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What's your favorite tomato variety to plant in the garden?


jak of in
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Now that's a question!  I'd just as soon pick a favorite child!  Here are my tomato babies:

 

IMG_0680-e1491840664675.jpg

 

I will plant about 60 of them myself and pass the rest on to family.  About 50 varieties of heirloom and open pollinated tomatoes total.

 

If I had to pick just one?  It would probably be Malachite Box- it's a "green when ripe" tomato that just makes me so incredibly happy. The skin turns from green to a gorgeous golden-yellow when it's ready to eat.  

 

My favorite cherry tomato is Black Cherry.

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I don't care for the heirloom varieties.  I prefer sweeter tomatoes as well as big meaty varieties so go for some of the Beefsteak type of tomatoes.  Beefy Boy is hands down my favorite tomato but I won't be able to get any of those this year.  So I will have Big Beef, they are pretty close just not quite as sweet.  Another really good one is SuperSteak.

 

My favorite cherry tomato is Sweet Baby Girl but my kids prefer the Sunsugar variety.  

 

My parents own a greenhouse so I've tried literally hundreds of varieties over the years but even though i plant 40 or so plants each year I now stick to just those 3 varieties because they are so much better than any of the others I've tried (and that are still available - some of the other favorites are discontinued so no point mentioning since the seeds are not available)

Edited by cjzimmer1
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Stupice.  They are bigger than cherries but smaller than ... "tomatoes."  I don't know my varieties very well.  I plant one tomato and get about 400 tomatoes off of it.  That means I eat tomatoes twice a day for a couple of months, until I get so sick of them I just pull of the plant!  But I'll check on some of the others recommended here.  I'm not into canning or anything so it would have to be just enough for me and maybe my dh to make some salsa with.  

 

I grow basil right next to it, and can just stand right there and eat lunch in the garden.  :0)

 

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I think it's called "Krim." Someone help me here. It's the tomato that looks rather crimson and has a very rich taste.

I forgot because I haven't grown any at home in so long. I get tons in my CSA basket every summer.

 

Do you mean Black Krim?  Oh, that is a very good one.  It almost made the cut this year! I held the packet in my hand and then put it back in my binder and pulled his neighbor out instead. 

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Lady Marmalade, Wow! That's a lot of tomato plants! 

 

Thanks for the suggestions! Talking about fresh home-grown tomatoes is making me crave them! Yum...so good! I hope I can find some of these varieties.

 

What I usually tend to do is plant way too many for us to eat and then they go to waste. I don't want to can them, so 4-5 plants is about all we can handle. 

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I don't care for the heirloom varieties.  I prefer sweeter tomatoes as well as big meaty varieties so go for some of the Beefsteak type of tomatoes.  Beefy Boy is hands down my favorite tomato but I won't be able to get any of those this year.  So I will have Big Beef, they are pretty close just not quite as sweet.  Another really good one is SuperSteak.

 

My favorite cherry tomato is Sweet Baby Girl but my kids prefer the Sunsugar variety.  

 

My parents own a greenhouse so I've tried literally hundreds of varieties over the years but even though i plant 40 or so plants each year I now stick to just those 3 varieties because they are so much better than any of the others I've tried (and that are still available - some of the other favorites are discontinued so no point mentioning since the seeds are not available)

 

If you prefer sweet tomatoes, you should try fairfarmhand's Cherokee Purple.  They are incredibly sweet AND a nice meaty tomato.   It has the sweetness of a cherry tomato, but in a slicing tomato size.  

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Out of curiosity, what is an easy plant to grow?  I'm the only tomato eater in the family, but would love to try growing some.  

 

Park's Whopper is really easy to grow. Sometimes you can get them at a local nursery. Otherwise you have to order from Park Seed (seeds or live plants). They are very tasty, moderate in size (but a slicing tomato), and then don't split when they ripen.

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Lady Marmalade knows her stuff. She is the one who recommended Arkansas Traveler to me a few years ago. Those are prolific and quite excellent. I personally love Brandywine (Suddreth's Strain) and I love the look and taste of Dixie Golden Giant, but they are honestly not very prolific and wouldn't make the cut if I had to be picky.

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Lady Marmalade, Wow! That's a lot of tomato plants! 

 

Thanks for the suggestions! Talking about fresh home-grown tomatoes is making me crave them! Yum...so good! I hope I can find some of these varieties.

 

What I usually tend to do is plant way too many for us to eat and then they go to waste. I don't want to can them, so 4-5 plants is about all we can handle. 

 

With how you like to use tomatoes, you would do really well with many of the heirloom varieties- most garden centers have a selection of them these days.  Instead of putting out tons of tomatoes all at once, you get a few at a time, which makes them perfect for occasional eating if that is your preference.  Ask at your garden center/nursery and I'm sure they'll direct you to whatever heirlooms they have on hand.  Make sure you give them a good tomato cage/trellis/support system and enjoy!

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Out of curiosity, what is an easy plant to grow?  I'm the only tomato eater in the family, but would love to try growing some.  

 

Any cherry tomato!  You can grow them in the ground or in a pot with good drainage.  The Sweet 100's that have been mentioned are really wonderful cherry tomatoes and seem to be readily available at many garden centers and nurseries. 

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Lady Marmalade knows her stuff. She is the one who recommended Arkansas Traveler to me a few years ago. Those are prolific and quite excellent. I personally love Brandywine (Suddreth's Strain) and I love the look and taste of Dixie Golden Giant, but they are honestly not very prolific and wouldn't make the cut if I had to be picky.

 

Awe, I love that you love Arkansas Traveler!  I went to plant them this year and discovered my packet was empty.   :glare:   Seems my method of saving the packets so I knew what to order for next year didn't work so well.  It's now on the list for next year so I can replace my seed.  

 

Dixie's Golden Giant was a favorite of whatever critter I had at my community garden last year.  They want past all the other tomatoes and ate every Dixie as it got even close to ripening.  I would have suspected the two-legged variety of thief except there was debris left behind, it was just so odd that of all the ripe tomatoes, they went for that specific one.  It must be tasty!

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I'm planning my garden today and am cutting down on how many tomatoes I plant. I'm definitely planting Sweet 100's...we love those! And I'm only planting 4 regular tomato plants. What is your favorite to grow?

Kellogg's Breakfast. It's an orange slicer. Yum!

 

And Sungolds and Sweet Million for cherry toms.

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Yes! This one. I love Black Krim - sooo flavorful.

 

 

The first year I grew Black Krim I didn't really know what I'd planted. I thought they were going to get really dark and purplish. The first bunch rotted on the vine while I waited for them to get ripe! After that I figured out that they were a dark red and figured out when they were ready by touch.

 

OP, I've definitely seen Black Krim at the garden centers, and it would be a great one for you to try.

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I'm not a tomato lover, especially the juicy, goopy ones with lots of seeds.  Cherry tomatoes, yuck...

 

But I really love Opalka, enough to eat them raw by themselves.  They are funky-shaped firm paste tomatoes with very little seeds and juice, sweet and thin-skinned and delicious.

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But I really love Opalka, enough to eat them raw by themselves.  They are funky-shaped firm paste tomatoes with very little seeds and juice, sweet and thin-skinned and delicious.

 

Oh! Interesting! My family does not like fresh raw tomatoes, so I looked for a large paste tomato that I could eat sliced or in a sandwich when I wanted tomato for myself. I went with a new hybrid called Gladiator from Burpee, but I wish I'd known about this. My Gladiators don't seem very vigorous...yet. 

 

You all sure know your tomatoes!

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You really have to know your climate to know what works best for your area. HOT and dry here, so regular tomatoes just crack and rot before ripening without a lot of work and babying (shade cloth, drip irrigation, heavily amended soil...). Cherry tomatoes, grown in a big pot that you lug from place to place as sun and temperatures change from spring to summer, are about the only thing I've had consistent success with. Sweet 100 was a complete bust here, but Yellow Pear cherry tomatoes work well and produce well, and are mild enough to eat right off the plant or in a salad. Plus, they are a lovely sunny yellow color. :)

Edited by Lori D.
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You really have to know your climate to know what works best for your area. HOT and dry here, so regular tomatoes just crack and rot before ripening without a lot of work and babying (shade cloth, drip irrigation, heavily amended soil...). Cherry tomatoes, grown in a big pot that you lug from place to place as sun and temperatures change from spring to summer, are about the only thing I've had consistent success with. Sweet 100 was a complete bust here, but Yellow Pear cherry tomatoes work well and produce well, and are mild enough to eat right off the plant or in a salad. Plus, they are a lovely sunny yellow color. :)

 

This is true, and it is also important to have proper timing.  I have a tomato-growing friend in the Phoenix area and she planted out her tomatoes sometime in February and is now beginning to harvest.  One friend in south Florida is already finished with tomato season for the year, and one friend in the Pensacola area is just setting hers in the garden.

 

My friends in Missouri seem to live in the perfect spot for growing tomatoes.  They can grow the southern varieties that only give me a few tomatoes, and they can grow the hardy northern tomatoes without them cracking in the humidity- provided they get them out early enough.  

 

Meanwhile I'm up here just getting seeds planted and it will be the end of May or beginning of June before they go out to the garden.  

 

Location and timing it right with the weather makes a BIG difference.

Edited by Lady Marmalade
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We usually do some Beefsteak tomatoes for red, we do sweet 100s for cherry toms, and then Lemon Boy for a yellow tomato.  I LOVE Lemon Boys for yellow toms.  They are great just sliced with a little bit of salt, or of course in a salad, but I really like them mixed with beefsteak in a salsa or on top of a burger.

I'm also a huge lemon boy fan. Easy to go grow, and I've harvested them as late as October.

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I've got 28 healthy plants that are about 6-8 inches tall. I can't really plant for another month. So they're in a small greenhouse. I have garden space for about 15 :-/. I'm trying several that might be happy with a bit less sun than most because we're kinda woodsy here. The new ones I'm trying (from Timeless Tomatoes) are:

 

Black krim

Hillbilly potato leaf

Amana orange

Riesentraube cherry

 

The reruns from former years are:

 

Roma

Strawberry tomato

Cherry (don't remember the kind. Red. I just keep saving the seeds)

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