Variety recommendations - central VA

[jcmorse33]

Ok, after getting my first honest to goodness chance to sample a wide variety of OP varieties this last saturday at the Monticello Heritage Harvest Festival the list of varieties I was thinking of trying received some serious revision. Unfortunately the list also grew in length... and since I only have room for 6 indeterminate varieties in the ground (unless I totally crowd them) I need to trim it back a little. Important criteria for me are, taste, productivity (limited number), and ability to survive my central VA climate (hot and humid, variable rain patterns, a nearby swamp from which all things funk emerge on a regular basis... I swear there a fungi varieties with legs around here).

The varieties I tasted that left me thinking "Oh my gosh, so that's what the fuss is about! I have got to grow something like this..." were:
1. Brandywine - OMG... didn't think I had space to waste on something described as a "shy producer" but... 9.5 / 10. I have never had a tomato that tasted that good before. This firmly pushed the Pruden's Purple and Kellog's Breakfast I grew this year down to 7.5, because if they were 8's this was a 10 and I need to save the 10 just in case I find something better. Its my first year with heirlooms after all.
2. Yellow Oxheart - smooooth... fruity... 9-ish / 10.
3. German Red Strawberry - rich and sweet with a little tartness mixed in 9-ish / 10.
4. Black Cherry - almost grape like. 9/10
5. Snow White Cherry - a "lighter" flavor than the Black Cherry but still very very good. 8.9/10 (just because I though BC was a hair better)
6. Orange Oxheart - similar to yellow oxheart, but hard for me to rate it since I bought it from a farmer's stand rather than sampling it at the tasting alongside. At least an 8.5 I think. I ate it like an apple, raw with nothing else, which I have *never* done with a tomato before.
7. Persimmon - also sweet and rich, perhaps a little fruity only more tang and / or tartness than GRS or the two oxhearts. 8.5 / 10.
8. Marianne's Peace - very good, probably a 8.5, but not better than BW.

Others that were "very good" to me but which I would have a hard time ranking as I focussed on ranking my favorites:
Black Sea Man (prefered it over the Cherokee Purple they had there...)
Green Zebra (prefered it over the Aunt Ruby's German Green they had... just seemed to have more flavor)
Manyel - citrusy, sweet. Just not up with the 8.5+ crowd.

Taste aspects that I don't like...
Sour or overwhelmingly tarte... Purple Calabash for me is a spitter...
Tomatoes that are watery and hard... I don't like it when there is a discernible "crunch" even when the fruit is sliced, and if there is juice I want to taste it, not just feel it (for me this eliminates Celebrity along with most modern hybrids).

My thoughts thus far as to what I want to grow next year, keeping the list to 6 varieties (since clear cutting the trees is not an option)...

1 Brandywine (Sudduth's strain) - a definite... just because...
1 Orange Oxheart - it seems to be described as a productive variety so this is a definite
1 German Red Strawberry - a definite
1 Yellow Oxheart OR Aunt Gertie's Gold OR Lucky Cross OR Lillian's Yellow Heirloom - yellow oxheart was incredible but seems to be described as an average producer that is suseptible to disease (which puts it at risk in my yard), so if I can find something just as good or better that is hardier and better producing...
1* Aker's West Virginia OR Andrew Rahart's Jumbo Red - I'm looking for a full flavored red beefsteak that I like (Big beef, Jetstar, and Super Bush just don't measure up to the flavors I've encountered now) that produces well.
1* Carbon OR Black from Tula - to round out the color / flavor crowd of large slicers

* denotes spots that could alternatively be given to varities said to be similar to brandywine in flavor to help give me something that has that special something with better production and consistency, ala Stump of the World

Oh yeah, I do have one large pot on my deck which will go to Black Cherry too. I may have room for smaller plants such as dwarf varieties or determinates in front of the indeterminates, but only if I can convince my wife to let me put in another raised bed. (We can always clear another spot for the future swing set, right? )


--Justin