Sure, over-watering dilutes flavor. Also cause splitting etc. Lots of discussions here about this. But if you have only had to water 2x this year then count your blessings! That is indeed very rare so perhaps they aren't over-watering after all.

This year many would give anything to get any tomatoes, over-watered or not, tasteless or not. :) 18 states with temps above 100 degrees for over a month now. 115 here today.

Dave

I admittedly water only as a last resort. I think the tomatoes taste better. But I also don't let them wilt or get crispy leaves, so I don't think it is enough to hurt them. I watered deeply right before the last 2 heat waves and they seemed fine. I would just like to give them some suggestions so they get some good tomatoes this year. They are not big on gardening in the first place, so not getting good results meant no garden at all for a couple of years for one of them and listening to "oh, why do you bother" and "they don't taste any different than what you get in store", for a couple of years, which hurts my heart. I made my mother taste a slice of my Anna Russian, just to make sure she hasn't lost her sense of taste. But she said, oh that tastes good, like a good tomato. She only lives 2 miles from me so it is baffling to me.

Perhaps they're picking too early or too late?

I've got a 1 lb+ Reif Red Heart just about ripe. I'll let you know how it tastes. I grew it in a container, and watered it a lot. My medium is very fast draining, so hopefully there are no ill taste(less) effects from so much watering.

Make sure the tom is competely ripe first

For some reason my first tomatoes aren't very tasty. I planted Sungold for the first time last year. I was so disappointed in the taste, I told my neighbor that she could have them all. A week or so later she said "these tomatoes are fantastic". I tried them and, sure enough, they were. This year the earlier Sungolds were disappointing again. Now they're coming with great taste.

I had a BLT with my first "Giant Belgium" the other night. It was so bad I threw most of the sandwich away. I'm hoping that the next ones will be much better.

To this point my Black Cherries are the best tasting. The Matinas have been good as usual. Currently I have a Black from Tula, Brandywine Landis, Reif Red Heart, and a Cherokee Purple, all just about ripe. Should be an interesting next few days with the taste tests.

I have now picked 2 Danko, a small KB and an Anna Russian, and I have been very happy with the taste of each one. Anna Russian the best so far. This is a very curious year for tomatoes here. Reif Red Heart was supposed to be a later tomato, but my mother picked an early girl and a RRH a few days apart. I planted Danko because it was supposed to be early, but my Brandywine, usually THE latest variety for me, is showing first blush within 3 days of the the first Danko I picked. Don't know why. But I'll take em all!

I just want them to share in the joy of a really tasty fresh picked garden tomato!