CaraRose,

You might want to try Prudens Purple - the earliest of my large tomatoes here. I just tasted my first one and it's delicious and said to be as good as Brandywine! (I don't grow BW because it is so late and stingy here).

I'm growing all new-to-me varieties this year in search of the best tasting ones and, since, I'm still waiting for many of them to ripen, I cannot comment on what will become a permanent fixture quite yet.

Linda

...Sun Gold
...Cherokee Purple
...Indian Stripe
...Sweet Tangerine

The only one I know for sure is Sun Gold. Also really happy with Hartman's Yellow Gooseberry.

Next year I want to do a lot more, since this was my first year. Really want to try Bloody Butcher and Cherokee Purple, among others.

Most of what I am growing (almost 20 vars.) have not yet produced ripe fruits. And out of those 20 I will pick , maybe, 9 to 11 of them for the next year. I am sure there will be about 10 drop outs. But on the keepers side, I will grow again, SILETZ, BLOODY BUTCHER, SUN GOLD, SILVERY FT and CHEROKEE PURPLE. there goes 5 of them already , made reservation for the next season.

This post was edited by seysonn on Sun, Aug 3, 14 at 2:50

Good idea Cara. I was thinking the other day that we needed a "What varieties you will always grow" thread to off-set all the "never grow" discussions. :)

I have many "always grow" varieties but to name just a few:

Giant Belgium
Brandywine OTV
Arkansas Traveler
Rutgers
Eva Purple Ball
Black Krim
Cherokee Purple
Indian Stripe
Champion (both Ind and bush)
Clear Pink Early

Dave

Momotaro
Cherokee Purple
Black Cherry
Black from Tula (these were exceptional this year)

My ALWAYS grow list includes:
Rutgers
Brandy Boy
Opalka
Black Krim
Large Red Cherry.
Others on the probable list are Cherokee Purple, Aunt Gertie's Gold and Brandywine OTV.
John A

You might want to try Prudens PurpleI second that. PP pumps out a lot of medium-sized pink beefsteak berries with very good taste. A bit smaller than Brandy Boys (in my experience) and not quite as productive. But the equal or better in taste dept. to that of BB.
PP pot-leaf tom is one tom I shall plant as long as I grow toms.
Reggie

Thanks guys for the suggestion. I'll look into PP and probably give it a go next year :)

I can't really speak to "always" grow, since this is only my second year growing tomatoes and first growing from seed. But I am really pleased with how these have done in my garden this year and they will be grown again next year.

Italian Roma
Martino's Roma
San Marzano
Japanese Trifele Black

These aren't even ripe yet, but they have been the best growers so far, so unless something completely unforeseen happens, they'll be back.

Wes
Ramapo F1
Goose Creek
Cuostralee

I can not say that I will grow it every year but some that I will return
Azochka
Isis candy
Missouri Pink Love Apple
Marianne Peace
Nikolaevna
Olena Ukrainian
Momotaro
Japanese Thruffle
Paul Robeson
Haley Purple Comet from Heritage, there are others
Indian Stripe
Carbon
Amazon Chocolate
Hungarian heart
Stump of the World
Earl Faux
1884 Purple
Lithuanian
Sakharnyi Pudovichok
Malakhitovaya Schatulka
Crnkovic Yugoslavian
Milka Red Bulgarian
Tsarskyi Luybimets
Koroleva
Moravsky Div
Galina Red
Kermit
Bychie Serdse
Byiskaya Roza
Tsar Kolokol
Fresa
Vova Putin- hate the name but really good tomato
Budenovka
Matina
Jaune Flamee
Mikhalych
Lagidnyi
well, some varieties from this year I have not tasted yet

That's quite a list! For now, I would say Black Cherry, Sun Gold or Sun Sugar, Anna Russian. I'm trying all new varieties this year with the exception of the cherries and AR. So I will decide after I try this years crop, if they ever ripen!

Red Robin ! It has a nice little beefsteak-y flavor and thin skins. It's a cute little plant that in my area can probably grow year round, with some care against cold. I'm going to try starting more seeds this fall and yep, winter !

Up to now, I have not had any "always grow" varities. I liked my tomatoes, but I have always liked trying new things more. But this year I tried Azoychka and that was such a taste revelation that I will probably have to make them my first ever "always grow" variety.

I'm tempted to make mortgage lifters an "always grow" too, but I'm not quite sure about that.

Angie

Deeby, I'm going to attempt to grow minibel and red robin over the winter under lights. :)

Trying to find some new ones to replace most of what I used to grow that were mostly hybrids. So far:

Cherokee Purple- Tons of big, early, very tasty tomatoes, at least this year.

Anna Russian- Very early, large and very good eating.

NAR- Not terribly productive, at least this year, but will give it another go for sure.

Same with:

Prudens Purple
Green Zebra
Opalka

Jury is still out on some others, but I usually grow some Rutger and Black Krim as well.

Sweet Cherry 100,
Black Krim
Paul Robeson
Mortgage Lifter
I'm still waiting on Marianna's Peace.

Cuostralee was a good producer, but not sure how much I loved them. Aunt Ruby's German Green never gave anything, nor did Hillbilly. Boo.

VedaPeeps you are in Z10, maybe I will try your go-to's next year. Momotaro, Cherokee Purple, Black Cherry, Black from Tula. We may have similar taste.

Sharonie, I am of the opinion that best sauces and salsas done with variety of great tasting tomatoes. So I tend to plant for early to midseason, reliable, productive and great taste. All those above in my list work really well in my zone 5 here.
Now if the question was about tomatoes that I will recognize taste with my eyes closed the list will be much shorter LOL

Linda, I agree with using a variety of tomatoes for sauces. If I had the space, time and energy it would grow Orange Strawberry just to make sauce, because in my opinion and taste buds, it made the best sauce, tart and sweet, but I wasn't crazy about it for eating. I think I've ordered some seeds for tomatoes on your list for next year.

Ha, my Orange strawberry just got ripe. Need to go and taste it now.
P.S. it is a keeper, very meaty sweet taste but false sweetness, acidity is quite high.

This post was edited by lindalana on Sun, Aug 3, 14 at 21:29

Black Krim
Brandywine
Kelloggs Breakfast
Aunt Ruby German Green
Lillian's yellow Heirloom
Rose de Berne
Black cherry
Sunsugar
Green Dr. Frosted

Glad you liked OS Linda! Try it as a sauce. Although I have yet to eat one, CP is quite productive and BW OTV looks like it might earn a spot.

Old Standbys:
Cherokee Purple
Mortgage Lifter (RC)
Better/Big Boy

Made this year's cut, will try again next season:
Sungold
Black Krim
Arkansas Traveler ?

Perennial returnees:
Mortgage Lifter (Estler's)
SunSugar
Normally Big Zebra (someone goofed and sent me something else this year boohoo!!)
German Red Strawberry

These I kind of rotate between years:
KBX*
Cherokee Purple*
Big Rainbow
Yellow Oxheart

*These are my 2014 growings

I have several new-to-me varieties this year and depending on how we like them they may find themselves on one or the other list for future years. Since nothing is ripe yet we will have to wait and see.

Edie

I don't know if these are ALWAYS in my rotation (I really like to experiment each year), but the varieties below have done well and I would recommend them to someone in a heartbeat:

Cherry:
Black Cherry
Sungold
Mountain Magic
Dr. Carolyn (more ping pong size than cherry)
Sweet Million

Early Varieties:
Kimberly
Pink Honey

Reds:
Rutgers
Celebrity
Marianna's Peace
Omar's Lebanese

Yellow/Orange:
Azoychka
KBX
Hugh's

Bi-color:
Pineapple
Berkely Tie-Dye

Greens:
Cherokee Green

Blacks:
Cherokee Purple
Indian Stripe

smithmal

This post was edited by smithmal on Mon, Aug 4, 14 at 22:22

To Deeby - Have you planted many winter tomato beds? What works for you?