Tomatoes - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Posted by Rosie

One of the advantages of living here is that with our large polytunnel we are able to grow a wide variety of tomatoes.  It means we can afford to grown some varieties that are perhaps less productive but are most certainly very tasty and quite possibly not for sale in the local shops.

Tomaotes grown at Eco-Gites of Lenault - 2014

L-R from top row:

Coeur de Boeuf, Potiron Écarlate, Green Zebra
Black Cherry, Roma, Noire Russe
Harzfeuer, Mirabelle Blanche, Yellow Perfection

I also grew Marmande and Tigerella and bought an unknown cherry tomato and unknown bog standard red tomato as seedlings from the market.

So, how have they all fared?

Coeur de Boeuf

Wonderful large heart shaped tomatoes with a fabulous taste either raw in salads or cooked.  No one plant has huge numbers of fruits but as they are each so big this is not a problem.  One to grow again and again in  my book!

Potiron Écarlate

Another large tomato, this time slightly flattened and oddly shaped. Really quite an ugly looking tomato however it has a very unusual almost pinkish tinge and again a delicious flavour. Will grow again! 

Tigerella (not pictured)

These tomatoes are small to medium in size, red in colour with yellowish stripes.  Of all the tomatoes I have grown this year they are one of the most productive, but not the most tasty.  I may grow tigerella next year but probably less of them.  However for a stripy tomato I would really recommend:

Green Zebra

As the name suggests this tomato is in fact greeny/yellow when ripe with dark green stripes.  It is tasty, it is productive and it is on my shopping list for nest year!

Black Cherry

A friend gave me some seedlings of these last year and I very nearly missed harvesting them as I looked at their dark red colour tinged with dark green near the stalk and thought they weren't ripe.  No such problem this year and I have harvested loads of these absolutely delicious tomatoes.  Small enough to pop into your mouth in one and they explode with sweet tomato gorgeousness.  If you want to grow a cherry tomato I would certainly recommend Black Cherry.

Roma

An average cropping plum tomato that are rather susceptible to blossom end rot but one I grow because they make the best passata.  

Noire Russe

These are like a large Black Cherry and have been very productive this year.  Love them.  Great colour and really tasty.

Harzfeuer

These are one of only 2 "normal" tomatoes I have grown this year (the other being the unknown red tomato I bought at the market).  Neither are the most tasty compared to some others but both are still far better than many that supermarkets sell and both are also very productive.

Mirabelle Blanche

This has turned out to be the most disappointing of all my tomatoes this year.  Small, whitish yellow cherry sized fruits, really rather unproductive and with a thick skin and weird almost mushy flesh.  I will not bother with these again.

Yellow Perfection

In the past I have grown lovely yellow tomatoes but I have not been able to find which variety they were.  Yellow perfection certainly isn't the perfection it's name suggests although it is better than Mirabelle Banche!  I won't grow them next year as there are more yellow varieties to try and with luck one may be the great yellow variety I have previously grown.

Marmande (not pictured)

I had trouble getting these to germinate so they were very late growing and rather poor cropping. In previous years they have however been very productive and tasty.  The jury is still out as to whether I will grow them next year.

Who said tomatoes have to be red?

Have you grown tomatoes this year?  What are your favourites and have you any tomatoes you would not grow again?

Linking up with Manneskjur's How Does Your garden Grow Blog linky so do pop on over if you fancy reading some more garden related blog posts.