Bear Creek
Dora
Gary'O Sena

I have really started liking Belgian Giant, I did get some enormous fruits, But they were consistently large and kept producing after a lot f the others gave out. This year could be a totally different story, but for now I am happy to recommend.
Beefsteak had a great taste, but not as productive. At least the variety I had, still using it again this year, but I am a bit puzzled, I had thought it was a variety, and bought the seeds from curiosity.

Momotaro! An incredibly delicious combination of sweet and tangy

here's what I'm looking at now - if any of you have first-hand experience with any of these (and some are common) I'd love to hear what you have to say! Thanks!

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And I'm assuming that you were referring to the 5 varieties you then listed. Right?

I've grown the first three you listed but compared to many other varieties that I've grown those would be wayyyy down on my list to grow again.

But If I have to pick one from your list, I suppose it would be Ponderosa, aka Ponderosa Pink, and that b/c Ponderosa was used by the Henderson Seed Co to develop Wins All , released in 1924.

There was a naming contest they held and the winning name was Wins All, although many spell it, wrongly, as Winsall.

I've grown Ponderosa but I much prefer Wins All which does have some Ponderosa genes in it.( smile)

Carolyn

Watch the other thread, "tomatoes for 2013", then look for "repeats" in the threads, (IE different posters planting the same tomato).

As has been mentioned numerous times, taste is a "Subjective thing", while one person might rave about "X Tomato" another might say it was too bland or too acid or whatever. So odds of getting something You like are "probably better" with the tomatoes you see mentioned the most in that post.

Giant Belgium is always in my garden, nice big great tasting fruit, and the first year I planted it, the plant was huge and produced well into the fall.

I know how hard it is to make the decisions.
My wife insisted on giving one of my green tomato plants that I just bought to her Twin Sister.
Now which one, Aunt Ruby's German Green or Green Giant, do I keep? After an hour or so of reviewing them both, I kept the Green Giant, and that's just 2 maters (LOL)!

Gary

I can't say personally, 'cuz this is my first year starting from seed, but I have similar goals. I started with a list for drying from brokenbar, with an eye towards pastes, but lots of research has convinced me to go with a more multipurpose tomato.

My list is pretty long because I got seed crazy. But I'm looking forward most to Costoluto Genovese, Cuostralee, and Gildo Pietroboni. I like the red ribs too! Hopefully I'll like something on the list, and can use that as a benchmark for the future.

And, ultimately, I decided to freeze instead of can anyway!

(eta spelling)

This post was edited by nialialea on Fri, Apr 5, 13 at 21:24

Thanks for all the responses! I don't know why, but I never get emails telling me I have responses - even though I've double-checked my settings here...

anyhow, I appreciate all the names to check out. Someone steered me to San Marzano for paste, I think I'll give that a try.
I've read a lot of negative reviews on Costoluto Genovese, that's one I almost ordered too. I hope it works out for you!
I'll look up Momotaro tonight, too. I've decided against Mortgage Lifter, Beefsteak, and Bradley based on many reviews I've read today, but I have to say I like the sound of Giant Belgium, so that's staying on the list for now. I'm going to see if I can find out from my grocer what I've been buying lately, I really love the taste of it. I'm 99% sure they don't know and they won't tell me the source though. of course I don't know what conditions they were grown in, either...

I found the "tomatoes for 2013" thread earlier and I'm going to give it another good look-over. I need to order my seeds by the end of next week to get going so I don't have much time left! lol

Thanks everyone : )

Why not save some seeds from the ones you like and see what you get? Or take a picture and see if someone recognizes it?

I definitely heard mixed reviews on the Genovese, but I couldn't resist the ribs, and the people who like it, really like it.

Oh, also, be sure to take into consideration where people are growing -- some of the tomatoes I've had terrible luck with have been winners in other climates. I look everything up in the database and hope for a southern recommendation.

LMAO - it's so sad - it never occurred to me to save some seed from these tomatoes and try to germinate them haha!

I may go grocery shopping again tomorrow, if I do I'll be getting more and I'll post a pic of them here, but so many tomatoes look identical - at least to my untrained eyes! Thanks for the sadly obvious idea of trying the seed from the tomatoes, I'm still chuckling over that! ; )

One of my personal favorites is Anna Russian, which is meaty enough to use for sauce and tasty enough for slicing.

And just an odd note on constoluto genovese -- it is grown at Monticello, where they have tomato tastings every Saturday in August. Jefferson started growing tomatoes in 1809. There's a good book by Peter Hatch, the director of Monticello's gardens, called "A Rich Spot of Earth." It's hard to believe that before the 19th century tomatoes weren't at all appreciated. Hatch quotes some northern european opinions of tomatoes as having "a ranke and stinking savour" and "slimy juice and watery pulp." I'm guessing no one on here shares that opinion. :)

There are several large volumes called Jefferson's Garden books and I've read them all.

And later this summer there's the annual large event at Monticello with many speakers/workshops, etc. You might check out Monticello's webpage for the dates and times.There are many so called historic varieties, such as the various Costoluto's such as Genovese, Fiorentino, etc., that I think have lost a lot of the taste, etc, that they used to have having passed down through many hands over time. Maramande, a French heirloom, has suffered equally..

Costoluto means "ribbed" in Italian and the various ones just indicate geographically where they came from, in a generic sense.

Genovese from Genoa, fiorentino from Florence, etc.

Not all varieties grown at Monticello these days are historic ones and last Iknew Southern Exposure still had a seed rack in the gift shop.

Carolyn

Just to be clear, neither I nor Hatch claim that Costoluto was grown by Jefferson, just that it's grown at Monticello now. Having never tasted or even seen it I couldn't offer an opinion on its taste.

Thanks for the info on Monticello. I've never been, but would like to visit this summer. I'll check the page for which event is worth the drive.

Caryl

I'm jealous, our grocery just has the usual "Heirloom" suspects in a plastic box.

I almost went to Monticello last summer but it was too far from the hotel. Now I'm even sorrier I missed it.

Two more to look up, Kosovo and Tsar Kolokol. I'm not ordering any more until fall but are both on my short (hah!) list.

Just to be clear, neither I nor Hatch claim that Costoluto was grown by Jefferson, just that it's grown at Monticello now. Having never tasted or even seen it I couldn't offer an opinion on its taste.

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Not a problem at all since I noted above that not all that's grown at Monticello now are heirlooms and should have added that I don't think that Jefferson grew it either,

I'd have to go back in thoe Jefferson garden books to check, but no way amI going to do that. LOL

Jefferson brought back many varieties from France and grew them, that I remember.

And yes, I've interacted with Peter Hatch before, sharing info about varieties of old.

Carolyn

Two more to look up, Kosovo and Tsar Kolokol. I'm not ordering any more until fall but are both on my short (hah!) list.

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You've made my day by mentioning two varieties that I was the first to SSE list and also spread them around for trial at the several seed places where I do send seeds for trial.

You must like pink heart varieties to chose those two, I'm a fan of hearts as well and have grown lots of different varieties.

Links for both of them from Tania's wonderful tomato data base, with basic traits,comments from others, and click on seed availablity to find which seed vendors list them. Tania herself sells seeds for over 600 varieties, and I almost forgot, pictures as well.

http://t.tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Kosovo

http://t.tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Tsar-Kolokol

Carolyn