This year's favorites - and not

[tam91]

Well I finally have a bunch of tomatoes. Not nearly the yield I would have hoped, this is not a good year - but plenty for me to eat. I've found some new favorites this year, and a few not so much. How about you?

My favorite new surprise may be Captain Lucky. It's not only beautiful, it's really tangy and tasty. Quite productive too, for this year.

I like the Brad Gates varieties - Beauty King and PBTD. Still waiting to taste Berkeley Tie Dye.

Can't find a pink I don't like - they've all been good this year. Terhune, Earl's Faux, Stump of the World, and Sudduth's Brandywine. Got quite a few from Sudduth's to my surprise, and they were some of the biggest.

Blacks - still love 'em. Black Krim and Cherokee Purple were my stars this year. Nyagous is ok, produces quite a few. Unfortunately, a few I wanted to try didn't make it. Spudakee didn't germinate, and Indian Stripe was a wrong variety. Ah well, there is always next year.

The reds, I don't seem to get as excited about. Except, I really do like Milka's Red Bulgarian. Red Brandywine is good, as well as Neves Azorean Red.

Green Doctors Frosted is a really nice cherry - pretty and tasty. Dr. Carolyn Pink also - although it's a big one for me, quite a few mini-beefsteaks, several bites each. On the several bites theory - Jaunnee Flammee is absolutely wonderful - gorgeous, tasty, and productive - a favorite of my friends as well.

Not my faves - Big Beef is productive, but I don't seem to bother eating them. Ludmilla's Red Plum is fine, but doesn't excite me. Galina's Yellow - also fine, but I don't seem to eat them as much. I'm thinking I'm must not be a huge cherry fan - I grow them, they look cute, but I don't eat them as much.

Carolyn may "disown" me, but I haven't been a huge fan of the hearts so far. Brad's Black Heart is huge, and has a nice taste. But I think the hearts I've had are a little too solid for me - I like more of the gel. It does work well on a sandwich though. I'm going to give Kosovo and German Red Strawberry another taste though, I might change my mind.

A few others yet to try, so a very interesting (if difficult) tomato year.

[carolyn137]

OK Tracy, I am disowning you as you suggest I might when it comes to the taste of most heart varieties.

Are you basing your opinion on hearts just on growing the one heart variety, Brad's Black Heart?

Pity that Ludmilla's Red Plum didn't do well for you b'c it's become a fave of many folks. Try it again.

I have nothing to report myself on my 2011 growouts and probably won't be doing so until maybe the end of September, if then.

[b54red]

You might want to try Donskoi for a very tasty heart which competes with many of the great pinks in flavor and juiciness. Another that is very good is Fish Lake Oxheart which is a very good red heart with a great balanced flavor.

I agree about finding a good red so I tried a bunch this year and had a few winners. The best of the new ones I tried this year are Lumpy Red, Red Barn, Franks Large Red, Zogola, and one that I had that was misnamed Germaid Red ( I still don't know what it is but will definitely be growing again).

[tam91]

Carolyn, I have three hearts. Brad's Black Heart, Kosovo, and German Red Strawberry. Still waiting for GRS - I lost the fruits I had of those to BER.

I like the taste of BBH, and also Kosovo quite a bit. Ludmilla's tastes ok too. They just haven't seemed juicy enough for me - almost a little dry. It's not the taste, it's the texture. But this has been a bad year, and there are still some on the vine. So I will be trying them again this year, and some another year as well. I know one season isn't enough to judge.

B54red, thanks for the suggestions. I have been looking at Red Barn in the future, I am glad to hear that you like it.

I actually have a wrong seed thing (was supposed to be Indian Stripe) that is a small, kind of ribbed red, that actually is quite tasty. Too bad I don't know what it is.

[tam91]

OK, I spoke too soon - perhaps I can inch myself back into Carolyn's good graces. The latest Kosovo were very nice, I changed my mind. My favorite pink so far this year is Earl's Faux, but Kosovo was very good also.

I have another couple hearts here to try (German Red Strawberry and more Brad's Black Heart) - but I'm a little infested with tomatoes, trying to eat up the most ripe ones so they don't go bad. But they're in the queue.

KBX is such a standout - and I find Maiden's Gold very similar - but a little larger for me.

Berkeley Tie Dye I did not care for. It was so tangy and acidic to be almost painful. Maybe ok with some salad dressing or something, but not a favorite so far.

[Sun City Linda]

Jaunne Flammee never stops setting fruit! I love it. Set a bunch during the early rainly cold spring, set thru the summer, still setting now and its been over 100 degrees mostly for two weeks. Also really like Druzba, Red Brandywine and Goose Creek. Have yet to taste my Big Beef, although I note the worms are quite fond of them.... Also, really liked Moskvitch for an early. A real trooper in poor weather with very good taste.

LInda

[tam91]

A friend of mine nicknamed Jaunne Flammee the "Energizer Bunny" of tomatoes. It does just keep going, and is beautiful and tasty besides.

[Sun City Linda]

Perfect nick name!

[Irv Wiseguy]

I've had mixed results so far this year. All of my Ed's Fat Plum and Elmer's Old German were eaten by critters before they were ripe so I have no idea if they're good to grow or not! I tell a lie; one Ed survived long enough to blush, but I gave it to my sister.

Early Anne died after producing 3 tomatoes, but they tasted pretty good.

Chuck's Yellow was my earliest variety to blossom and ripen. They had a mild taste, not as tomatoey as I like. They beat store bought, though.

As I stated in another thread a couple weeks ago, Aunt Gertie's Gold tasted great, but the flesh itself was tough, almost like chewing on leather! It wasn't very productive either.

Brad's Black Heart was pretty good, but it didn't taste "Earthy" to me as others have said. It just tasted like a tomato. I guess my tomato palette isn't as sophisticated as most tomato lovers.
Bandywine was of course great, and rather productive for me. The critters didn't find them before I got about 6 big tomatoes.

It is questionable whether my Riesentraube was really Riesentraube; the fruit was much larger than it was supposed to be and I had a lot less flowers per cluster than the variety is supposed to have. Anyway, whatever it was they tasted good.

Baxter's Bush Cherry is a never again variety. The fruit tasted to me like an unripe apple. It's OK in a salad with a lot of blue cheese dressing to hide the flavor.

I was able to get a few Ace 55's before the critters got to them. They were good, not great. I'd grow it again if I found the plant for $1 like I did this year.

By far, my favorite this year was Fond Red Mini. It was very productive and the fruit had an intense tomato flavor, but not sweet. I will grow it again next year. still have a bowl full of them on the counter waiting to be devoured and lots of green fruit on the plant. For some reason the critters haven't gone after them much.

Thanks

Irv

[Direct Sunlight]

This is going to seem odd, but it's been an odd year, 68 days over 100 degrees. Early girl has been my best tomato. It was the only one to set more than a fruit or two in the spring, and is now throwing out flowers and setting fruit in large numbers. It's also had a better taste than cosmonaut volkov, its main competition. I'm impressed that it seemed ready to go for the fall season as well. Am hoping riesentraubes, my main fall tomato, will get going soon and deluge us with cherry tomatoes. We will see.