Tomato reviews likes & dislikes 2015 - 2020

[bramble]

My Rougheood Golden Plum were grown in the greenhouse. So disappointed as it looked beautiful.

[nellie-m]

Not the best year to rate them but will pick out a few anyhoo.


Gelbe something or other (a Nellie-M tom)

When googled I found it was Golden Queen tom. However I grew a golden queen tom for the VSP last year and they are two very different toms. The VSP one was an early one that lacked flavour. However Nellies I would say is a mid season tom a very nice flavoursome salad type tom. (On the sweeter side)

Health and vigour 7/10
Taste 8/10
Crop - 6/10
Would I grow again - yes.

Weeeeell - Google knows a lot. But not everything

"Koenigin" does mean queen. "Gelbe" means yellow, and "Golden" means golden. There actually are two different varieties, a Golden Queen which is commercially available, and this Yellow Queen which is an heirloom variety and not in the shops. I got it about 15 or 20 years ago from a friend who had in turn got it from a school project dedicated to saving old varieties.

The Yellow Queen (Gelbe Koenigin) has been a favourite of mine ever since. It hasn't disappointed me once, I always get a nice yield, and like you say not too late in summer. I find it is important NOT to wait until the fruit turns golden, as by then it is really over-ripe. It also doesn't store too well and shouldn't sit in the kitchen for more than a couple of days. But if picked yellow and eaten fresh it is one of the nicest salad tomatoes I have. I'm really happy you liked it

[Penellype]

Legend

Earliness 1/10
Health and vigour 0/10
Taste no idea
Will I grow again - not if you paid me to.

See post #24

Finally one of the 5 tomatoes was ready to eat - once I'd cut out clumps of hard, green seeds.

Flavour 3/10.

The only tomato I have ever grown that beat this for sheer dire performance was a beefsteak variety called Pomona that I bought as a plant in 2012. That produced a few green fruit, but before any were ready to pick it got blight and died.

[veggiechicken]

Legend

Update on Legend - I cut the plant down because it was looking pretty much dead, and noticed a brown stain on the inside of the stem at the bottom. Together with the yellowing leaves and wilting I think this is fusarium wilt, which is apparently common. I've never had it before. The advice is to grow resistant varieties as the fungus can remain in the soil for years, and guess what - all of the other varieties that I've grown in the soil (Sungold, Shirley, Roma, plus Mountain Magic and Ferline) are resistant. Legend is not.

I grew Legend this year too. By accident I cut through the main stem and, after you posted this, noticed a brown ring inside the stem. This photo was taken in September.



The plant sent out lots of sideshoots and fruited quite heavily, considering I had abused it so badly.

August


September


I will grow it again and give it a sporting chance without the "hard pruning".
Flavourwise - 8/10
No hard green bits - just a decent size red tomato.

[Penellype]

Interesting. Mine had a much browner stem than yours, and maybe the flavour was affected by me keeping the tomatoes for about a month before eating them.

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

Reserving my judgment on these "Babies" although slightly sweet, but very thick "Skinned" and I personally don't like thick skinned tomatoes!



"Principe Borghese"

Maybe they are better off left to their best vertues as being a "Sun Dried" but not being in Spain, don't know how we would achieve that?

Not bad! Lovely equil shape, Taste just didn't cut the mustard for me!

[Paul 68]

Mine are

ok heres what i can remember


marmande: squat little plants producing fairly early for the size of tomato
Health - 9/10 some green shoulders
Yield - 8/10
Taste - 8/10 not bad
Grow it again? yes

brandywine: heritage
Health - 8/10 lots of green shoulders
Yield - 4/10
Taste - 10/10
Grow it again? no to long to mature

Roma: plum tomato
Health - 10/10 no problems
Yield - 7/10
Taste - 8/10 very solid fleshed for canning or paste great pizza sauce
Grow it again? YES ive been advised to let them grow as a bush tomato trying that with sodium bicarbonate spraying vs any blight risk

st.piere french heritage variety reliable medium sized fruits
Health - 10/10
Yield - 7/10
Taste - 8/10 very flavoursome
Grow it again? Yes

outdoor girl
Health - 10/10
Yield - 3/10
Taste - 2/10 worse than supermarket tomato
Grow it again? if hell freezes over

subarctic plenty
Health - 10/10
Yield - 3/10
Taste - 1/10 worse than supermarket tomato
Grow it again? if hell freezes over, no not even then

yellow pear

health 7/10
yield 7/10
taste 6/10

Grow it again? maybe

[Snoop Puss]

Paul, another one you might consider is Pantano Romanesco. Very similar to Marmandes in shape and taste but a bit bigger. The plant is a cordon, grows like the clappers and has very thick stems. Good yield. Drawback is a tendency to fork, but so vigorous that I end up letting them do so if I catch them a bit late. Not quite as early to harvest as Marmande but quicker than my other big toms.

[Scarlet]

One of my favourites Snoop! Perfect for a tomato salad with a glass of wine. They are delicious.

[veggiechicken]

I'll give you my verdict later this year as I'm growing one of your Pantano's for the first time Which wine do you recommend?

[Scarlet]

Any so long as it's cold, dry and white

I always grow them with two stems

[Small pumpkin]

I tried my very first sun gold yesterday.

I like them, I like them a lot

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

SP! Honest! If that was your first!

You have been missing out on life! .............

[Small pumpkin]

SP! Honest! If that was your first!

You have been missing out on life! .............

It really was Deano
what else am I missing ???????

[Scoot]

I tried my very first sun gold yesterday.

I like them, I like them a lot

Was it one of your own?