In Cincinnati, Ohio, the heirlooms that have performed best for me are:

BOX CAR WILLIE (prolific, big, perfectly balanced excellent flavor)

KELLOGG'S BREAKFAST (same as Box Car Willie, but yellow/orange)

AUNT GINNY'S PURPLE (also the same, but a tad less flavor)

GRANNY CANTRELL (later and a little less prolific, incredible flavor)

PURPLE RUSSIAN (smaller plant and thus less prolific, but beautiful and my favorite tasting black tomato)

MARGLOBE (acceptably prolific, fantastic flavor)

GARDENER'S DELIGHT (my best all-around cherry tomato)

Other favorites which may not be as prolific but I love to grow for their flavor include LANDIS VALLEY BRANDYWINE, LARGE PINK BULGARIAN, BULGARIAN #7, STUMP OF THE WORLD, BRANDYWINE (pink), MORTGAGE LIFTER and BLACK CHERRY.

"Best" is such a subjective term but honestly, in your zone you can grow any variety you wish. No limitations at all. And any of the varieties catwhisperer would do fine unless you only want reds. But so will 100's of others. ;)

So it would be better to pick varieties by the characteristics you prefer like color, beefsteak size, acidic flavor, etc. Plus are you growing in containers or in ground? If in ground, what kind of soil do you have to deal with? If containers, what size? Do you plan to stake or cage the plants? Will you be growing from seed or buying transplants? Transplants will limit your choices greatly.

If you go to tomatogrowers.com and click on 'beefsteaks' you have cut your choices to 3 pages, some 60 varieties. Of those I can attest that a good acidic flavor comes with Aussie, Boondocs, Large Pink Bulgarian, NAR (Neves Azorean Red), and German Johnson.

But much of that flavor comes from my particular soil as that plus weather, more than variety, will determine much of the fruit flavor.

So if you have room for 6 plants I'd suggest picking 3 different kinds and grow 2 of each and then next year try some different ones.

Hope this helps.

Dave

I would highly recommend Cherokee Purple for your zone and location. The story of CP is that it was given to the earliest settlers by the Cherokee people. I don't know if the story is entirely accurate - sometimes stories about great heirloom tomatoes get a little bit embellished. Anyway it is one of the best tasting tomatoes I've ever grown.

One of my other favorites is Mortgage Lifter, a 1930's heirloom from West Virginia. It has a famous history to it as well. Also, until several years ago, ML held the record for the largest tomato ever grown and the record for the tallest vine. ML doesn't grow very tall nor produce much in my cold, short season but I grow it every year for the outstanding flavor. It grows well and is quite productive in southern regions with longer seasons.

My opinion would be Sungold Select II & Black Cherry.

liberty2020, So good to see another Kentucky gardener here. Friend Maria at blueribbontomatoes.com is now located in Berea, Kentucky and her specialty is Kentucky heirloom tomatoes. The link above will take you to her E-bay site which gives you varieties she has to offer now and excellent prices.
All good wishes on your tomato growing in 2011!
Gary
Louisville, Kentucky

I second the Cherokee Purple suggestion. It has been a solid performer for me every year I've grown it and it's one of the best tasting tomato I've tried.

My second choice would be Marianna's Peace.

NAR has always had good flavor, but has not always been the best producer.

Of course, I'm in Texas, so YMMV.

Cherokee Purple is the winner.

{{gwi:1295519}}

That's my grandfather, William S Estler and some of his Mortgage Lifter plants. The one my cousin is holding is pretty decent in size; we have other pictures somewhere of some really huge ones, just can't find them right now. He grew those in Barboursville, WV, which probably has similar growing conditions to yours in KY, so they should do very well for you.

Good luck!
Edie

That is such a great picture, Edie!
I wish I had some photos of my grandfather in his garden.

Love the picture! :)

Awsome picture!

Damon

Wow - that photo is fabulous! Like Laspasturas, I too wish I had pictures of my grandfather in his garden. Guess that's something the family never thought to do.

Just to emphasize the point, but the Estler family claims that they first introduced what we know as Mortgage Lifter, before Charlie Byles of WV did, and there is documentation to say that's probably true.

I much prefer Mortgage Lifter ( Estler) to Radiator Charlie's one and have offered seeds for it in my seed offer elsewhere.

Other than that I agree with Dave that the best two heirlooms to grow in KY are those that a person likes, after growing and comparing several different varieties b'c in KY, as Gary will also tell you, you can successfully grow any variety you want to. it all comes down to personal taste and production of different varieties in any one season b'c weather can also affect taste and production as well.

Liberty,Dave has also given you some suggestions about going to different seed source sites as well. TGS is a good one as is Gleckler's and I'd suggst Sandhill as well, and will, but they don't show pictures of varieties, but lsit over 400 varieties. As for acidic tomatoes, there aren't any. Almost all tomato varieties that have been tested have the same pH, with few exceptions. I know what you mean, though, and I'd call it an agressive taste. If you want me to list some that I think have an agreesive taste I can do that, but then if and when you grow them you find they don't, that's just the way it is with different tomato varieties, lots of variables as to performance and taste.

Switching topic now, to get a twofer. LOL

Cat Whisperer, I'm not sure what you meant below in saying that KB is the same as Box Car Willie only a different color b/c they aren't at all related:

BOX CAR WILLIE (prolific, big, perfectly balanced excellent flavor)

KELLOGG'S BREAKFAST (same as Box Car Willie, but yellow/orange)

Joe Bratka's father bred the following and they aren't heirloom varieties:

Box Car Willie
Mule Team
Pasture
Great Divide
Red Barn

Joe found the seeds for these, already named , in a tool shed on his property. he couldn't germinate seeds for any of the varieties so sent them to me and I was able to germinate the above but always wondered what the three I couldn't germinate might have turned out to be.

I think the last one, Red Barn , is one of the best but has been overlooked by growers.

Carolyn

The amazing thing about that picture is that it is OF my Grandfather; he was the family photographer and thus was hardly ever IN the pictures LOL

It's amazing what 60 miles can do as far as growing conditions are concerned; when we lived in Columbus, our tomato plants were almost that big, but now that we live 60 miles north, our growing season starts later and ends earlier and we have never been able to get such growth here.

Carolyn, you got my interest up about Red Barn - I just checked Tatiana's website and she's already sold out for this year. Darn. So now I will have to start next year's list already!

Carolyn, you got my interest up about Red Barn - I just checked Tatiana's website and she's already sold out for this year. Darn. So now I will have to start next year's list already!

*****

Tania may be sold out but Adam Gleckler is another source as also noted at Tania's site so I linked to it below. And yes, I was the source to Adam I'm pretty sure, and he has some great varieties there.

If my Red Barn seeds weren't so old I'd send you some but alas, they're really too old for most folks to fool around with the special soaking, etc,that would be needed and besides, I have almost none left anyway b'c I've been offering the seeds elsewhere in my annual seed offer.

Hope that helps.

Carolyn

Here is a link that might be useful: Gleckler's ( for Red Barn and more)

purple cherokee is far and away my favorite of the 20 or so i've grown... i don't know which i'd choose as second but mortgage lifter and striped german are the other two that i wind up growing every year with others mixed in.

Look at the stalk! Thank you. Great. I've been listening to good music, while just looking at this picture for a good 10 minutes now.

Once again, the stalk.