size. I am so behind ordering my seeds, I am looking at my notes from last year, I did all my ordering on Jan. 3!
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Terry – I was a little more ahead of the ball last year, too. Plenty of time left to plant tomato seeds.
Stephie McCarthy says
I've had consistent great results with Juliet, which is a small Roma style, which dries well, prolific, and crack free. This year doing black-pear, white cherry, Hillbilly, Coustralle (pleated), and gold cherry blondekopfchen. The gold cherry is hard to keep up with it is so prolific, but rarely cracked.
My loser: Russian black, which was shaped like large plum, got only one which was good tasting and crack resistant, but very poor fruiter.
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Stephie McCarthy — thanks for this. Great to know the positive on Juliet, and the negative on Russian Black.
Angela says
I just discovered your blog, and am loving it- great posts!
I grew brandywine red last year and was very happy with it-they were tasty even ripened off the vine.
Also tried Green Zebra- which was tasty and a nice novelty but not prolific at all,nice to have just for the variety though- looks nice in a tomato salad.
this year am trying Galina,Silvery Fir,Russian Rose,Black Prince and Clear Pink.
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Angela – delighted to meet you! Thanks for the tomato tips — Silvery Fir and Russian Rose sound particularly exciting, and I just might order them.
I hope to see you around here often!
Sue says
My favorite tomato, year after year, is Jet star. Not an heirloom – very prolific and trouble free with medium size fruit and very good flavor. I buy large plants from a local nursery and often am harvesting tomatoes in June (in CT). When i have tried Brandywine I always get such a small crop. I also like Old Flame, an heirloom – I get seeds from a friend and save them. It gets huge it's yellow with red striations and very tasty. It does sometimes develop lobes rather than being perfectly round.
Coastal Kazza says
Living on the Oregon Coast presents unique challenges to tomato growing. We have cool and often wet summers with high temperatures often in the 50's and 60's for most of the summer and only reach 80's a few days a year.
Given our region we focus on short season tomatoes and those that we find successful (with protection of cloches early in season) and the most tasty are Taxi, Siletz, Early Girl (yes Monsanto controls it), and Sun Sugar. We will try Black Krim and Silvery Fir this year as new heirlooms.
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Sue – great review. I love Jet Star too. Old Flame sounds tempting! (And good for you for saving seeds.)
Mary Unruh says
I'm a Northwesterner too and I did use 'early girl' last year as well (but won't now that I know Monsanto owns it…) I have to plant early, use red mulch, and wrap the cages with plastic until the plants fill them in order to get any to ripen when we have cool summers. The heirloom I have tried in the past and had great luck (and flavor for sauces etc.) is 'consultano genovese'. I plan to go back to it this year. 'Taxi' is also a favorite with myself and friends…..YUMMY little yellow cherry tomato!
Anne in Kinderhook says
As the snow recedes, my garden space is finally visible again and I'm so ready for spring and gardening. Last season I planted Beefsteak, Early Girl, Big Boy, San Marzano, and all orange and yellow varities of tomatoes. My finest tomatoes were the yellow and orange varieties. They were resistant to the previous years blight. The red varities also did very well this past year. I was disappointed in the San Marzano as it developed bushy foliage but only two tomatoes. This year I'll boycott Monsanto's Early Girl and the San Marzano. I can hardly wait for my first bite of a juicy, home grown tomato.
Jacqueline says
Hi Kevin, I live in North Portland the St Johns area and I'm new and enthused to grow tomatoes. I grew Sun-gold Cherry and Green Zebra, there were so many Sun-gold they were beautiful, sweet and tasty. The Green Zebras did not do well at all and had a off flavor. This year I'm going to try Chocolate Cherokee and an additional variety of cherry tomatoes.
Bill says
I live in the Northwest too and other than Stupice (extra early, tiny and not especially tasty but a tomato nontheless) we can’t get enough production from heirlooms.
In the Willamette Valley Jet Star is a winner, I’ve been growing them for about 15 years and they are far better than any of the tomatoes developed by Dr. Baggett at OSU.
Kerris says
Here in NW Ohio, I grow Yellow Giant Belgium tomatoes for their acid-free characteristics. We preserve all our tomato related needs due to the requirement for acid free tomato products. I believe this is an heriloom tomato. I save the seeds for next years plants. Plants are grown in cages made of concrete wire mesh (6″ x 6″ openings) – cages are 18″-20″ in diameter. A metal fence stake is wired to the cage. Plants are about 8′ tall by the time I start picking ripe tomatoes. I fertilize twice, once two weeks or so after planting, then again about 10 days later. After that, fertilzing seems to just push more green and not so much blossoms.
Georgia says
I grow mortgage lifter, romas, goldrn jubilee & black krim. I will grow all these again when I get my new garden established.
LM says
Was wondering where in the Portland Metro (Beaverton) area that I could purchase Willamette Valley Jet Star tomato seeds? (Order them online, or where?) Thanks!
Debi says
I live in Houston, Texas, known for it’s heat & humidity! This year I planted Yellow Pear, Purple Cherokee, Pink Brandywine, Mortgage Lifter, Rainbow, Black Krim, & Black Pearl. Because of our weather, I am STILL harvesting & still have lots of blooming & setting! During the really hot months, I continued watering, feeding, & pruning, even though it was way too hot for any blossoms to set. Once it started cooling off, I started getting fruit again. I had very good luck with everything. I don’t think I’ll plant Yellow Pear again, because it was too prolific! I just couldn’t keep up with pruning & picking the unbelievable amount of fruit. My Mortgage Lifters, while very prolific, didn’t get as big as reputed. It was great to be able to give fresh tomatoes as Christmas presents. I am about ready to start my seeds for 2016. BTW, I also planted Fairy Tale eggplant, jalapeño & bell pepper, squash, & cucumbers.