What is your favourite tomato variety?

[Mukluk]

With around 10,000 recognised varieties of tomato in the world and probably a few thousand here in Australia it is not going to be possible to grow and taste every variety myself and decide what to grow each year.  I have some that I have had for years and plan to grow each year, but then there may be something better out there that I have not tried so figured it may be worth asking here.

What is your favourite tomato variety (or varieties) and why?  I know that different people look for different things in tomatoes so this is a bit subjective but it would still be nice to know.  I realise that a tomato that is great in a salad may not perform at all well in sauce etc, which is why it is important for you to say why you like a particular variety.  I grow different varieties for different reasons and do not believe there is ever going to be a decent one size fits all tomato.  The worst tomatoes I have ever grown taste about as good as the ones I can get from the shops, but why grow something mediocre simply because it is better than the shops when I could grow something excellent?

Also, have you ever bred your own variety of tomato?  What was your intended goal of that project or did you just dabble and hope for the best?

[ballamara]

I like cherry Tomatoes for salads, I don’t know their name but the ones that come in different colours. For other purposes I like the ox-hearts.
I have never tried to bred my own, not that good of a gardener.

[Kasalia]

Cherries grow so well here, no fruit fly, and most are self seeded. Little Lemon drops are very nice. I have planted Tommy Toes , years ago so might be them in the red. Tropical and KY for a bit bigger one and a pink one Thai Pink Egg Tomato, which are prolific. This year I am going to try Cherry Camp Joy as well which are a little larger as well.

Dug deeply a tub of fish bits (Yuk) and egg shells, with a floater of Chicken manure and Blood and Bone,that I wrote about, brewing as we speak 3 feet under.

[Mukluk]

How do you quote people in this forum now?

Anyway, Ballamara I think you are being too hard on yourself.  Tomatoes are simple.  If you are a good enough gardener to grow tomatoes then you are  certainly good enough to breed your own!

Last summer I grew about a dozen different varieties of cherry tomatoes, I was surprised how differently they performed and tasted.  Some were super sweet, others acidic, some tasted very tomatoey, others more fruity, others bland and tasteless.  I also grew over a dozen larger fruited tomatoes, again the differences in performance and taste was unbelievable.  This is why I was hoping to get people’s opinions on the best ones that they have grown or tasted.  I don’t want to grow something that tastes good when I could grow something that tastes amazing.

[starruby]

I grew these or something very similar last year and they were very fleshy and had a lot of flavour. They didnt have alot on each plant but they were huge tomatoes.

[Snags]

Im a big fan of Tommy Toe but Im starting to doubt its suitability they are starting to all get wilt,they did so well for so long but the last few years despite all my efforts its not been as good as it has in the past.

[Judi B]

I like San Marzano but I’m about to try a new one Blueberry Cherry Tomato just put some seed in today hope that the frosts are gone by the time they are big enough to plant out.

[ballamara]

Can’t say i have one….I guess it is the one that survives

[AUSSIEDOWNUNDER]

I see my cherry and roma tomato are just starting to colour will have ripe tomatoes soon

[Snags]

Ive done well with san marzanos but fruit fly seem to attack everything but cherry tomatoes….Ive being hammered by green shield bugs at the moment from the reading Im doing they spread disease and cause wilt as well as ruining your fruit,,,I will need to improve my soil make it more water retentive as this is part of the problem of weak tomatoes being attacked then I need to make one bed fallow to get this done and then net it up and use it for fruit fly exclusion so I can grow tomatoes and zucchinis and rock melons

[Mukluk]

I am surprised that roma was mentioned, I always find them to be bland for a homegrown tomato.

I wasn’t aware that Blueberry cherry tomato was in Australia. Judi where did you get seeds? I wouldn’t mind giving them a try.

[Judi B]

I got them from Squatters Hut Heirloom Seeds it popped up on my Facebook they sounded interesting ….. just hope they are telling the truth
The tomato seeds are up so that is a start will let you know how they go

[Snags]

Cooked san marzano (roma) is excellent but as a salad tomato its bland

[jvmackereth]

Last summer here in Kalamunda I had great success with a “Gourmet Truss”plant and an “Apollo” plant, both from Bunnings, grown in raised beds full of fig branches, straw and manure. The Gourmet Truss were really soft, small-seeded, and extremely tasty, best tomatoes I have ever grown. They kept on coming well into autumn too. Perfect as fresh sliced tomato on hot buttered wholemeal toast for breakfast.
I have also found rouge marmande a great early tomato for fruit well before Xmas.
And Tropic tomato gave me tomatoes when it was too hot and dry for any other variety.

[jvmackereth]

BTW, I find that tomatoes get heaps more green shield bugs when grown in a really sheltered corner. In a windier spot, the shield bugs don’t do so well.

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