Your best variety this season?

[NarnianGarden]

The best tasting ones this year were..

Kosovo - never mind the BER, I loved every one of these!
GGWT - fruity and juicy!
Esmeralda Golosina - another lovely fruity one, really sweet and tropical, and prolific too.
Klyukve ve sakhare - this one was late for me, and most of the fruits were picked green. STill, the taste was fabulous. If anyone wants a tomatoey-tasting tomato, this is it ..

[venturabananas]

Rebel Yell was the best this year. Best flavor of the 20 varieties I grew this year and it was pretty productive, too.

[Greatgardens]

Burpee's Fourth of July was the earliest and longest producing with no spraying for me. My best OP was Dwarf Pink Passion. An excellent tomato, although Septoria destroyed it quite early. I'll definitely grow DPP again, spraying next time.
-GG

[green_go]

Originally Posted by JLJ_

Do you have any idea about Latah's Days to Maturity for you? Latah seedlings started off impressively for me, but didn't produce early at all relative to others. I've seen it suggested that the early varieties may produce early only if planted earlier than one would plant others . . . which might accord with what I've seen in early varieties . . . but anyway, considering your location, I wondered what DTM you were seeing.

This year, I picked my first ripe Latah tomato on Canada Day (1 of July).
Because of its compact size, I grow Latah in pots - maybe, this also contributed to its early ripeness.
I sow seeds and transplant Latah outside at the same time as all other tomatoes.
This year, because of warm spring, it was about 15-th of May.

This picture below of Latah was taken on July 7 and this is when I started mass picking of Latah tomatoes - about a week after the first ripe.

[seaeagle]

Eva Purple Ball-I've grown it long enough to call this one dependable in any kind of weather.They were the most productive, never split, ripen well, taste great and are always the last tomato standing at the end and the last tomato I eat, usually in December.Will grow in hot dry, cold wet , doesn't matter.Great heirloom to start with if you are new to heirlooms.

[sjamesNorway]

I've really enjoyed reading all of these reviews. (The only problem is that I just have to have seeds for more varieties.) Of those that have been mentioned often: I grew Rebel Yell this year, and it would be in third place for me, with excellent flavor and production. For some reason, Chapman didn't do it for us. The flavor was a bit bland, grown in the greenhouse. I'm sure this has to do with my own combination of growing conditions, as many clearly love it. GGWT, Black Krim, and Indian Stripe PL are on my grow list for next season.

I should also mention Couilles de Taureau, which I grew this year. It was my most productive variety, with large meaty fruits and very good old-fashioned taste.

Steve

[WilburMartin]

All of my plants are still growing, except for a Patio - and it had a marble sized knot when I pulled it to make room for a cabbage plant.

I planted Bonnie Creole and Patio in (bad/improper) containers in March. Both were low yield, but great learning experiences. The MS Heat beat them up, but the Creole has some tiny green tomatoes and buds/flowers o plenty. But, it is sill healthy and growing.

I then planted 3 Burpee Mortgage Lifter and 3 Pink Brandywine seeds, which got planted in 5 gal. buckets in June. The early tomatoes I got from both were tasty - Brandywines being the most flavorful. All 6 of those plants are still growing after a punishingly hot and humid summer with a drought in Sept/Oct. The MLs have a few knots and flowers; the BW plants are loaded with small tomatoes and blooms - more now than previous.

I then bought a sale Bonnie Better Bush and planted it in an 18 gal Sterilite container with a Serrano pepper. The summer stunted the tomato, but the Serrano has outgrown and out produced my jalapeño and peperoncini plants - hot little effers. The Better Bush is loaded with blooms and tomatoes.

I also started a Sweet Carneros Pink from seed and Pink Berkeley Tie Die from seed that I planted out in early July. The PBTD are the sturdiest plants I have growing - look great, and loaded with blooms and tomatoes. These tomatoes taste interesting - slightly smoky. The Sweet Carneros Pink I have is loaded with about 20 tomatoes in various states of size and about 10-15 more blooms. Crazy productive - it tastes ok, but not nearly as good as the Pink Brandywine to me.

So - production: Sweet Carneros Pink; taste: Pink Brandywine

[Patihum]

I grew mostly crosses this year and some were outstanding but of those tomatoes readily available to everyone I'd have to say Daniel Burson took the top spot. Big, meaty, great flavor and plenty of them. It's a definite grow again variety.

[b54red]

Originally Posted by sjamesNorway

I've really enjoyed reading all of these reviews. (The only problem is that I just have to have seeds for more varieties.) Of those that have been mentioned often: I grew Rebel Yell this year, and it would be in third place for me, with excellent flavor and production. For some reason, Chapman didn't do it for us. The flavor was a bit bland, grown in the greenhouse. I'm sure this has to do with my own combination of growing conditions, as many clearly love it. GGWT, Black Krim, and Indian Stripe PL are on my grow list for next season.

I should also mention Couilles de Taureau, which I grew this year. It was my most productive variety, with large meaty fruits and very good old-fashioned taste.

Steve

Couilles de Taureau is also one of my favorites and has been since I first grew it. Besides good size and great flavor it is also sets decently in the heat. It usually disappoints with just one or two blossoms on the first cluster but picks up after that.
A greenhouse grower on this forum does great with Brandy Boy in his greenhouse and it is a very tasty tomato with good size and production. If you want to grow a heirloom that is similar I might suggest Cowlick's Brandywine as it was my best tasting this year and productive.

Bill

[sjamesNorway]

Couilles de Taureau was by far the best performer in the midsummer heat of my greenhouse.

Cowlick's Brandywine and Daniel Burson are definitely on my grow list for next year.

Steve

[peppero]

Sun Sugar both in production and longevity and they are still producing.

Jon

[Fritz77]

Two varieties shared the gold medal.
Orange Russian 117: low yields but unique taste and look.
Pink Ponderosa: high yields and a traditional very good old flavour.

[OhioKate]

My best tasting tomato was sunrise bumblebee. However, the plant was not the healthiest looking in my garden. That said, I gave a few seedlings to my mother and her sunrise bumblebee was huge and healthy and happy until a wind storm knocked it over last week.

I was also really pleased with Akers West Virginia. Really great tomatos for sandwiches! Huge healthy plant.

[NoahYates]

I had a less than favorable season this year, but my favorite tomato out of a field of 178 varieties was 'giant belgium' from tatiana's tomatoes. It produced some fairly large fruits, which had that certain quality of rich, sweet-while-simultaneously-acidic flavor and density I love. It was the most like the cherokee purple I grew in 2009, which I have been searching for ever since. Its the type of tomato that makes you truly appreciate the way the plant has mined the soil for nutrients and sequestered them into this delicious delectation you are enjoying. Sparks of flavor with a buttery smooth texture. When slicing it, one feels as though carving a perfectly marbled rib-eye steak cooked to perfection.

[MuddyToes]

Amish paste was the best-tasting but didn't yield much. Most of the fruits didn't ripen before the foliage died off.

Sunsugars tasted good and yield was outstanding from a grow bag.