Livingston's Favorite

[Grub]

Has anyone else grown this one and what do you think? This is one tomato factory.

[nctomatoman]

It is one of my favorite Livingston varieties -



This is probably a view into what people looked for in a tomato in the 1890-1920 period in America. Smooth, oblate, medium sized, productive, very good flavor.

I think I need to return to it next year!

[carolyn137]

Yes, it is a high yielder Grub, but I consider the taste to be average, as I do with many of the Livingston varieties, and so it was never one that I grew many times.

But of course, opinions will vary, as you know.

There's another older CV that I ran across, when I was searching for something else, that I did like very much and that's Landreth, and I just sent seeds to someone for that one. And of course Break O Day, yet another older CV is another one I really do like as well.

But most of the red Livingstons just never appealed to me and my tastebuds.

[nctomatoman]

One thing to keep in mind on these is that Carolyn and I ran through hundreds of older CVs from the USDA over the 1994-1997 period - I suspect that both of our views on some of these were based upon one season of testing/tasting, and for me, anyway, it is hard to accurately judge tomato flavor when over 100 varieties are coming in all at once! I've grown Favorite 3 times, so have a pretty good idea of its attributes. I am similarly fond of Magnus and Golden Queen. any of those older CVs that I return to must be good to get a space in my garden!

[carolyn137]

It's so true Craig that we did run thru lots of older CV's, many of which I didn't care for such as Alice Roosevelt, King George, Queen Mary and on and on, but I did pay more attention to the Livingstons, for all the reasons you know.

And it's also true I only grew most of them a couple of times, as I did with Favorite.

And when I said I didn't care that much for the Livingston reds, I meant that I really do like Golden Queen(USDA) and of course Magnus.

How could I not like Magnus after all I went thru with that one.



The Landreth one I mentioned above is another round red CV whose taste I do like very much , as well as Break O Day, and both I've grown several times, but not lately.

[montanamato]

I am trusting Craig, Grub and Carolyns reccommendations.
I already have seedlings up of Favorite, Golden Queen, Magnus and Dwarf Stone.
After all of Grubs pictures I am really glad to have the Favorite.
Landreth would be one someday down the line to try too.

Jeanne

[giardiniere]

The Sand Hill Preservation catalog lists it as follows...

Livingston Favorite- 82 days- Indeterminate, round, red, globe, striped fruits.

Are they really striped? If so, it must be very subtle.

[nctomatoman]

Nope - they are not the least bit striped! Looks like a typo.

[carolyn137]

No Dave, they aren't striped.

There are some bloopers in the current SandHill catalog that either Linda missed when I sent her possible corrections, or I missed.

Within a few weeks the new SandHill website will be up, the major initial change being navigational, but the varieties lists still need tweaking, as I've mentioned before.

For the tomatoes I expect to do some of that this summer.

[giardiniere]

Thanks! I must admit, Sand Hill does have a very extensive list of tomatoes. The prices are great too, plus no shipping charges. I suspect they'll get getting some of my business next season

[Lee]

So far my favorite of Livingston's is Stone. It was a little
slow last year, but one is got going it did quite well. Only AK Traveler bested it for fruit set in 90 degree temps of July/August.
And don't let the name fool you. While they were moderately firm, the texture and flavor was quite pleasant and not overpowering or extreemly bland.
On my grow list again for this year!

BTW. Grew Favorite a couple of years ago and wasn't impressed. The flavor was nothing remarkable IMHO, and the production was poor.

Lee

[Grub]

Flavour is not an issue with Livingston's Favorite. It tastes very good. An honest tomato. Alongside are two Red Brandywines and in regular shootouts we can't split them on taste.

Production-wise, LF is churning them out. Size isn't huge, just a nice workable 4-8oz. Red. No stripes at all. Smooth shouldered. I reckon Livingston must have tried a few before declaring this one his favorite.

I know one season does not a tomato make. And this has been a blue-ribbon season. But it has helped ensure LF's return.

I tried Paragon last year. It's taste is a bit odd and it's not coming back. Not so LF

[sirtanon]

Livingston's Favorite is one of the varieties I've just sown for my fall garden at the new house. I was very interested in trying out this old variety even before I saw this thread... but now that I've seen the picture posted by Craig, I'm stoked!

It looks awesome.

The seed for this variety was actually given to my wife by Patrina - at the time, my (at that time) girlfriend, living in Australia, was looking to restart her veggie garden in NSW.. but now it seems that since she's living here now (and married to me ) they've continued on their journey round the world.

Thanks Patrina! Sort of a VERY early wedding present, I suppose