I prefer cherry tomatoes, too, though I do grow others. Plants of Distinction have a wide range of seeds, including Heritage. I have been buying Suncherry F1 Premium which is very sweet and high on the Brix Scale which suits me. Some years ago Gardeners World Magazine published an article on the best Brix tomatoes but I think I finally lost it. Anyone interested could contact them direct to see if it’s still on record (updated, perhaps) and maybe republish it?
I am a big tomato lover and I think that the best way to find your favourite tomato is by trying many different varieties. I like experimenting with tomatoes, I grow many different colours, shapes and sizes. I started growing dwarf tomatoes a couple of years ago and I like them too:) I make my own tomato sauce, passata, soup and even dried tomatoes. I do have my favourites, but I also like to try something new each year. I mainly grow heritage varieties, and save my own seeds. My list would be too long to paste it here, but I can praise Brandywine tomatoes (Black, Red, Yellow, Apricot), black tomatoes (e.g. Black Krim, Black Sea Man), Indigo varieties (e.g. Blue Beauty, Black Beauty), or smaller tomato Chestnut Chocolate (very distinctive, smoky flavour!) I love pink tomatoes (e.g. Amish Rose, Faworyt), green (e.g. Wagner Blue Green, Malakhitovaya Shkatulka) and multicolour (e.g. Berkeley Tie-Dye, Queen of the Night). So many of them I cannot comment on runner beans, but if it comes to squashes I really like butternut types. I grew Thaiti Melon last year and it was great, very big and tasty. I also like Musquee de Provence squash, as I'm not a big fan of traditional pumpkin flavour, and this one is perfect for me. But again, the best way is to try it for yourself. Seeds swapping is a great idea as well
I stopped growing Gardeners Delight, after growing it for many years, because it was so poor. Last year I grew Cocktail Crush, a medium-sized fruit, a good crop, but found it rather sweet for me, I prefer a sharp flavour. I also grew Big Mama for cooking. Not a huge cropper because the fruit grows so big, excellent for puree, soup, etc. but again rather sweet. I cannot grow tomatoes outside here in Cornwall because blight is endemic, a lot of potatoes are grown down here. Taste is such a personal thing, the only way is to keep trying different varieties until you find one that you like. I grow the runner bean Enorma because the beans are long and straight. It also crops well on vigorous vines. I have an aversion to curly runner beans, a nightmare to slice. I have tried many different varieties and never noticed any difference in flavour.
Im in Devon. Are there any varieties that are good for taste, and that I can grow outside, and are fairly tolerant to blight? Or is this asking too much?
I don’t grow toms for yield because even with 4 plants I have more than I can use. I grow 2 in my small greenhouse anything else goes on a south facing wall outside. Sweetness is not a factor for me because I like toms to be a little tart. I remember in the distant past, my dad growing Moneymaker so I followed suit a couple of years ago and was disappointed concluding that they’re a waste of time and space. Like others here I stick to the cherry tomatoes simply because in my opinion they taste better
i like runner beans and my favourite variety is Painted Lady. It’s a real oldie and has good flavour. The beans need picked young though because they go stringy relatively quickly. The real reason I grow them however is because the flowers are beautiful making it a highly ornamental vegetable so it ticks a few boxes.
For blight resistant varieties Losetto (cherry) is one of my favourites. And Crimson Blush (beefsteak) is good too. I tried Burlesque last year after reading how productive it was but I didn't get too many tomatoes from it, not sure if I did something wrong.. I'm going to try again this year though.
I was formerly a SM fruit buyer (and veg and salads a long time ago) now I work for a BIG fruit and veg company managing our business with a big supermarket. I say this because you’re all giving out about us! We do care, but as has been said we have to balance some requirements and address some things the back garden grower doesn’t! My two favorite tomatoes I’ve found on my travels are Piccolo and Spanish Raf tomatoes. This year I’m growing for the first time. I’ve chosen to grow: San Marzano for cooking; John Baer, in an attempt to have a RAF-ish tomato; and a cherry called Resi, which was just me looking for a small sweet cherry. Might add Sungold having read through this.
I definitely intend to try to save some Piccolo seed to grow at some stage but haven’t the first notion how to do this so decided on buying seed this year.
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as well as fresh eating.
https://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/five-sweetest-tomato-varieties/
I cannot comment on runner beans, but if it comes to squashes I really like butternut types. I grew Thaiti Melon last year and it was great, very big and tasty. I also like Musquee de Provence squash, as I'm not a big fan of traditional pumpkin flavour, and this one is perfect for me. But again, the best way is to try it for yourself. Seeds swapping is a great idea as well
I cannot grow tomatoes outside here in Cornwall because blight is endemic, a lot of potatoes are grown down here.
Taste is such a personal thing, the only way is to keep trying different varieties until you find one that you like.
I grow the runner bean Enorma because the beans are long and straight. It also crops well on vigorous vines. I have an aversion to curly runner beans, a nightmare to slice. I have tried many different varieties and never noticed any difference in flavour.
https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/984396/blight-resistant-tomatoes
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.