I just preused years of tomato recommendations here in rec.gardens,
and thought I'd go ahead and re-ask the perennial question "What's
your favorite tomato?" Favorites from years past seem to include
Pineapple, Pink Girl, Lemon Boy, Big Girl, and Park's Whopper. What's
your current favorite? And please mention where you got your seed.

By the way, I'm in Zone 9. Do specific varieties do better in some
zones than others? If so, what are good selections for Zone 9?

"Fleemo" wrote in message
om...
I just preused years of tomato recommendations here in rec.gardens,
and thought I'd go ahead and re-ask the perennial question "What's
your favorite tomato?" Favorites from years past seem to include
Pineapple, Pink Girl, Lemon Boy, Big Girl, and Park's Whopper. What's
your current favorite? And please mention where you got your seed.

By the way, I'm in Zone 9. Do specific varieties do better in some
zones than others? If so, what are good selections for Zone 9?

I don't know about Zone 9, but in Zone 6 my hands down winner for a great
cherry tomato is Jolly, the 2001 AAS winner. I tried it this past summer,
and it did a wonderful job of producing large quantities of a great tasting
cherry tomato. It was heat tolerant, crack resistant, and had a great tomato
taste.

John

On Sun, 26 Jan 2003 00:51:20 -0600, "B & J"
wrote:

"Fleemo" wrote in message
. com...
I just preused years of tomato recommendations here in rec.gardens,
and thought I'd go ahead and re-ask the perennial question "What's
your favorite tomato?" Favorites from years past seem to include
Pineapple, Pink Girl, Lemon Boy, Big Girl, and Park's Whopper. What's
your current favorite? And please mention where you got your seed.

By the way, I'm in Zone 9. Do specific varieties do better in some
zones than others? If so, what are good selections for Zone 9?

I don't know about Zone 9, but in Zone 6 my hands down winner for a great
cherry tomato is Jolly, the 2001 AAS winner. I tried it this past summer,
and it did a wonderful job of producing large quantities of a great tasting
cherry tomato. It was heat tolerant, crack resistant, and had a great tomato
taste.

John

As a slight variation on the original topic, I was looking through the
heirloom tomatoes on seedsavers,com, and was amazed at the huge
variety. Is there a good resource that will tell me about the
different kinds, or do I just close my eyes and blindly choose some
and see if I like them?

Rebecca

wrote in message ...
On Sun, 26 Jan 2003 00:51:20 -0600, "B & J"
wrote:

"Fleemo" wrote in message
. com...
I just preused years of tomato recommendations here in rec.gardens,
and thought I'd go ahead and re-ask the perennial question "What's
your favorite tomato?" Favorites from years past seem to include
Pineapple, Pink Girl, Lemon Boy, Big Girl, and Park's Whopper. What's
your current favorite? And please mention where you got your seed.

By the way, I'm in Zone 9. Do specific varieties do better in some
zones than others? If so, what are good selections for Zone 9?

I don't know about Zone 9, but in Zone 6 my hands down winner for a great
cherry tomato is Jolly, the 2001 AAS winner. I tried it this past summer,
and it did a wonderful job of producing large quantities of a great tasting
cherry tomato. It was heat tolerant, crack resistant, and had a great tomato
taste.

John

As a slight variation on the original topic, I was looking through the
heirloom tomatoes on seedsavers,com, and was amazed at the huge
variety. Is there a good resource that will tell me about the
different kinds, or do I just close my eyes and blindly choose some
and see if I like them?

Rebecca

Rebecca, Seed Saver's Exchange was where I started my tomato oddesey
this season, and I too was bewildered by the multitudes of choices.

I saw an interview with an expert heirloom tomato grower who listed
his favorites, which include Pinky Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Aunt
Jenny's Purple, German Red Stawberry, the 1884 Tomato, Red Mortgage
Lifter VFN, and Eva's Purple Ball. Unfortunately, the only one of
these listed on the Seed Savers Exchange website is Cherokee Purple,
which is why I thought to ask the kind folks here in rec.gardens to
offer up their favorite tomato varieties.

-Fleemo

Fleemo wrote:
wrote in message ...

On Sun, 26 Jan 2003 00:51:20 -0600, "B & J"
wrote:


"Fleemo" wrote in message
e.com...

I just preused years of tomato recommendations here in rec.gardens,
and thought I'd go ahead and re-ask the perennial question "What's
your favorite tomato?" Favorites from years past seem to include
Pineapple, Pink Girl, Lemon Boy, Big Girl, and Park's Whopper. What's
your current favorite? And please mention where you got your seed.

By the way, I'm in Zone 9. Do specific varieties do better in some
zones than others? If so, what are good selections for Zone 9?

I don't know about Zone 9, but in Zone 6 my hands down winner for a great
cherry tomato is Jolly, the 2001 AAS winner. I tried it this past summer,
and it did a wonderful job of producing large quantities of a great tasting
cherry tomato. It was heat tolerant, crack resistant, and had a great tomato
taste.

John


As a slight variation on the original topic, I was looking through the
heirloom tomatoes on seedsavers,com, and was amazed at the huge
variety. Is there a good resource that will tell me about the
different kinds, or do I just close my eyes and blindly choose some
and see if I like them?

Rebecca


Rebecca, Seed Saver's Exchange was where I started my tomato oddesey
this season, and I too was bewildered by the multitudes of choices.

I saw an interview with an expert heirloom tomato grower who listed
his favorites, which include Pinky Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Aunt
Jenny's Purple, German Red Stawberry, the 1884 Tomato, Red Mortgage
Lifter VFN, and Eva's Purple Ball. Unfortunately, the only one of
these listed on the Seed Savers Exchange website is Cherokee Purple,
which is why I thought to ask the kind folks here in rec.gardens to
offer up their favorite tomato varieties.

-Fleemo

A good source for just about any type of tomatoes seeds is
Totally Tomatoes, http://www.totallytomato.com

They carry a lot of the heirloom tomato seeds that aren't readily
available anywhere else.

A few tomatoes that I am going to try this year are Early Goliath
(58 days) 8 oz. fruits, and for salads Jelly Bean Hybrid Cherry
Tomatoes (72 days), Orange Strawberry (80 days), and Orange
Banana (85 days).
--
Bill R.

Remove No-Junk-Mail- in e-mail address to reply by e-mail

I am trying Giant Belgium Pink 88 days, Health Kick, 75 days, San Remo 75
days, Winter Red 70 days, and Sugar Snack 65 days. (Zone 4). All are
Burpees except for San Remo which I am getting from Shepherd's
Seeds/Whiteflower Farm.

mm


"Bill R" wrote in message
...
Fleemo wrote:
wrote in message
...

On Sun, 26 Jan 2003 00:51:20 -0600, "B & J"
wrote:


"Fleemo" wrote in message
e.com...

I just preused years of tomato recommendations here in rec.gardens,
and thought I'd go ahead and re-ask the perennial question "What's
your favorite tomato?" Favorites from years past seem to include
Pineapple, Pink Girl, Lemon Boy, Big Girl, and Park's Whopper. What's
your current favorite? And please mention where you got your seed.

By the way, I'm in Zone 9. Do specific varieties do better in some
zones than others? If so, what are good selections for Zone 9?

I don't know about Zone 9, but in Zone 6 my hands down winner for a
great
cherry tomato is Jolly, the 2001 AAS winner. I tried it this past
summer,
and it did a wonderful job of producing large quantities of a great
tasting
cherry tomato. It was heat tolerant, crack resistant, and had a great
tomato
taste.

John


As a slight variation on the original topic, I was looking through the
heirloom tomatoes on seedsavers,com, and was amazed at the huge
variety. Is there a good resource that will tell me about the
different kinds, or do I just close my eyes and blindly choose some
and see if I like them?

Rebecca


Rebecca, Seed Saver's Exchange was where I started my tomato oddesey
this season, and I too was bewildered by the multitudes of choices.

I saw an interview with an expert heirloom tomato grower who listed
his favorites, which include Pinky Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Aunt
Jenny's Purple, German Red Stawberry, the 1884 Tomato, Red Mortgage
Lifter VFN, and Eva's Purple Ball. Unfortunately, the only one of
these listed on the Seed Savers Exchange website is Cherokee Purple,
which is why I thought to ask the kind folks here in rec.gardens to
offer up their favorite tomato varieties.

-Fleemo

A good source for just about any type of tomatoes seeds is
Totally Tomatoes, http://www.totallytomato.com

They carry a lot of the heirloom tomato seeds that aren't readily
available anywhere else.

A few tomatoes that I am going to try this year are Early Goliath
(58 days) 8 oz. fruits, and for salads Jelly Bean Hybrid Cherry
Tomatoes (72 days), Orange Strawberry (80 days), and Orange
Banana (85 days).
--
Bill R.

Remove No-Junk-Mail- in e-mail address to reply by e-mail

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New England, zone 5.5:

I have had good luck for the past few years with Sun Gold, an orange
cherry tomato. It has high sugar and good flavor. It is prone to
cracking. I saw a description of Sun Sugar which said that it's
indistinguishable from Sun Gold except that it is less susceptible to
cracking, so I'm trying both this year so I can compare them.

For main season tomatoes I grow (among others) Mountain Fresh and
Estiva, both good looking tomatoes with good flavor. Best flavor goes to
Brandywine and Pruden's Purple (similar types), but they also win the
prize for the ugliest fruit. Are you going to eat them or look at them?

Correction: I read somewhere that a Tomato is not a fruit, but a
vegetable, by act of Congress. (something to do with tariffs on
imports).

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It's amazing to me just how many different varieties of tomatoes there
are to choose from. How is one to decide? I only wish I had an
entire acre to dedicate to tomato trials.

Thanks for your input here folks.

-Fleemo

Fleemo wrote:

It's amazing to me just how many different varieties of tomatoes there
are to choose from. How is one to decide?...


I suspect that there are so many varieties that if you grew them all you
wouldn't be able to eat one of each over the period of a year.

On the other hand, there are a lot of them that are really really
similar, so maybe you wouldn't have to.

I prefer to pick an early, a late, and an unusual tomato. Some years
they give exceptional yields, other years the summers get too hot and
the tomatoes barely fruit. Our climate (zone 7) in east TN can have
mid 90 temperatures for two months with warm nights (even though we
are in the mountains) and tomatoes don't like that. If anyone knows
which tomato variety likes this type of climate, please advise.
Ohio's climate is perfect for tomato.

We had an unusually hot summer here in zone 5 last year, but our Miracle Sweet
tomatoes didn't seem to even notice. I just had to give them a little extra
water, but they thrived like always. Great taste, good disease tolerance, and
vigorous grower. A smaller sized main season tomato.

BT


"Phisherman" wrote in message
...
I prefer to pick an early, a late, and an unusual tomato. Some years
they give exceptional yields, other years the summers get too hot and
the tomatoes barely fruit. Our climate (zone 7) in east TN can have
mid 90 temperatures for two months with warm nights (even though we
are in the mountains) and tomatoes don't like that. If anyone knows
which tomato variety likes this type of climate, please advise.
Ohio's climate is perfect for tomato.

Take a look at Chuck Wyatt's site. Hundreds of tomatoes described. He
has a list of 30 or so tomato varieties that do well in hot climates. I
bought seeds from him for several years. Good quality seed. He has
passed on, but his neighbor is still selling his seeds, I think.

Phisherman wrote:

I prefer to pick an early, a late, and an unusual tomato. Some years
they give exceptional yields, other years the summers get too hot and
the tomatoes barely fruit. Our climate (zone 7) in east TN can have
mid 90 temperatures for two months with warm nights (even though we
are in the mountains) and tomatoes don't like that. If anyone knows
which tomato variety likes this type of climate, please advise.
Ohio's climate is perfect for tomato.


Pat Brothers
The Powell House
Wake Forest, NC
USDA Zone 7b

Take a look at Chuck Wyatt's site.

Would love to. What's the URL?

Fleemo wrote:

Take a look at Chuck Wyatt's site.

Would love to. What's the URL?



I found it through Google at http://www.heirloomtomatoes.net/

I saw an interview with an expert heirloom tomato grower who listed
his favorites, which include Pinky Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Aunt
Jenny's Purple, German Red Stawberry, the 1884 Tomato, Red Mortgage
Lifter VFN, and Eva's Purple Ball.

Dwight just forwarded me a URL for a website selling nearly ALL of the
recommended varieties listed above!

http://www.heirloomtomatoes.net

Thanks Dwight!