I too like a yellow cherry mine are Golden Sunrise @philippasmith2@JennyJ , a slightly larger fruit, and not too sweet. Hubby likes Sunchocola cherry, and for the last two years I have grown Roma for sauces, but Roma is too sweet by itself so I add all the others to the sauce to temper it. This year we will see how Pomodoro is as a sauce.
@purplerallim yes, it can certainly pay to mix when you are doing a sauce ( fresh or frozen ). I also like my Black or Chocolate cherry ones too. They tend to be later than the Sungold but good fresh towards the end of the season. If I end up with anything I find a a bit lacking in flavour, a sprinkling of salt and Basil oil often does the trick. As you can tell, I hate wasting anything which I have grown .
Me too @philippasmith2 😁 The Sunchocola are already in flower, and the first tiny fruit has set. They can be almost a month ahead of the late varieties, we were picking first week of July last year, when the rest weren't ready till the end of July. Hubby always says if we don't pick by last weekend of July, they are late ( but that was before we had cherry toms) I freeze all the overflow whole to make into sauces during the winter, when I have more time.😁
I always grow from seed. Tomato growing is one of my favourite gardening things. Every year I try out one or two new varieties and grow ones I've especially liked from previous years.
I like the Moneymaker variety as they are easy to grow and produce a lot of fruit I grow mine from seed now but years ago I did buy small tomato plants from the nursery, happy tomato growing all
Roma, San Marzano and Craigella as I already had the seeds. You get a lot of Roma seeds in a packet, one packet lasted 20 years and still every one germinated.
This year, one of my Roma plants had mosaic virus, doesn’t seem to have affected the others. Yet!
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
I always grow from Seed. My choices are limited as I grow them outside. I have been growing Gardeners Delight the last few years from seeds I save each year. I like to try something different each year too, so it's shady lady this year, and I always grow some cherry type too. These used to be cherry falls but last year, after recommendations on here, I tried Maskotka and they were fab so growing them again this year as I have seeds left from last year.
growing outside gives you more options not less you just have to learn tricks that make it easier. you all are spoiled with green houses. you need to learn new methods that are used in other places. methods such as soil heating cables, water tubes to keep soil warm walls o water to protect plant down to 12f/ -11.1 C to get jump on season, kudzu extract for soil, homemade compost mixes and aspirin to up the plants immunity against blight.
as for varieties there are over 12,000+ in numerous sizes, shapes and colours. you need to expand you horizons.
I have found only cherry sized tomatoes do well in my climate, so have stuck with those the past few years. Large sized tomatoes just don’t have the length of season to taste very nice. Cherry tomatoes do great, and any green ones at the end of the season go in a box on the vine to continue to ripen over several weeks indoors.
I grow some from seed and get some from the GC. I love Sunsugar and Sungold, which they always have.. but other varieties that I want to try I know they won't stock.. so those are from seed. Usually a new packet or two to try each year. A tiny pack of Sungold seeds cost about twice as much as a four cell healthy plant pack, without the work! My local GC will tell me what they are growing each year if I call in the early spring.
I too grow from seed. We only have room for half a dozen plants so I generally grow two different kinds of cherries, two different plums and a new variety. This year that new variety (I forget what it was now) failed to germinate, so I have just cherries and plums this year. And some spare plants for a plant stall at some point.
So that might be an idea for you - look out for people selling spare tomato plants at fetes, at their garden gates, local sales etc. That way you can get something a bit different from what they offer in the garden centre.
Posts
If I end up with anything I find a a bit lacking in flavour, a sprinkling of salt and Basil oil often does the trick. As you can tell, I hate wasting anything which I have grown
The Sunchocola are already in flower, and the first tiny fruit has set. They can be almost a month ahead of the late varieties, we were picking first week of July last year, when the rest weren't ready till the end of July. Hubby always says if we don't pick by last weekend of July, they are late ( but that was before we had cherry toms) I freeze all the overflow whole to make into sauces during the winter, when I have more time.😁
Here's a a link to an old thread on varieties:
https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/1058131/tomato-varieties/p1
I grow mine from seed now but years ago I did buy small tomato plants from the nursery,
happy tomato growing all
just have to learn tricks that make it easier. you all
are spoiled with green houses. you need to learn new
methods that are used in other places. methods such
as soil heating cables, water tubes to keep soil warm
walls o water to protect plant down to 12f/ -11.1 C
to get jump on season, kudzu extract for soil, homemade
compost mixes and aspirin to up the plants immunity against
blight.
as for varieties there are over 12,000+ in numerous sizes, shapes
and colours. you need to expand you horizons.
I have found only cherry sized tomatoes do well in my climate, so have stuck with those the past few years. Large sized tomatoes just don’t have the length of season to taste very nice. Cherry tomatoes do great, and any green ones at the end of the season go in a box on the vine to continue to ripen over several weeks indoors.
So that might be an idea for you - look out for people selling spare tomato plants at fetes, at their garden gates, local sales etc. That way you can get something a bit different from what they offer in the garden centre.