After many years of growing Gardeners Delight I have decided to give up growing it after last years performance and lack of taste. I have decided to try Big Mama F1, Indigo Chery Drops, Cocktail Crush F1, and Mountain Magic F1. I prefer a sharper flavoured tomato so hopefully at least one of my choice will make me happy. I have chosen Big Mama for soup and sauce, I have found a lot of the modern varieties either lacking in taste or too sugary sweet for my palette.
After many years of growing Gardeners Delight I have decided to give up growing it after last years performance and lack of taste.
Sorry if it's already been said but this is exactly why, it has lost its AGM status from the RHS. The thinking is that too much has been used from too narrow a selection of plants (and hence seed) that it has lost some of the characteristics that made it so popular. So many seed companies have merged or only buy in from the same sources now.
Something must have happened if you get seeds of old favourites like Alicante, Shirley's, or Gardeners delight and they now have potato leaves instead of the usual tomato leaves @Allotment Boy all from the big seed companies.
After many years of growing Gardeners Delight I have decided to give up growing it after last years performance and lack of taste. I have decided to try Big Mama F1, Indigo Chery Drops, Cocktail Crush F1, and Mountain Magic F1. I prefer a sharper flavoured tomato so hopefully at least one of my choice will make me happy. I have chosen Big Mama for soup and sauce, I have found a lot of the modern varieties either lacking in taste or too sugary sweet for my palette.
After many years of growing Gardeners Delight I have decided to give up growing it after last years performance and lack of taste.
Sorry if it's already been said but this is exactly why, it has lost its AGM status from the RHS. The thinking is that too much has been used from too narrow a selection of plants (and hence seed) that it has lost some of the characteristics that made it so popular. So many seed companies have merged or only buy in from the same sources now.
This is the reason I started off this thread, as stated in the very first post. GD is no longer true and I was asking for recommendations for replacements as nothing so far that I have tried has been as good. This year I am growing: Stupice - new to me Brandywine Red - new to me Sweet Aperitif - new to me Rosella - tried it before but was unimpressed by small size, others here recommend it so giving it another go Big Rainbow - huge yellow/red
Based in Sussex, I garden to encourage as many birds to my garden as possible.
I have yet to find a good salad sized tomato. Cherry and cooking yes, but salad no, they either are too small, grow on foot long vines that can't take the weight, or tasteless. The best yet are Tigerella, which I trialed last year, but it was a late to ripen and I only had one plant so not a good trial.
I have yet to find a good salad sized tomato. Cherry and cooking yes, but salad no, they either are too small, grow on foot long vines that can't take the weight, or tasteless. The best yet are Tigerella, which I trialed last year, but it was a late to ripen and I only had one plant so not a good trial.
Have you tried Shirley? I find them easy to grow and reliable. The best slicing tomato I've grown and well-behaved in salads. I think they have a great tomato taste when ripe.
I love a Greek salad prepared as they do in Greece with the tomatoes just roughly sliced into chunks, and for that Rose de Berne is the best and overall my most favouritest tomato I've ever grown. Shirley work well for that too.
Stupice is a good tasting tomato with an extremely long season. Last year I picked the first in late June and the last in October! - from the same plant.
I really like that tangy taste of Rosella too.
This year I'm growing Rose de Berne, Shirley and Rosella in my greenhouse
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
The last Shirley's I had are the ones with the foot long trusses @Pete.8 , a real pain trying to stop them from cutting off their circulation to the end of the truss and loosing the tomatoes. They had to be tied up on every truss as the weight bent them flat to the stem. With so much weight, ties all over, and kinked trusses it allowed disease into the stems and resulted in sooty mould.
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I have decided to try Big Mama F1, Indigo Chery Drops, Cocktail Crush F1, and Mountain Magic F1. I prefer a sharper flavoured tomato so hopefully at least one of my choice will make me happy. I have chosen Big Mama for soup and sauce, I have found a lot of the modern varieties either lacking in taste or too sugary sweet for my palette.
Stupice - new to me
Brandywine Red - new to me
Sweet Aperitif - new to me
Rosella - tried it before but was unimpressed by small size, others here recommend it so giving it another go
Big Rainbow - huge yellow/red
I find them easy to grow and reliable. The best slicing tomato I've grown and well-behaved in salads. I think they have a great tomato taste when ripe.
I love a Greek salad prepared as they do in Greece with the tomatoes just roughly sliced into chunks, and for that Rose de Berne is the best and overall my most favouritest tomato I've ever grown. Shirley work well for that too.
Stupice is a good tasting tomato with an extremely long season.
Last year I picked the first in late June and the last in October! - from the same plant.
I really like that tangy taste of Rosella too.
This year I'm growing Rose de Berne, Shirley and Rosella in my greenhouse
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Good luck for this year!
My cucumber has just popped its head above the compost, so fingers crossed we all have a productive season
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.