What is the “Best” Tomato, Retake
I’ve been noticing that a lot of people are searching for an answer to the question, “What is the best tomato to plant?” A number of them seem to end up looking at this post from last April. I feel a little guilty, since I didn’t really make much attempt to answer that question in that post. I guess I don’t feel too guilty though, since I’m not going to attempt to answer it here either. Without getting all philosophical about it, when growing tomatoes, there is no such thing as objective truth in terms of what variety to plant.
Here are some tomatoes that might be the answer to your question, “What is the best tomato?” (In no particular order.)
Common Favorites with Good Yields & Quality
1. Celebrity (red slicer)
2. Jetstar (red slicer)
3. Big Beef (red slicer)
3. Juliet (Grape)
4. Sweet 100 (Cherry)
5. Sugary (Grape)
6. Amelia (red slicer)
7. Mountain Fresh Plus (red slicer)
My Personal Favorites that may not meet your standards for yield, crack resistance, or something
1. Golden Rave (yellow roma)
2. Fabulous (red slicer)
3. Black Sea Man (dk red/brown slicer with green shoulders)
4. SunGold (orange cherry)
5. Chocolate Cherry (purple/brown cherry)
6. Chocolate Stripes
7. Opalka (striped roma)
8. Big Yellow Zebra (yellow striped beefsteak)
9. Big Boy (Red slicer/beefsteak)
So…what are some of your favorite tomatoes that don’t match up to someone else’s standards?
Posted on March 10, 2010, in Around the Garden and tagged Tomatoes. Bookmark the permalink. 3 Comments.
The Demo Garden Blog 
I always plant Jetstars for purely sentimental reasons. Husband’s grandfather was the Dale of Dale’s Greenhouse in Maize, back in the day, and Jetstar was his tomato of choice. That said, I don’t plant but one or two, since I’m the only one in the family that eats slicers.
Sweet 100 has done fantastically… I kept my entire neighborhood stocked with cherry tomatoes off one plant two years ago, not counting the bajillion split ones the ducks ate, but I haven’t tried any other cherries so I’m not sure I could call it a favorite. I’d like to try one of the odd-colored ones, though.
Last year I tried Romas, but the hail got all the tomato plants (you may recall me whining about that), so they haven’t had a fair trial. I haven’t wanted to try any of the weird-colored plum tomatoes, since I want to make salsas and can them and things. I’d rather stick to “normal” looking tomatoes.
(I have no aversion to weird-colored veggies in general, though. I’ve been looking for somebody local that carries All Blue potato seed. No luck yet.)
Big Boy is my sentimental favorite…I remember growing it with my grandma. Hopefully this year will be relatively hail-free!
Pursuant my other comment, I discovered today that Johnson’s carries Purple Majesty seed potatoes. I’d already bought Red Norlands and Yukon Golds, so now I have red (white), purple, and gold, more than I actually have room for (extras always manage to find homes, though). Woo!