Here is what I have started. Keep in mind I donate hundreds of seedlings to the local High School PTA plant sale, so I like to grow many varieties to give people choices, plus I certainly like the variety and new discoveries each year myself. I’ll probably grow 80% of these varieties in my own garden, but all determinate plants are grown as a single stem with all suckers removed so I can cram a lot into a smaller space.
Cherry
Golden Cherrywine F1
Lucky Bee F1
Pink Cherrywine F1
Sun gold
Lucky Tiger
Brad’s Atomic Grape
Dr. Carolyn
Maglia Rosa
Black Cherry
Chadwick Cherry
Rosella Cherry
Helsing Jct. Blues
Pink Bumblebee
Hearts
Gildo Pietroboni
Red Lithium Heart
Kosovo
Dotson’s Lebanese Heart
Nizami
Midnight Sun
Fish Lake
Grightmire’s Pride
Joe’s Pink Oxheart
Swoon
Kopek Hayasi
Rebel Starfighter VT16
Paste
Striped Roman
Schokoladnaja Sosulka (dark)
Divine Maltese (semi-determinate)
Coer de Boeuf
Pomodore Cuore Antico di Acqui Terme
Jutland
Limbo (determinate)
Pertsividnyi Zheltyi (yellow -semi determinate)
Beefsteak types
Biskaya Rosa
Seek no further love apple
Big Beef
Big Beef Jumbo
Cherokee Lime Stripes
Negrillo de Almoguerra
Limmony
KBX
Cherokee Purple
Wakefield Warrior
Box Car Willie (select)
1884 Pink
1884 Purple
Elbonian Mudslinger
Stump of the World
Elgin Pink
Aunt Ginny’s Purple
Estler’s Mortgage Lifter
Morado di Fitero
Chernyi Princ
Kazula 24
Medium
Bulgarian Triumph
Sugar Plum fairy
Pale Perfect Purple
Eva Ste. Wendel
Cheruban
Chessie’s Delight
Japanese Black Triefel
Jumbo Beefsteaks - County fair entry types
AH Scorpii
Hercegovac
Epstein’s Potato Leaf
Domingo
Big Zac F1
MegaMarv
Brutus
Portuguese Monster
I usually grow a couple tried and trues and a couple experiments. But for the past several years the experiments all got creamed by the tried and trues. So I think its time to just park it on those:
Sun Gold, Cherokee Purple, Brandywine (not sure which one), Stump of the World
It is really hot in mid-summer in my garden and few varieties can take it. I am also grafting (Estamino this year) to keep the production going a bit longer.
We’ve started the following:
Pink boar - tried last year out of a neighborhood seed bin. I agree with everything @swincher said about them above. Size is great for cutting up for a salad
Green vernissage - grew last year as our first attempt at a green tomato. Really enjoyed the flavor and color contrast when mixed with other tomatoes
Japanese black trickle - my favorite black tomato
Wagner blue green - tried last year in too small of a pot and only got one or two tomatoes. Seemed promising so giving it another go
Moonglow - first time, small indeterminate orange
We have a friend whom gives away starts. We usually get a cosmonaut volkov, a sun gold and something new from her.
We have volunteer cherry seedlings in multiple spots of the yard and may get a dark galaxy volunteer again as well. Last year.s was unexpected and quite productive
Is “campari” just a generic tomato type (like a “cherry” tomato), or is it an actual specific tomato variety?
I ask because campari tomatoes are the only kind I can buy from my regular grocery store and actually enjoy, but I have never seen campari tomatoes sold as starts or seeds at my local stores. Then, I tried to look for seeds online, and while some sources sell “campari” seeds (which makes me think campari it’s a specific tomato), others sell seeds that are “campari type” (which makes me think it’s a generic type of tomato).
What do you all grow for “campari” tomatoes, and could you recommend any seeds?
Here in the Rocky Mountain foothills the Eastern European tomatoes do best. Plus, as long as a tomato is salad sized that’s big enough for me.
I’ve tried a couple of varieties that had sub-par favor but only a couple. ‘Floramerica’ and ‘Biltmore’ come to mind. Mostly it’s a matter of adaptation and cultivation.
‘Country Taste’— I had expensive seeds left over. It was unusually cool last summer so maybe it will do better. The seedlings are more robust than any.
‘Red Siberian’. Most productive variety last year.
‘Stupice’ usually the best for me. Weird ability to produce past the first couple of frosts.
‘Bloody Butcher’. The seeds won’t be viable if I don’t plant one this year. Didn’t do much last time but it was planted in a weird place.
‘Berkeley tie-dye” good the first couple of times I grew it and early enough for my climate. Seemed to succumb to disease afterwards. Same reason as Bloody Butcher.
Other seedlings are farther behind and will probably be given away.
You will see a lot of hype about Campari tomatoes and a lot of pure bull. Campari was the name of a tomato developed by Enza Zaden - a dutch company - about 30 years ago. The characteristics are small fruit about 1.5 to 2 inches diameter with high sugar content, relatively good tomato flavor, and the b^og gene for intense red color. Very important, these tomatoes tend to hold their flavor in storage and can be stored for a few weeks while still tasting very close to fresh picked. The original Campari developed by Enza Zaden is a very good hybrid tomato.
Campari has come to be a generic term for any tomato with similar characteristics. IMO, most of the other varieties grown as “Campari” are lacking, particularly for flavor. I’ve tried growing out seed of Campari with expected results. The offspring are a mixed bag with less than half tasting like the parent.
This year I am planting more larger tomatoes. I am planting Cuore di Bue, three different cocktail tomatoes, red, yellow pear and orange. I will not plant Sungold here, as the heat here makes the tomato too sweet and the skin tough. I will be planting more larger Italian varieties. Also a yellow and green tomato, haven’t decided on the variety yet.
Anyone want to give some advice to a first time Tomato grower? It’s really my wife’s project but I think it will end up mine. I’ll be buying plants because we didn’t start early enough to seed.
Any recommendations on containers or cages or soil welcome.
I grow no spray Pears and Berries so i’m not used to dealing with something as finicky as a Tomato.
Tomatoes are not to finicky. Train it to a single trunk and mulch around the plant to prevent splashing of pathogenic soils onto the lower leaves… I use a 10 foot pole to tie the plant to.
I plant the usual:
Early Girl
SF Fog
Sungold
plus this year
Raspberry Lyanna
Isis Candy Cherrry
Berkeley tie-dye.
We’re in SF Bay area and in the hills. Warms days but cool nights.
For indeterminate tomatoes (like most discussed in this thread) they’ll usually outgrow tomato cages, so a trellis or other taller support is a good idea. I train mine single stem, which allows me to plant more in a single area so if some get sick or die, I have more plants to get me to the finish line (frost). Plus it is a really easy method for pruning, since you aren’t making choices which can be tough as the plant starts branching and suckering. With single stem you see a sucker and cut a sucker, no choices to make. So that can be helpful for a beginner as well as a great way to grow them overall. You also do a modification of this and let it go to 2 stems.
I see you are in Maryland and here in the mid atlantic there are a lot of diseases and other issues. Although I enjoy growing a wide range of heirloom and open pollinated plants, starting with hardy hybrids is a great idea. I’d suggest sweet one hundred, big beef, early girl as a good mix of sizes, generally good taste and varieties that you should be able to find at area nurseries. Sungold is a great yellow cherry with a very sweet taste, so that is a good addition, but it I find it more susceptible to diseases like septoria than sweet one hundred.
You can certainly widen the variety and try some heirlooms, but starting with these hardier hybrids first is a good way to have a successful first year with tomatoes in our area.
My 2022 list: Kelloggs Breakfast, Aunt Ruby, Black Krim, Jaune Flamee, Pink Berkeley, Brandywine OTV. Maybe Green Giant but good luck figuring when to pick it.
Green when ripe tomatoes tend to turn a very slight yellowish tint on the blossom end when they are ripe. The best way to tell for sure is to feel of them. A ripe tomato is distinctly soft while an unripe tomato is rock hard.
