In the greenhouse you can't beat Shirley IMO, outdoors its more difficult. I am trying a number of the blight resistant ones but they tend to have much thicker skins, and not so good flavour as the old varieties like Money maker, and Alisa Craig but these suffer blight. I agree Gardeners delight has gone off.
Never did like Moneymaker; too bland for me. Such a shame about Gardeners Delight.
Agreed, Allotment Boy, Shirley is such a good variety. Never let me down and always a good harvest.
This year I bought from a GC one each of Peardrop yellow and Tigerella . Both have produced well, with the Tigerella starting to fruit just a little later than the rest. From seed I have Golden sunrise and Sunchocola cherry, plus Roma. Hubby is the tom lover, and he likes the Sunchocola best for taste. The daughter is like me and likes Golden sunrise better. But for myself I love the mild taste of the peardrops the best.
I grow Yellow Pear which I expect is known as Peardrop in the UK. It's lovely and comes true from seed, judging by the volunteers we now have in the polytunnel and outside. This year I tried Red Pear and that's a good 'un too. Both good raw and the yellow pear is also good semi dried then preserved in oil for bruschetta.
This year I sowed several varieties but then had an accident with the tray so all the labels flew out as well as the plantlets. I have Rose de Berne and Ananas which are both good raw. I have small and large plum tomatoes which I've been cooking down to make passata for winter and some Marmande types. There are also small red and black cherry toms which we nibble as we go round the polytunnel weeding and watering and tying in etc.
Grew Sungold last year and found them very bland. Not trying those again.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Grew Sungold last year and found them very bland. Not trying those again.
I grew Sungold for a few year and couldn't agree more - a very sweet tomato but almost tasteless in comparison to others. I found much the same with Suncherry
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Nice to see this thread being revived. Thanks for the suggestions; will try some of those next year, certainly Stupice as it's got a long season and that's one of the qualities I'm looking for.
Mine this year: unfortunately the outside ones all got blight in late August so they've been ditched. Greenhouse ones are still going, especially Orange Plum which has turned out to be a good yielder. Big Rainbow were absolutely enormous and with a good flavour but is a determinate variety so is now finished, but I'll grow them again. Orange Paruche didn't do too well this year (maybe the weather?) and Golden Sunrise is still going.
Based in Sussex, I garden to encourage as many birds to my garden as possible.
I think I commented last year that I'd found Sungold bland. They're a bit better this year (maybe due to weather conditions) but when the packet of seed is used up I won't be buying any more. My favourite for the 2nd year running is Rosella. Gardeners' Delight and Yellow Pear are good too but not as tasty as Rosella. All are grown outside in pots against a south-facing garage wall.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
Interesting about sungold, the first year I tried them they were fantastic, like a taste explosion in the mouth. The following year very bland. I was doing the RHS course at the time, & one of my fellow students said the same . I agree it very much depends on the weather, particularly how warm the nights are (or not), which we agreed was the problem that particular year.
My Sungold were as expected this year - not too sweet and with the expected "tang" It does depend on your taste buds ( like anything else ) but I've been growing them for years and never been disappointed. I wonder recently if it is a seed problem -I tried Bloody Butcher this year instead of my usual Black Krims and they were not as described. They ripened to resemble a basic tomato - round, red and average flavour.
It's like Alicante and Gardeners delight @philippasmith2 I have grown them for years, but the seed now produce plants that are different. Such as potato leafed, or differing in the expected size. My last Shirley had trusses that were so long they needed their own supports.
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This year I sowed several varieties but then had an accident with the tray so all the labels flew out as well as the plantlets. I have Rose de Berne and Ananas which are both good raw. I have small and large plum tomatoes which I've been cooking down to make passata for winter and some Marmande types. There are also small red and black cherry toms which we nibble as we go round the polytunnel weeding and watering and tying in etc.
Grew Sungold last year and found them very bland. Not trying those again.
I found much the same with Suncherry
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Mine this year: unfortunately the outside ones all got blight in late August so they've been ditched. Greenhouse ones are still going, especially Orange Plum which has turned out to be a good yielder. Big Rainbow were absolutely enormous and with a good flavour but is a determinate variety so is now finished, but I'll grow them again. Orange Paruche didn't do too well this year (maybe the weather?) and Golden Sunrise is still going.
I agree it very much depends on the weather, particularly how warm the nights are (or not), which we agreed was the problem that particular year.
It does depend on your taste buds ( like anything else ) but I've been growing them for years and never been disappointed.
I wonder recently if it is a seed problem -I tried Bloody Butcher this year instead of my usual Black Krims and they were not as described. They ripened to resemble a basic tomato - round, red and average flavour.