Lycodad, the prettiest tomato is the cute yellow one behind the bowls. The Sydney. What do you think of Costoluto? Looks beautiful.
Don, you get extra points for creativity. I am not willing to do more than a couple of science experiments per year. A Michael Pollan tomato? Gotta be kidding. A big green would work well down South for fried green tomatoes but a small one...not so much. A number of DG years ago I participated in a Campari grow-out experiment. Good for two years and by three they were the right shape and color but no taste. By F4 and all four plants produced tomatoes that stayed green and never ripened. Three months later I had tomatoes on a tray and they were green rocks. Apparently a parent in this hybrid was geared to maintain firmness and stabilize ripening.
Tobasco, I grow Krims and Purples and think they are interchangeable in terms of flavor though one does better some years than the other. Yellow pear, though small, is favored by canners. I entered and won a yellow pear tomato jam recipe several years ago in the DG fair. It's an excellent roaster. Not every tomato should be destined for a career in salad or sandwiches. Finding the best culinary range of a tomato variety helps objectively determine its quality. If we are limiting ourselves to the best slice and eat tomatoes, well that's not necessarily the "best" tomato. Canning tomatoes have few seeds and are dense and dry. Some are okay as slicers but really don't stand up to the flavor profile of slicers. But their flavor as canned tomatoes are nonpareil. I grow Sherrill's Watermelon, a Tennessee heirloom gifted to me years ago here.
Birder, heirlooms (not capitalized) produce early and late. Many heirlooms are beefsteak-types and produce mid to late season.
We lost at least twenty pounds of tomatoes to Irma. Still having trouble keeping up with the harvest. The quantity at any picking is big but not big enough to set up canning. The freezers are packed. Best I can do is cook something tomato-centric almost every night. Tired of the singular funky odor that comes from the one that has headed north (IMO).
My favorite cherry remains Black Cherry. I grow Sugar Sweetie (great for salads and replaced slightly smaller Sweet 100 years ago), Sungold and Sun Sugar (his favorite). Bakers Creek sent free heirloom Riesentraub and I saw it mentioned by at least one other person. Does anyone have an opinion? My plants produced unevenly sized tomatoes. Some were saladette and some were cherry. They look good; don't split and have a long life. The flavor jury is still out. I'm holding back on judging anything new since rain amounts here were excessive. I'll try it them again next year. And I always grow yellow pear for roasting, marinating (because they hold their shape so well), chopped salads, chutneys and relishes.
Germans are late, as are beefsteaks in general. I have saved seed from a number of Germans but only grew German Johnson this year to restock old seed. I also grow German Pink, Red Brandywine, Pink Brandywine and German Queen. They all have large seeds, are watery and don't last but if you plan to reduce and sauce, can, or slice and eat (and you are very patient), they are amazing. They are not highly productive though so if space is an issue reconsider.
Last year I needed to restock slicers seed other than Cherokee Purple and Black Krim. I can't remember all the varieties I've got in storage but grow Arkansas Traveler, Hazelfield Farm, Mortgage Lifter, Eva Purple Ball and Box Car Willie. I'm leaning towards maintaining a bank of seed that relates to what is heirloom in America and especially the South.
For yellow beefs, I've got a good yellow, equal to but not necessarily better than Kelloggs. It's a pass along from a Maryland gardener called "Alfred Orange".
I've been growing tomatoes in the same general garden space, but with rotation, for over twenty five years. My tomatoes are definitely doing their own thing. Every few years there seems to be a new tomato I didn't plant. Maybe a natural hybrid better suited to the bugs and weather of Maypop Garden space. I have always been open to sharing.
