Page 20 - Simply Vegetables Spring 2024

2023
Tomato Review
EMILY HARRIS FNVS
2023 was no exception to our slight obsession with growing different tomato varieties and I imagine it will be the same for the coming growing season. It’s just too hard to only pick a couple
of varieties when there are so many different shapes, sizes, and colours
out there! Not only do we enjoy eating them, but they add such a lovely burst of colour to the garden all the way through from planting out the lush green
plants in early May right through to the tomatoes ripening throughout the summer and into the autumn months.
We grew some old favourites last year, but also tried a couple of new varieties. Most notably on the new variety front was Marmande, a beefsteak variety that me and Dad separately saw advertised in the seed catalogues and fancied trying. To be totally honest, the plant itself was largely underwhelming for a fair proportion of the
Tomato plants
season. Compared to our other beefsteak- type tomatoes (Big Daddy and Borsalina), the plant was much slower growing and had more of a “squat” look. However, like the old phrase says, you shouldn’t judge
a book by its cover. By the time it came to harvest time, the Marmande pulled it out the bag. Its yield was just as large as the other varieties, the tomatoes ripened at around the same rate and the taste was delicious!
Although our cordon tomato plants
are grown in 10 litre pots with a cane to support, we also like growing the hanging basket varieties. That being said, they can be a pain to keep moist during the warmest parts of the summer and are often taken down and sat over a bucket full of water
to try and re-wet the compost. We grew a few varieties last year, some red and some yellow. The Tumbling Tom Red and Yellow are still firm favourites for crop yield and compactness, but other varieties we’ve tried and liked include Yellow Peardrop which is (surprisingly) a yellow pear- shaped tomato, as well as Gartenperle and Tumbler which are variations of a standard red cherry tomato.
It’s hard to pick a favourite, but I think we’ve whittled it down to one cherry variety (each!), and one beefsteak type. On the beefsteak front, it’s got to be Borsalina. Although not a typical beefsteak tomato shape, it has very few seeds and very “meaty” flesh. Therefore, we find that it’s great for cooking. It’s also not half bad eaten raw, although the Big Daddy and Marmande probably slightly pip it to the post for salads and caprese style dishes.
On the cherry tomato side of things, it depends if you ask me or Chris. Chris is a big fan of Honeycomb, a very sweet orange
Tomato plants
Borsalina
Colander of tomatoes
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