2019 -2020 season
When I started my garden in the 19/20 season I knew little about growing tomatoes and purchased transplants from local nurseries. I was not particularly interested in varieties. However, as the season progresses and I noted that the taste, size and textures of different varieties varied significantly, and I became more interested.
I decided to learn more about the characteristics of different local tomato varieties and to experiment with several varieties I had read about and to compare and contrast their taste (cooked and raw), productivity, ease of growth, size and appearance.
I used a catalogue from an online organic seed supplier and chose the following varieties which I grew in my recently constructed garden.
Roma Heirloom also known as Italian plumb tomatoes, commonly found in supermarkets. it is an open-polinated, non-hybrid heirloom cultivar of tomato. Classified as family heirlooms or commercial heirlooms.
Costoleto Genovese Tomato - Lycopersicon Esculentum – Heirloom Vegetable (Oxheart) This tomato is an old Italian preserving tomato variety. It's heavily lobed, and often the convoluted shape is indicative of early nineteenth-century tomato varieties but makes an oddity in today's vegetable garden. However, I decided to grow the variety and gave it the name of "Ox Heart" because of its shape.
The golden sunrise tomato is an early to midseason heirloom tomato producing medium-sized, well-shaped golden tomatoes.
Cherry tomatoes are vigorous plants that are easily cultivated in containers or out in the garden. Fast growing, they quickly produce large clusters of delicious fruits all summer – with mild, sweet, or tangy flavors, depending on the variety.
I purchased Market More seedlings from a local nursery. Unfortunately, I could not find the source of this tomato which is one of the problems in purchaing transplants from a nursery.
The VF Variant is the most common of the roma cultivars. It is the tomato of choice in Italian dishes. It is a plum tomato, with a very firm texture. The tomato is a meaty, egg- or pear-shaped tomato that is available in red and yellow. It has few seeds and is a good canning and sauce tomato.