Tomato Varieties - favourites, recommendations, warnings please

[hiddentreasure]

following on from the veg club thought, what tomatoes do tomato growers grow?

My two staples are Sungold and Alicante but I like to add a 'guest' variety every year. Suggestions please!

Sweet Million - intense cherry toms
Brandywine - large pink slicing toms great in salads

I grew Ildi last year, which are a yellow cherry tomato. They were quite sweet, and heavy croppers.

Cherry tomatoes of any variety are always worth doing. You can pick them straight from the bush and eat them, warm from the sun and they are so sweet and juicy, yum!

Ones I tried last year that I WILL be growing again this year are plum tomatoes. So many different uses, but, if you have a glut - they are THE best for cooking and storing.

Last year I had Gardeners delight ,tumbling tomatos,sungold,Alicante, think that was all.They all produced a lot of tomatos but the tumbling tomatos (in hanging baskets) were my favourite and they were ready quite early on (1/2 way through before the others started.)

What did you plant your tumbling toms in nikkie?

Had them in hanging baskets!

Tommy tumblers are fantastic cherry toms and have prolific fruit!
Had them in a big pot by the back door and every time I came home I would eat a couple off the tree. Yummy!

So you don't need a greenhouse?

No

Didnt the hot weather cause a nightmare with having to water several times a day?

Ok I'm going to give it a go. When should I start sowing?

anyone got any suggestions for a good plum tomato variety? We grew gardener's delight last year and want to be a bit more adventurous this year.

Last year i bought an un-named plum variety young plant from a garden centre.

This year I am trying Harlequin and Roma VF which I got in seed sale last summer from Thomson and Morgan online.

Ceolas, I used to start my tomatoes from seed in about January, then again in february and march and sometimes april! too early and they get really leggy and spindly and they don't fruit much earlier than if you get them going later. seed or bought plants? greenhouse or outdoors?

personally nothing is as satisfying as eating a lusciously bursting ripe tomato warm off a plant that you have grown from seed - it's magic and so satisfying and the flavour is fantastic; not far off producing a baby!

another vote for tumbler toms. lots, easy to grow and fantastic flavour to boot.

Sorry VVV, I hadn't spotted your reply before. Thanks for letting me know - Roma seems to the most popular plum tomato variety so we will try and get some seeds.