In search of the 'best' tomatoes to grow in 2015

Carolyn's post about the 'Black Velvet' tomatoes got me to thinking about something I've been wanting to ask the Stewbies. What is your 'favorite' tomatoes to grow? I am always on the hunt for the 'best' tomatoes and grow a new variety each year. This year I tried 'Mortgage Lifter' and 'Money Maker' and was very disappointed with both. The stars of my garden this year were 'Beef Master' and 'Sicilian Saucer' as well as the ever popular 'Sweet Millions'. I like to grow a nice balance of slicing, cherry and canning tomatoes. I'm looking to find 'Tomato Berry' as I have heard rave reviews but can't seem to find them in Canada. What's YOUR favorite tomato variety and why?

 

I love jelly bean tomatoes. They are very sweet and produces lots. Celebrity are great for canning. Amish paste I like for sauce. I tried a new one this year called Peron sprayless and was very pleased with it. I have seeds if you want some.

 

I agree with Carolyn, Celebrity is hard to beat for a good canning tomato, and it is good for eating, also.
I've not had good luck with the "heirloom" tomatoes, although I've only tried three varieties.
Romas did wonderfully well for us this year--lots of thick tomato sauce in the pantry, and sun-dried tomatoes, also.
For cherry tomatoes, we plant Sungold, and also red and yellow pear tomatoes. They aren't so super-sweet, and we like a tomato with a bit of tang to it.
Netty, I just did a quick search through my garden catalogs, and both Burpee and Johnny's Select Seeds have Tomatoberry seeds.There are likely other sources, but these I found quickly.

 

Thanks MG, last time I checked neither Burpee nor Johnny's shipped to Canada. I am glad to see that Johnny's now does. I'll keep looking for a Canadian source though, hopefully for plants.
The 'Sicilian Saucer' tomatoes were an heirloom tomato and I was most impressed with them. They were large, meaty tomatoes with few seeds that were great for canning as well as slicing. I will definitely be growing them again! I also grew Roma tomatoes, which were plentiful and very uniform. I used them for canning as well, with good results, but MUCH smaller and not good for slicing. I have tried several types of cherry tomatoes, but somehow when we do our taste tests here the 'Sweet Millions' always win. We like ours sweet! I had HUGE expectations for the 'Mortgage Lifter', but the plants produced very few tomatoes and they were not as tasty as the 'Beef Master' or the 'Parks Whopper'. I've grown 'Celebrity' in previous years, I think I'll try those again.
Thanks Donna, maybe I'll look into 'Amish Paste' too.

 

Netty, I spent the money on the tomatoberry seeds a few years ago and was a bit disappointed. I was expecting something phenomenal...it was a very dense, bland, triangular shaped fruit a little on the tough side compared to a cherry tomato. More like a really dense grape tomato. Since I sell my tomatoes I do spend more on some seeds than I normally would, but I don't think I would grow these again. Now, someone else may have had a much better crop than me with different results, so please don't hesitate to contradict my experience with yours.

For a fabulous one go with the sungold. They have a very unique smell and grow like wild ( you need a tall cage for this one, mine was 5' tall and the tomato grew several feet above the top of the cage. It was the last one standing after the frost this year) produce well and taste great.
Sun sugar is similar to sungold...same breeder. I think sungold is better.

Green grape tomato or Dr Carolyn's frosted Green Grape.. yum!

Orange sunshine...I wouldn't grow again.

Lemon drop is great (and an heirloom if you are looking for an heirloom), but splits a lot. bright yellow tangy cherry tomato.

We grow Big Beef, early Goliath, Goliath, better boy (which it wasn't this year!) The nicest was the Goliath. BUT, what are you wanting it for? canning, juice, sauce, slicing fresh for sandwiches, salsa? Not everything is multipurpose. I have grown the Amish Paste, but wouldn't consider it a paste tomato. I thought it was too juicy. San Marzano is supposed to be the "king" of paste tomatoes, but only if you have a hot Summer and plenty of water for them. Mine were hollow this year and didn't ripen. It was too cold.

 

Carolyn, we tried San Marzano two years in a row, and got about two tomatoes! For some reason they just didn't produce for us, so I went back to the Romas.
Sungold does get BIG! We have a 6' trellis, and it easily topped it and started to droop down. I got quart bags of Sungolds to take to the food pantry, and everyone just loved the taste. I learned to wash them before bagging because people were standing in the aisles, eating tomatoes. We don't use pesticides, but I was worried about dust and possible bird droppings. Not appetizing . . . .

 

Jane, I had oodles of fruit on the San Marzano's, but they didn't ripen and were hollow, not what you are looking for in a paste tomato. It was too cold for them this year We had nights (again) in the 40's during August and most nights of ALL the Summer were not above 60. I never took my winter comforter off the bed. I think you should give them another try, but only if you are out of the drought. They need water, too.

 

Thanks MG and Carolyn for the suggestions. I will definitely keep them in mind for next year. I have tried a few of the yellow varieties in the past and have had problems getting the kids to eat them!
I am sad to hear that you didn't like the 'Tomato Berry' Carolyn. I have heard such great things about them from one of my favorite vloggers, and because they are in Wisconsin I figured we had similar growing conditions. I sure hope someone else here writes in with a positive experience with them!

 

70 % of my space goes to Parks Whopper !! Rest is Celebrity, Homestead (canner or slicing( and Porters for salad size.
Any leftover space are the larger hybrids like Better Boy or VF1 Hybrid and of course a few Early Girl.
For a small tomato the Porter is a heavy producer. I don`t think you can beat Parks Whopper for an all around tomato.
Never will I try Mortgage Lifter again. Poor producer. Not at all as advertised.

 

Mart, I had the same experience. Wow, was I disappointed in this one. "Delicious" was another "wouldn't waste my space or time on it again" tomato.

For the last several years I have been seriously wondering about the Celebrity seeds I have been getting. Last year they cracked. this year they were different shapes from the same seed packet. Now whats up with that? Next year they won't have a space in my garden. Maybe the weather here has made a huge problem with them, but I haven't had the same success with them as I did the first several years I grew them.

 

I see I am not the only one disappointed with the 'Mortgage Lifter'! I paid a lot of money for my plants last year because they had such great reviews ... never again will they grow in my garden!
Carolyn - I thought the same thing with 'Celebrity'. They did well the first year I grew them, and then let me down for a few years before I stopped growing them.
Mart - "Parks Whopper" did well for me this year. I will grow them again.

 

I have grown the Whopper for last 5 or 6 years and have never been disappointed. Like I said except for last year and we just had too much rain. Can`t do much about the weather though.
Carolyn, I always buy the transplants here because they are so cheap and many of the six packs have more than 6 in them. It does make a difference where you buy them. All greenhouse nurseries just don`t have the same quality plants. Probably the same with seed. Have you tried Homestead? Little difference in Homestead and Celebrity. Some like the taste of Homestead better. About same size, excellent canner or slicer and heavy producer. Indeterminate type.

 

I haven't tried homestead, but my list isn't ordered so I can give them a try for next year. I buy my seeds from a large commercial supplier and I haven't bought plants in eons unless it is something I run across and want to try without buying a whole packet of seeds.

last year I had a "normal" celebrity, a pointed and some that ripened in flushes... just not right if you ask me.

 

Mmm,, Odd I had the same problem with some plants year before last. Thought I had bought some that were mismarked. Maybe not.
Did you ever try those cantaloupe seed I sent you?

 

Yep, but I missed picking them when they were ready. I was waiting on them to turn tan, but they stayed green. Maybe it was our weather, maybe they stay green for you, but I was expecting them to take longer than they did, too. They were getting ripe at about 65 days. I waited too long to check them. a real bummer, but it was a little late getting them in the garden, too. What size were yours? mine weren't hardly any larger than an elongated softball. I still have a few seeds and will give them another try next year. It really was a little too COLD here for good cantaloupes. The PM hit them pretty hard.