What kind of tomatoes do you like?

[HamsterStyle]

We are going to put in a raised bed or two this spring. Several years ago I tried out a venture and tried my hand at a hydroponic set up to grow tomatoes. I stumbled across an entire world of tomatoes I never knew existed. I went a little crazy and ordered 8-10 different varieties of tomatoes. Had some good luck with some, not so much with others. We are going to order some more this year and I am looking for ideas to have stuff that's a little different.

My favorite kind is sungold cherry tomatoes. I had good luck as well with black cherry tomatoes and black zebras. Do any of you grow any certain kind that you really like? Thanks in advance.

 

[Tactically Fat]

You're gonna have tomatoes out your ears, man.

Be prepared to juice some to can. And step some to can. Mmmmmm....chili come next fall winter!

I personally am not a HUGE tomato fan, but beefsteak is good sliced, salted, and eaten with cottage cheese.

My wife much prefers the much firmer flesh (heh) of the Roma.

Also - if you're gonna do tomatoes: I hope no one in your family smokes. Tobacco and Tomatoes are closely enough related that the Tobacco Mosaic virus can, will, and does transfer over to tomatoes and causes big issues with the plants.

 

[churchmouse]

Sonics/Big boys

 

[HamsterStyle]

I love em. Can't get enough. We will definitely have Roma tomatoes because we use them for everything. Beefsteak is good but we will probably forgo them for one of the other heirloom varieties though.

 

[HamsterStyle]

Haven't heard of sonics before. I'll have to check em out. I never had much luck with the big boy/girls we have purchased from the store in the past. The store part could be the problem though.

 

[Mark-DuCo]

I use Heinz Super Romas (look and have the same texture as romas, but about 4 times the size) for all my sauce and salsa, I can only find them at Walmart. For juice though, I use Goatbag tomatos that my grandfather gets, won't tell me where, but they are huge.

 

[JStang314]

I always plant better boys or big boys for reds. They seem about the same to me. For yellows I get California golds. Really haven't branched out past them. They're what my dad always planted and I liked them so just stuck with what works for me.

 

[patience0830]

The fresh ripe kind. Out of the garden. Only kind worth eating.

 

[CindyE]

Every year, I plant chocolate cherry or black cherry, and Cherokee Purple. i like to try new ones as well, but those are my regulars. Sun Gold cherry is good.

 

[spencer rifle]

Romas for sauce. Cherry tomatoes if you like to spend 3 hours every day trying to collect them.

 

[eldirector]

We always do a variety of Roma for making sauce. Something similar to Beefsteak for slicing and juicing (two frames). And then a variety of Cherry for salads and the like (two frames).

Tons more Roma than anything else. We make gallons of sauce to use throughout the year.

 

[halfmileharry]

Beef steak and/or big boys fresh from the garden.
I hate gardening but I'm all about good 'maters. Know what goes good with 'maters? Everything.
I just bought some hydroponic big boys at Marsh this week. Darned fine tomatoes for store bought.

 

[Fawkes]

You want to try "Heirloom" variety tomatoes, the flavor is impossible to beat. They can be finicky however depending on which variety you grow. I have had great experience with "mortgage lifter" and good experience with "Brandywine" varieties. Mortgage lifter produces a good volume of very tasty fruit, Brandywine is not as prolific but again very tasty. Here is a webpage that discusses the various choices of heirloom tomatoes:

What are the different types of Heirloom Tomatoes?

 

[Old Dog]

I find about all tomatoes are good at something, sometime. Romas, Amish canning, and other large cultivars of romas are the best for sauce and juice. We love the orange or yellow full size tomatoes for eating. Celebrity, and Mortgage Lifter are good. I raise 30-50 plants every year and am always trying different ones. Same for my sweet corn. You just have try them and see how you like them.

 

[gregr]

ANY garden fresh tomato is WONDERFUL! Greenhouse tomatoes are awful, but a tomato fresh off the vine is JUST how I remember them tasting when I was a young boy!

 

[Indycar:v1.1]

For the past few years, I've had 4-6, 5 gallon buckets as a container garden for tomatoes. I've had Cherokee Purples, Early Girls and Beefsteak that are to kill for.
We like the Cherokee's the best, but always have a couple of Early Girls. We get them as soon as we can and keep them in the house near windows getting water and fertilizer. By the time to plant, they are big and grow rapidly and we get tomatoes sometime as early as the first week of June. The Early Girls will keep producing up to the first frost in the fall. Cherokees tend to come in about 4th of July, so you understand why we do the Early Girls like we do.

 

[SSGSAD]

The fresh ripe kind. Out of the garden. Only kind worth eating.

Juicy,ripe,and red.....

 

[DeadeyeChrista'sdad]

Wifey seconds heirlooms.

 

[amboy49]

Sounds like there is a fair assembly of knowledgeable tomato growers on here. 5 or 6 years ago I planted several plants which grew to be six feet tall and I had tomatoes running out my ears. Each year thereafter I've continued to plant the same varieties in the same place and each year I've gotten fewer and fewer ripened fruit and the leaves starting falling off the plants about mid summer.

Someone suggested I should move the plants to a different area but that was not an option. So I built some raised beds, put in 5 gallon buckets with holes drilled in the bottom to facilitate drainage, and put in dirt from another site along with potting soil, then put one plant in each five gallon bucket. Watered and fertilized the heck out of them. Just like the years before, the plants started out okay and grew well, but mid summer the leaves started turning yellow and falling off.

A friend of mine keeps telling me the walnut tree in my back yard, which is reasonably close, is the cause of the problem - says it makes the soil to acidic. I can't move the tree or the garden location so I have to find another solution. I've not tried to do a soil test but I figured starting out with brand new dirt would fix any issues re: any fugus in the soil which has also been suggested as a possible problem.

I'm kind of at a loss. I love tomatoes and eat them like candy in the summer which is why I could go broke if I have to buy them at road side stands. Any suggestions ?

Thanks in advance.

 

[SchwansManDan]

Ybeefsteak is good sliced, salted, and eaten with cottage cheese.

Double YUCK! on the cottage cheese part, but beefsteak tomatoes are the bomb!
I am also a fan of Roma and Sweet 100 tomatoes.

Warm summer days, rich Indiana soil, and lots of water. It ain't hard to grow good tomatoes.