consistent medium tomato for long season?

[habitat_gardener]

One of my garden plots is at a community garden that offers small plots, about 60 sq. ft., in a long-season climate with nights in the 50s and days in the 70s (sometimes up to 80F) all summer. Most people grow only a few tomato plants, and at the beginning of the season one gardener was wondering what 2 plants to grow to be assured of getting about a tomato per day, for tomato sandwiches and salads. I scaled back a lot this year, but I still grew 15 plants (plus 20+ more planted late in 5g and smaller pots), so I haven't looked for consistent producers. None of mine would qualify this year. The cherries produced reliably, but the large ones came all at once over 2-4 weeks, and the medium size tomatoes I grew this year (Thessaloniki, Jetsetter F1) have produced in spurts. The gardener who asked grew Stupice, which was "too small."

What two flavorful red tomato varieties would you grow that would reliably produce, say, 4-6 tennis ball size tomatoes a week from June/July into Sept/Oct?

[b54red]

You might want to try Big Beef F1. Early on in the season the tomatoes might be a bit larger than you are looking for but they can produce for a very long time. I have had them last as long as 9 months with only slight disruptions in production after the initial heavy crop they produced nice eating size slicers right up til a couple of hard freezes. I have had good luck in the past with Druzba, Lumpy Red, and Andrew Rahart's Jumbo Red producing steadily for very long periods.

I know Jetsetter is a indeterminate tomato but it tends to put on fruit very much like a determinate. It seems to set nearly all of it's fruit very early on with only the occasional fruit later in the season. At least that is the way they have acted in my garden. I think it is a great tomato for early and also for fall tomatoes but not for continuous production during a long growing season.

[riceke]

I can second that vote from b54red on Big Beef Hyb. Hi production, large fruit (baseball size), fairly disease resistant usually lasting into fall. And secondly Rutgers which is known to be a standard for tomatoes.

[dustdevil]

You might also be able to do staggered plantings to get a longer continuous production line...

[barkeater]

Ramapo is my favorite. And like Big Beef, it will give you some big ones too.

Momotaro and Odoriko are consistently medium sized with great flavor over a long season if you don't mind dark pink tomatoes.

[amideutch]

Linda's Faux and Van Wert Ohio. Both available from Gleckerseedmen. Ami

[Barbee]

I like Lynwood. It has a place in my garden every year because of production. It's also a really good tasting tomato.

[Douglas14]

If you're willing to go for smaller tomatoes, Bulgarian Triumph and Dingwall Scottie were very productive throughout the season. Dingwall Scottie was the smaller of the two(I'm guessing slightly larger than a golf ball), but they held up very well on the vine, and produced many blemish free tomatoes. Both these varieties are more of the size for salads, than sandwhiches(unless you put multiple slices on the sandwhich to cover it).

[swamper]

I'd try druzba. Flavor is very good for such a nice round blemish free fruit.

[Redbaron]

I agree with riceke. One of the two really has to be Rutgers, if you can find a good well kept strain. I am still getting Rutgers right now and it isn't even a really good strain of Rutgers. They do however tend to set in bunches. several all ripe one day...then a few days of nothing....then a bunch coming ripe again....then nothing....all season long.

Then for a second variety that hopefully will fill in the gaps is Big Beef F1 just like b54red says. But it doesn't taste quite as good to me. Others like it though and I still like it WAY better than supermarket tomatoes.

[JLJ_]

I think it's hard to feel very sure of the sort of results your friend wants with any two plants -- so many factors vary -- but as there has been mention of Marglobe, Junior (Rutgers is a child of Marglobe) I just have to put in a word for Marglobe itself.

While I grow several varieties of tomato every year, if I could only have one, it would be Marglobe.

Partly that's sentimental, as Marglobe was the variety my grandmother grew for decades -- but it's data based too -- she always said that she could never find any all purpose tomato that could match it -- good for eating, good for sauces, good for canning, good for cooking, good production, mostly medium size, disease resistant, and just plain tough when it came to surviving adverse conditions. She grew Marglobe from the time it was first available until the 1980's -- always said that the original Marglobe did better for her than any of the "Select" "Improved" "Supreme" or other singing, dancing variations on the original. My experience has been the same -- plain ol' Marglobe has done best for me. I have grown it in the same row as Rutgers -- and for me the Marglobe did much better.

Grandma grew Marglobe in Central Illinois. I have been growing it in the foothills of the Big Horn mountains in Wyoming -- which is *not* tomato country, and it doesn't do as well for me as it did for Grandma. Here, the season is short enough and cold enough that Marglobe is kind of late season, while for Grandma it produced all summer -- but I have tubs of Marglobes waiting right this minute to become sauce or be otherwise preserved, and a tent over the Marglobes in the garden to give them some protection from the snow expected here in a few days. What is noteable for me here is what a rugged tomato Marglobe is. When hail or wind or cold set back the tomatoes, and others threaten to die, Marglobe "saith among the trumpets Ha, Ha" and charges back into the battle to produce tomatoes.

This year, Black Prince and Early Girl produced our earliest tomatoes (and are still at it) -- but that hasn't always been true of Early Girl for us, and this is the first year we have had Black Prince.

If I was advising someone who wanted to be assured of tomatoes all season, I'd suggest at least six plants, two early, two of the Marglobe sort, and two that were something a little different, so that they can compare flavors.