Appreciate the video on your recommendation. I’m growing many of these dwarfs for the first time. Last year was the worst year for tomatoes I’ve ever had and I am 60 miles north of you.
Thanks! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we have a better year this year. Last year the weather was terrible for tomatoes. Good luck with this year!
So many to choose from, so limited space. Boronia, Rosella Purple, Sun Sugar, Tasmanian Chocolate, Fred's Tie Dye, Blue Beech, Amish Paste, Cherokee Carbon.....it's a long list.
A note about seeds: our public library started a seed library in an old card catalog a few years ago. It is wildly popular and we get and give seeds every year. This year we're really excited to donate a large green cherry tomato that started as a red cherry on a yellow candy currant tomato plant. We've stabilized the green ones (we think) and gave them a cute name and every single last one we donated got snatched up! The whole town is growing our frankentomato! Woo-hoo! 🎉
That sounds like a really neat program! Congratulations on stabilizing your accidental cross. That can be a job in itself sometimes. Pretty neat that so many other folks will be growing it.
Good morning and thank you for sharing! Last year was my first garden, this year I’m making an attempt to grow my tomatos from seed. Currently have 11 varieties planted. If you haven’t tried the super sweet 100 (hybrid, indeterminate) you really should. They’re a candy tomato, and the only reason I like tomatoes now. I am testing a number of varieties this summer to determine taste preference and see how they grow in Kansas heat. I’m growing mostly heirlooms indeterminates. Super Sweet 100 (hybrid) Rosella (cherry) Arkansas Traveler Mortgage Lifter Kelloggs Breakfast Wyches Yellow Constoluto Fiorentinos Roma Cherokee Purple Black Krim Brandywine Pink I grew Super Sweet 100 last year and it wasn’t even fazed by the heat. My Brandywine last year did stop setting fruit but I kept the plant alive through the season and was rewarded with twice as many fruit at the end of season than the start.
Thanks for the tip on the super sweet 100. That is one that I haven't grown before. You've got a really nice list of tomatoes there. Hope we have a better year from tomatoes than last year. Good luck!
I have the following tomato seedlings growing inside: Ace 55, Bella Rosa, Black Fire, Celebrity, Early Girl, Estiva, Hot Streak, Mochi, Red Snapper, Rubee Dawn, Sungold, Sunrise Bumblebee, and Torongina. I’ve also have the following dwarf tomato starts: Adelaide Festival, Boronia, Kookaburra Cackle, Bumbleburg Rumble, Rosella Purple, Uluru Ochre, and Tasmanian Chocolate. I’ve grown these dwarfs before with poor results but thought I’d give them one more try in pots only this time. I’ve hedged my bets with determinate hybrids in case the open-pollinated varieties are a bust. I’m still searching for a variety that will produce well in the AZ heat. Thanks for sharing what your growing this season!
Hi Jim! It will be fun to see which ones make the cut. A new one for me this year is Arkansas Traveler. Looking forward to seeing how that does. Have a nice weekend- Eric
Hello, If it's a pleasure to try new tomatoes, I understand so well that you choose varieties that you found very tasty years before. Here as always, Boronia, Tasmanian chocolate, because we enjoy dark tomatoes, Belgian giant too (it's with this video that I found your channel :-) . For the first time, I've finally found Rosella purple and Sun gold seeds here. We'll see it this summer. Sleeping lady seems interesting too. Great success as each year with your nice garden, thanks for sharing and have a nice day :-)
Hello! Really glad to hear that you found some Rosella Purple and Sun Gold seeds. Let us know later in the summer what you think of those two. Hope you have a great growing year!
I’m here in Pennsylvania 6b. A few years a you mentioned Boxcar Willies and I love them. I save seeds every year. Next year I want to try dwarf tomatoes. Thanks for your reviews.
I'm really glad that you save your Box Car Willie seeds, Sharon. There are a lot of great dwarf tomatoes to try. Good luck with your growing season this year!
Great video. I love cherry tomatoes that my father grew. They're not like the ones you find in the store. They were fairly large small tomatoes😊 beautiful red and they were tasty. My favorite tomato that he grew was big boy I think they've changed the name by now but it was as big as his hand and he had big hands. Very meaty and quite delicious we would go into the garden with a salt shaker😂 rinse it off and eat it right there. I've not had good luck but I'm going to try again.
Thanks! "Fairly large small tomatoes" is a perfect description :) The most important thing you have are those memories of going into the garden with the salt shaker....priceless.
I do like Belgium Giant and Sungold. Yearly favorites are German Johnson, Pineapple, Amish paste and Rose heirlooms. The bicolor tomatoes look great rough chopped in salsa. Last year's blistering heat meant the plants in the afternoon shade of the barn did best. Sungold and supersweet 100s are my snacks while gardening although the sungold can get tough skin later in the season. Have grafted heirlooms many times for production improvement, but likely won't this year. I've learned to start seeds later and have smaller starts since we are in a low valley and catch late spring frost. Will have to check you highlighted varieties!
I grew Purple Reign last year. Its a great tomato. Im growing it again this year. It took a break during our record heat and drought here in the South, but started producing again when it cooled off.
I've never had much luck with larger tomatoes, because the plants never ripen any fruit before the hornworms find them. I managed to keep the pests at bay last year with repeated uses of a water soluble clay that you spray onto the plants as a deterrent, and managed to get a few beefsteak tomatoes to grow, the best of which were Tasty Evergreen and Wood's Famous Brimmer. I'm giving those a go again this year, since they did so well. I'll definitely source some Bundaberg Rumball and Rosella Purple seeds next year :)
Good idea to go with types that worked well for you already. The Bundaberg Rumball and Rosella Purple are definitely worth trying. Good luck this year!
I hate the hornworms. One of them projectile vomited on me while I was trying to pull it off a tomato branch. It landed a hit on my forearm. I've declared war ever since.
@@facewrinkles3886 That's vile! I had hundreds of them in my garden two years ago, and spent every morning and evening picking them off by hand for months. Truly a nightmare!
This year I am finding a way to plant 79 varieties in my backyard garden. Belgium Giant and Rosella Cherry, Purple and Crimson are planned, as well as Sungold. Hoping Mother Nature gives the midwest a good season!
I hope Mother Nature gives us some good weather for tomatoes too. Let us know if you find any great tomatoes with that big selection you have. Good luck!
Some really great varieties moving forward. Our yard is like a Thunderdome as well. All the types we plant won't make the yard. Our new types this year are Evil Olive for the large and Strawberry Lemonade for the dwarf. Taz Ch. and Rosella Purple are two excellent types we will be growing along with you hopefully. Spring is getting near. Thanks for the share!
There's a lot of competition to make the cut in your yard. It's gonna be a fun year. Can't wait to see your back yard come to life in a couple of months!
Great info! Every year I base the success of my garden on one metric: Did the tomatoes do well, or not. I usually grow a variety of heirlooms, with Cherokee purple and Pineapple as favorites. Last year I grew a variety called Missouri Pink Love Apple which did well and tasted great. I will also usually put in a couple of hybrids just for insurance, but last year in that heat my heirlooms surprisingly did better than the hybrids. I believe that was because the hybrids were in full sun, while the bed with the heirlooms was shaded a good part of the day. Not ideal most of the time, but it helped with that heat. I would love to try at least one of the dwarf varieties you mention, as I’ve never even heard of them.
Thanks! Yes, a little shade can help a lot during those really hot and dry summers. Last year was brutal here. Yes, definitely check on the dwarf tomatoes from the dwarf tomato project. There is a huge selection of them. Two of my favorites are Rosella Purple and Boronia.
I’ve got Paul Robeson, Virgina Sweets, Brads Atomic Grape, and Beauty Lottringa seedlings all about 2-3” tall right now. These are my first ones I’m growing from seed on my own instead of buying seedlings from the nursery. I’m very excited to see the Lottringas! Each +1lb tomato supposedly only has 4-5 seeds, so they can be hard to come by lol. I did buy a 6” SunGold plant from the nursery. I’m also working on germinating some Tiny Tim’s that I’m going to put in nice pots and give to my 5 year old niece.
Nice! Glad to hear you are growing your own seedlings this year. That will open up a whole new world of different types you can try. Around here, the selection is pretty much the same every year, with a few exceptions. Cool that you are getting your niece involved too. Good luck!
That's funny I get home from work and you made a video about tomatoes and I was just talking about them 😊 since I live in an apartment I plant the patio tomatoes. You have some really good ideals on different ones so I'll have to decide, thanks for the great info 🤗
That's a great list Jim.. I'm also growing many that you are this year due to prior videos of yours (I've been taking notes).. I'm in 5B so we may need to compare notes👍 Have a banner year sir!!
It sure seems like you have a great bunch of tomato choices that all sound tasty. I have these tomatoes that were volunteers that I saved over the winter. 2 cherry tomatoes, 1 Roma style, 1 Black Krim that I was calling Amish Paste until it fruited, 2 Hungarian Heart, 1 regular shaped tomato I don't know what kind it is, 2 Bundaberg Rum Ball plants, and 1 Brandywine yellow (which I've never been able to grow due to diseases). These were seed starts that didn't sprout last year, the starter mix dumped back into compost. Then this year they popped up. Yeah!!!! Some years are great for tomatoes and some years, like last year was a lousy year because of spider mites. I hope you have less heat so you have a better tomato year too. Have a great weekend. 🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋
Thanks Shirley! I hope we have a better tomato year this year than last year was. Sounds like you got pretty lucky with the volunteers. It's kind of cool when Mother Nature give you some free plants at just the right time. Have a great weekend!
My list for this year: 1. Sungold 2. Hartman’s Yellow Gooseberry 3. Evil Olive 4. Sweet 100 Hybrid 5. Abe Lincoln Original 6. Black Sea Man 7. Costoluto Fiorentino 8. Soldacki 9. Money Maker 10. Moskvich 11. Peron 12. Ramapo F1 13. Raspberry Lyanna 14. Rutgers (I went to college here so I do them every year) 15. Green Zebra 16. Red Zebra 17. San Marzano 2 18. Spoon Tomato.
I'm attempting to grow the 2 I did last year, some type of beefsteak and cherry, plus Black Krim, Spoon, and San Marzano. I'm trying to grow a much bigger garden this year. Hoping to put in spring crops 2nd week of April. Just trying to keep seedling alive inside right now 🤞
So many tomatoes, so little time. This is a indeterminate but sets fruit like a champ and is my favorite tomato. It’s called Super Fantastic and it is! It just kept going and going. I grew it through the horrible heat we had, then it produced a crop in the fall and early winter.
Good Morning - Thanks so much for sharing the tomato varieties you are considering this year. As a new gardener, I have only grown the Amish paste, roma, and San Marzano types but need the dwarf varieties you shared due to space. I will check out these varieties and see what I can get. Are any of these varieties good for canning or only for eating fresh? If I can grow enough I would like to can some for stewed tomatoes and juice. Hope you have a great weekend - time to get planting!
Good morning! Most of these are better eaten fresh. I get most of my dwarfs from Victory seeds. I'm sure they have some canning types though. They have a very large selection of dwarfs from the dwarf tomato project. Have a great weekend!
Might have to try the Shimofuri! Think I found some seed. Varsovia is a dark, dark medium to large size purple tomato with an outstanding sweet, rich, earthy flavor. I think you'd like it. Jaune Flamme is a larger yellow-orange cherry tomato bursting with flavor similar to Sungold. This next year, I'm going to plant Carotena which is a cross of the two.
Hello again, friend! I see you are doing well. Do you have a video or could you make one of your MOST PRODUCTIVE tomato types and how they rate on flavor? That would be stellar! Thank you, kind sir. 🙏🏼
Got some fantastic Mortgage lifters here in WA state last year so I've 3 of those back in this year, also trying the Polish Giant and a few Paul Robesons. I always grew quick producers due to the short seasons but I've been starting them in January for the last few years and now trying all kinds of mid and long season tomatoes.
Sounds like you are going to have a great tomato year! Great to hear that you figured out a way to try a wider variety of tomatoes. I bet that put some fun back into gardening :)
I love your tomato taste test videos. I have changed my mind 3 times on what toms to grow this year. I was going to grow some short season varieties but getting inspired by your vid, I ordered dwarf Rosella Purple, BrandyFred and Sean's Yellow. Excited for my own taste test on these. Not a fan of any cherry toms. I will also grow one indeterminate, either Jetsetter or Old German. Any thoughts on these two? Thanks for all your info!
Thanks Sherry! Old German has only done well for me in years with a very mild summer. In years with a normally hot, or hotter summer, they sometimes can not set a tomato. That is just my experience with them though. I've never grown Jetsetter.
My tomato seed starting is all but wrapped up, my 6th and final batch will be some remedial starts to compensate for mistakes earlier in the year and poor germination from older seeds. I've been noting a big difference in cold tolerance in varieties I've started hardening off early -- "cold tolerant" and "early" are not the same thing at all, even when "cold tolerance" is listed as a characteristic. Much of my tomato growing is focused on short season productivity as the forest surrounding my gardens keeps them cool and moist. Two new favorites from last year were "Peron", which was slow to produce but very disease- and pest-resistant, with beautiful, mild-tasting tomatoes; and "42 Days" which is a very early dwarf-type tomato that (as I found this year) is only a little bit cold tolerant.
Good morning from sunny Southern California Jim. Can you please tell us how you prevent / control blight? Thank you. I follow you as you do a creditable work.
Hello. I haven't found a solution for blight. By spraying with Copper Fungicide, you can slow it down a little. It should be used as a preventative. I did a video on the different things I use on tomato plants. If you haven't seen that, I will include a link. ua-cam.com/video/mFhDxEtjHp0/v-deo.html I also did a video called 8 Ways To Help Keep Blight From Infecting Tomato Plants. Here's a link to that video. ua-cam.com/video/fmG3iSu0YDY/v-deo.html
I have some Sungold seedlings started. Also some Yellow Pear cherry and Sweeties cherry. A different cherry I'm trying is Gold Nuggets cherry. It is a determinate and can go in a container. It is a relative of Sungold. It was bred for colder weather (zone 4 here). Also, it is said to be stable so you can harvest the seeds!
That Gold Nuggets sounds like an interesting one. It's good that they are working on different types for specific climates. I hope that one works out well for you...and the other too of course!
We tried Honeycomb cherry tomatoes 2 years ago and saved the seeds bc they're real tasty. But try to find a friend who has the seeds cuz they're pricey.
I'm growing Sungold for the first time this year. Hoping it's as good as all the hype. I have 23 different varieties started, but only 5 are ones I've planted in past years. I'm looking forward to Cherokee Carbon, hoping it produces more than the standard Cherokee Purple. Ananas Noir is the one I'm most looking forward to taste testing. I've added Oxhearts and plums to the line up this year. Overall a good variety of color, shapes, and tastes. Hopefully we Kansans have tomato better weather this summer!
I'm with you on hoping we have better weather. Last year was pretty rough on tomato growers in our state. Sounds like you have a really nice selection. Now, if the weather will only cooperate.
In my climate, beefsteaks are hard to grow; however, I'm going to try an early variety called "Marmande." I'm also trying: Black Russian and Chilega as new additions.
I've never tried Marmande. I'll have to check it out. I'm not doing it so much this year, but I think it is a good idea to try a new one or two each year. You never know when you will find the perfect one for you area. Good luck, Gibby!
Fun to know what you're growing! I'm starting late as you know so I hope it works out but I plan to grow: Large Barred Boar Dr. Whyche's Yellow Brad's Atomic Grape Thorburn's Terra Cotta Uluru Ochre Boronia Carbon Dark Galaxy Wish me luck! And praying for a not so hot summer this time. 😮
Yes, we need a milder summer for sure. I really like your list. I grew Large Barred Boar one year, and it was really good. Good luck! I'm pretty sure you don't need much luck though, with that green thumb of yours :)
the tomato varieties that I grow from saved seed every year are... 1. red brandywine (my favorite) 2. pink brandywine 3. Amish Orange 4. Unknown black-cherry heirloom I've cultivated 5. Beefsteaks 6. 1 or 2 random cherry varieties I usually switch up
I can't remember what the weather was like the other two years, but last year was terrible for tomatoes here. When the weather gets really hot and stays there, pollen can even become unviable. Lots of indeterminate tomatoes will stop setting fruit once it gets really hot.
@@MidwestGardener that's what mine do, in the heat the leaves curl dry up and they don't put on fruit, but I had about 45 plants total, 15 varieties and some produced great, I just can't get the brandywine to produce in my soil, thanks for the reply, my seeds are all started, heat mats and grow lights, can't wait
Hello, I've got a question about Sun gold tomatoes you're speeking here. I think there is a variety of Sun gold (heirloom) and Sun gold hybrid F1,, if I'm not wrong. Which seeds do you use ? Here in Belgium I've just found seeds of Sun gold (no hybrid). Is it a difference between those 2 varieties ? thanks and nice weekend
@@MidwestGardener ok, thanks, it seems that it's a stabilized kind from the F1 sun gold, that's all I've found here but it's similar : same colour and shape, we'll see this summer :-)
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE try Ron's Carbon Copy. Got it from Secret Seed Cartel. I don't care for Cherries but this one was 'the one'. Will grow each year - taste is right up there/better than a Krim, Carbon, etc. etc. Insanely good cherry
I don't like cherry tomatoes either, but I had an accidental cross that I really enjoyed. It is black prince x champagne bubbles f2. Last year it grew very large and produced a lot of thin skined cherry tomatoes. I'd say around half split due to the thin skin and watering inconsistencies. But I ended up eating every single perfect one that came off of it. I never once ate cherry tomatoes like that because I don't like the skin on them.
For the first year, I'm not trying any new tomatoes. The climate here just doesn't work for most, and it's always a disappointment. I'm planting only pink brandywines and black krims this year. Happily, they do well for whatever reason. Especially the brandywines. Maybe it's the thick, tough leaves that can take the sun?
Well, if you have only two that work well, those two are pretty good ones to have. I don't know how the weather out your way is right now, but we are in extreme drought. I sure hope that breaks soon. Good luck this year!
@@MidwestGardener Right now, we have a roaring Nor'easter blowing cold, wet wind and rain. All the little tomatoes are sheltering indoors. Spring bounces from one extreme weather condition, to the exact opposite, and then back again. But they'll be going outside soon.
@@cathyf.1234 I hope you get over that weather soon. We were in that roller coaster weather pattern for a while, but we are going to be a little warmer than normal for the next 10 days or so.
Will grow all dwarf instead of indeterminate this year. Being that I share the likes of deep tomato flavor I am trying : Kookaburra Cackle , Rosella Purple, Boronia ,Uluru Ochre , Purple Heart ,Blazing beauty, Chocolate Champion, Emerald Green Giant, Fred’s Tie Dye , Adelaide Festival,,, I may condense my selection come planting time ,, zone 5 a ❤
Why is this so exciting?! Looking forward to this coming season 😊😊😊 I’m having a hard time choosing, but I think I’m gonna take the plunge and grow them all bc I’ve got some acres to work with. If I ever get my nerve up I’ll make a video about it. Thanks for sharing!
Although I grow many different plants in the garden, nothing gets me quite as excited to garden as thinking about tomatoes does!❤
I'm with you there, Amanda. I can't wait for that first BLT!
Appreciate the video on your recommendation. I’m growing many of these dwarfs for the first time. Last year was the worst year for tomatoes I’ve ever had and I am 60 miles north of you.
Thanks! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we have a better year this year. Last year the weather was terrible for tomatoes. Good luck with this year!
So many to choose from, so limited space. Boronia, Rosella Purple, Sun Sugar, Tasmanian Chocolate, Fred's Tie Dye, Blue Beech, Amish Paste, Cherokee Carbon.....it's a long list.
Wow, nice list, Charles! Yep, it's gonna be a good tomato year at your house!
A note about seeds: our public library started a seed library in an old card catalog a few years ago. It is wildly popular and we get and give seeds every year. This year we're really excited to donate a large green cherry tomato that started as a red cherry on a yellow candy currant tomato plant. We've stabilized the green ones (we think) and gave them a cute name and every single last one we donated got snatched up! The whole town is growing our frankentomato! Woo-hoo! 🎉
That sounds like a really neat program! Congratulations on stabilizing your accidental cross. That can be a job in itself sometimes. Pretty neat that so many other folks will be growing it.
wow thats awsome, also kool program maybe ill talk my librairy into doin somethin similar
Thanks for the videos and most definitely the taste testing videos
You're welcome! Glad you like them!
Good morning and thank you for sharing! Last year was my first garden, this year I’m making an attempt to grow my tomatos from seed. Currently have 11 varieties planted.
If you haven’t tried the super sweet 100 (hybrid, indeterminate) you really should. They’re a candy tomato, and the only reason I like tomatoes now.
I am testing a number of varieties this summer to determine taste preference and see how they grow in Kansas heat.
I’m growing mostly heirlooms indeterminates.
Super Sweet 100 (hybrid)
Rosella (cherry)
Arkansas Traveler
Mortgage Lifter
Kelloggs Breakfast
Wyches Yellow
Constoluto Fiorentinos
Roma
Cherokee Purple
Black Krim
Brandywine Pink
I grew Super Sweet 100 last year and it wasn’t even fazed by the heat. My Brandywine last year did stop setting fruit but I kept the plant alive through the season and was rewarded with twice as many fruit at the end of season than the start.
Thanks for the tip on the super sweet 100. That is one that I haven't grown before. You've got a really nice list of tomatoes there. Hope we have a better year from tomatoes than last year. Good luck!
I have the following tomato seedlings growing inside: Ace 55, Bella Rosa, Black Fire, Celebrity, Early Girl, Estiva, Hot Streak, Mochi, Red Snapper, Rubee Dawn, Sungold, Sunrise Bumblebee, and Torongina. I’ve also have the following dwarf tomato starts: Adelaide Festival, Boronia, Kookaburra Cackle, Bumbleburg Rumble, Rosella Purple, Uluru Ochre, and Tasmanian Chocolate. I’ve grown these dwarfs before with poor results but thought I’d give them one more try in pots only this time. I’ve hedged my bets with determinate hybrids in case the open-pollinated varieties are a bust. I’m still searching for a variety that will produce well in the AZ heat. Thanks for sharing what your growing this season!
Thanks for sharing your list of tomatoes with us, Arch! That's some pretty good variety. I hope you can find one or two that work for you in the heat.
looking forward to following your garden this year, been a fan for years now
Thanks for sticking around with me so long! I really do appreciate it!
Hi Jim! It will be fun to see which ones make the cut. A new one for me this year is Arkansas Traveler. Looking forward to seeing how that does. Have a nice weekend- Eric
Thanks Eric! I grew Arkansas Traveler. That's a good one. It has really good flavor as I remember. You have a great weekend too!
Hello, If it's a pleasure to try new tomatoes, I understand so well that you choose varieties that you found very tasty years before. Here as always, Boronia, Tasmanian chocolate, because we enjoy dark tomatoes, Belgian giant too (it's with this video that I found your channel :-) . For the first time, I've finally found Rosella purple and Sun gold seeds here. We'll see it this summer. Sleeping lady seems interesting too. Great success as each year with your nice garden, thanks for sharing and have a nice day :-)
Hello! Really glad to hear that you found some Rosella Purple and Sun Gold seeds. Let us know later in the summer what you think of those two. Hope you have a great growing year!
I’m here in Pennsylvania 6b. A few years a you mentioned Boxcar Willies and I love them. I save seeds every year. Next year I want to try dwarf tomatoes. Thanks for your reviews.
I'm really glad that you save your Box Car Willie seeds, Sharon. There are a lot of great dwarf tomatoes to try. Good luck with your growing season this year!
Great video. Looking forward to watching those juicy, meaty, colourful tomato videos. Enjoy the weekend, mate. Cheers!
Thanks! I can't wait for that first BLT. Have a great weekend!
Great video. I love cherry tomatoes that my father grew. They're not like the ones you find in the store. They were fairly large small tomatoes😊 beautiful red and they were tasty. My favorite tomato that he grew was big boy I think they've changed the name by now but it was as big as his hand and he had big hands. Very meaty and quite delicious we would go into the garden with a salt shaker😂 rinse it off and eat it right there. I've not had good luck but I'm going to try again.
Thanks! "Fairly large small tomatoes" is a perfect description :) The most important thing you have are those memories of going into the garden with the salt shaker....priceless.
I do like Belgium Giant and Sungold. Yearly favorites are German Johnson, Pineapple, Amish paste and Rose heirlooms. The bicolor tomatoes look great rough chopped in salsa. Last year's blistering heat meant the plants in the afternoon shade of the barn did best. Sungold and supersweet 100s are my snacks while gardening although the sungold can get tough skin later in the season. Have grafted heirlooms many times for production improvement, but likely won't this year. I've learned to start seeds later and have smaller starts since we are in a low valley and catch late spring frost. Will have to check you highlighted varieties!
Thanks for sharing some of your favorites with us! Those late frosts sure can mess things up sometimes. Good luck with your tomatoes this year!
I grew Purple Reign last year. Its a great tomato. Im growing it again this year. It took a break during our record heat and drought here in the South, but started producing again when it cooled off.
Good to hear the Purple Reign made a comeback for you. We get pretty hot here in the summer too. Last year was kind of a bad tomato year here.
I've never had much luck with larger tomatoes, because the plants never ripen any fruit before the hornworms find them. I managed to keep the pests at bay last year with repeated uses of a water soluble clay that you spray onto the plants as a deterrent, and managed to get a few beefsteak tomatoes to grow, the best of which were Tasty Evergreen and Wood's Famous Brimmer. I'm giving those a go again this year, since they did so well. I'll definitely source some Bundaberg Rumball and Rosella Purple seeds next year :)
Good idea to go with types that worked well for you already. The Bundaberg Rumball and Rosella Purple are definitely worth trying. Good luck this year!
I hate the hornworms. One of them projectile vomited on me while I was trying to pull it off a tomato branch. It landed a hit on my forearm. I've declared war ever since.
@@facewrinkles3886 That's vile! I had hundreds of them in my garden two years ago, and spent every morning and evening picking them off by hand for months. Truly a nightmare!
This year I am finding a way to plant 79 varieties in my backyard garden. Belgium Giant and Rosella Cherry, Purple and Crimson are planned, as well as Sungold. Hoping Mother Nature gives the midwest a good season!
I hope Mother Nature gives us some good weather for tomatoes too. Let us know if you find any great tomatoes with that big selection you have. Good luck!
Thank you for this informative video. I appreciate hearing about your choice of tomatoes especially since we are in the same growing zone!
You're welcome! Glad it was helpful! Hope we have good weather for it this year.
Some really great varieties moving forward. Our yard is like a Thunderdome as well. All the types we plant won't make the yard. Our new types this year are Evil Olive for the large and Strawberry Lemonade for the dwarf. Taz Ch. and Rosella Purple are two excellent types we will be growing along with you hopefully. Spring is getting near. Thanks for the share!
There's a lot of competition to make the cut in your yard. It's gonna be a fun year. Can't wait to see your back yard come to life in a couple of months!
Great info! Every year I base the success of my garden on one metric: Did the tomatoes do well, or not. I usually grow a variety of heirlooms, with Cherokee purple and Pineapple as favorites. Last year I grew a variety called Missouri Pink Love Apple which did well and tasted great. I will also usually put in a couple of hybrids just for insurance, but last year in that heat my heirlooms surprisingly did better than the hybrids. I believe that was because the hybrids were in full sun, while the bed with the heirlooms was shaded a good part of the day. Not ideal most of the time, but it helped with that heat. I would love to try at least one of the dwarf varieties you mention, as I’ve never even heard of them.
Thanks! Yes, a little shade can help a lot during those really hot and dry summers. Last year was brutal here. Yes, definitely check on the dwarf tomatoes from the dwarf tomato project. There is a huge selection of them. Two of my favorites are Rosella Purple and Boronia.
I’ve got Paul Robeson, Virgina Sweets, Brads Atomic Grape, and Beauty Lottringa seedlings all about 2-3” tall right now. These are my first ones I’m growing from seed on my own instead of buying seedlings from the nursery. I’m very excited to see the Lottringas! Each +1lb tomato supposedly only has 4-5 seeds, so they can be hard to come by lol.
I did buy a 6” SunGold plant from the nursery. I’m also working on germinating some Tiny Tim’s that I’m going to put in nice pots and give to my 5 year old niece.
Nice! Glad to hear you are growing your own seedlings this year. That will open up a whole new world of different types you can try. Around here, the selection is pretty much the same every year, with a few exceptions. Cool that you are getting your niece involved too. Good luck!
Brad's atomic are a must grow for me every year, such a rich, unique flavor.
Hi Jim, it’s that time of year again.
Sun Golds are good. Sun Sugars are great! Love the video!
Thanks! I'm going to have to give that one a try.
That's funny I get home from work and you made a video about tomatoes and I was just talking about them 😊 since I live in an apartment I plant the patio tomatoes. You have some really good ideals on different ones so I'll have to decide, thanks for the great info 🤗
Patio type tomatoes are a good choice for limited space. Even some of the dwarfs can get 4 to 5 feet tall. Good luck!
Thanks!!!@@MidwestGardener
You're welcome!
Thanks for sharing this with us
You're welcome! Thanks for watching!
That's a great list Jim.. I'm also growing many that you are this year due to prior videos of yours (I've been taking notes).. I'm in 5B so we may need to compare notes👍
Have a banner year sir!!
Thanks Tom! Glad to hear that you are trying some of these out. Yep, 5b isn't very far off from 6b. Hope you have a good tomato year!
Decided to try Triple L this year. Going to take them vertical and am super excited
I've never tried that one. I might have to give it a look next year. Good luck with it! Drop back in later on and let us know how it does for you.
It sure seems like you have a great bunch of tomato choices that all sound tasty.
I have these tomatoes that were volunteers that I saved over the winter. 2 cherry tomatoes, 1 Roma style, 1 Black Krim that I was calling Amish Paste until it fruited, 2 Hungarian Heart, 1 regular shaped tomato I don't know what kind it is, 2 Bundaberg Rum Ball plants, and 1 Brandywine yellow (which I've never been able to grow due to diseases).
These were seed starts that didn't sprout last year, the starter mix dumped back into compost.
Then this year they popped up. Yeah!!!!
Some years are great for tomatoes and some years, like last year was a lousy year because of spider mites.
I hope you have less heat so you have a better tomato year too.
Have a great weekend. 🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋
Thanks Shirley! I hope we have a better tomato year this year than last year was. Sounds like you got pretty lucky with the volunteers. It's kind of cool when Mother Nature give you some free plants at just the right time. Have a great weekend!
@@MidwestGardener You are so correct. Mother nature is awesome.
My list for this year:
1. Sungold
2. Hartman’s Yellow Gooseberry
3. Evil Olive
4. Sweet 100 Hybrid
5. Abe Lincoln Original
6. Black Sea Man
7. Costoluto Fiorentino
8. Soldacki
9. Money Maker
10. Moskvich
11. Peron
12. Ramapo F1
13. Raspberry Lyanna
14. Rutgers (I went to college here so I do them every year)
15. Green Zebra
16. Red Zebra
17. San Marzano 2
18. Spoon Tomato.
Thanks for sharing your list with us. There are some good ones on there.
I'm attempting to grow the 2 I did last year, some type of beefsteak and cherry, plus Black Krim, Spoon, and San Marzano. I'm trying to grow a much bigger garden this year. Hoping to put in spring crops 2nd week of April. Just trying to keep seedling alive inside right now 🤞
Black Krim is a really great tasting tomato. I think you will like that one if you haven't tasted one before. Good luck with your growing season!
So many tomatoes, so little time. This is a indeterminate but sets fruit like a champ and is my favorite tomato. It’s called Super Fantastic and it is! It just kept going and going. I grew it through the horrible heat we had, then it produced a crop in the fall and early winter.
Nice! Sounds like the name fits. Thanks for sharing it with us! I'm sure others will appreciate it also.
Good Morning - Thanks so much for sharing the tomato varieties you are considering this year. As a new gardener, I have only grown the Amish paste, roma, and San Marzano types but need the dwarf varieties you shared due to space. I will check out these varieties and see what I can get. Are any of these varieties good for canning or only for eating fresh? If I can grow enough I would like to can some for stewed tomatoes and juice. Hope you have a great weekend - time to get planting!
Good morning! Most of these are better eaten fresh. I get most of my dwarfs from Victory seeds. I'm sure they have some canning types though. They have a very large selection of dwarfs from the dwarf tomato project. Have a great weekend!
@@MidwestGardener Thanks just placed an order with Victory seeds!
@@sued.530 You're welcome!
Might have to try the Shimofuri! Think I found some seed.
Varsovia is a dark, dark medium to large size purple tomato with an outstanding sweet, rich, earthy flavor. I think you'd like it.
Jaune Flamme is a larger yellow-orange cherry tomato bursting with flavor similar to Sungold. This next year, I'm going to plant Carotena which is a cross of the two.
Thanks for the tips on the tomatoes. Much appreciated. Hope the Shimofuri tomatoes do well for you.
Hello again, friend! I see you are doing well. Do you have a video or could you make one of your MOST PRODUCTIVE tomato types and how they rate on flavor? That would be stellar! Thank you, kind sir. 🙏🏼
Thanks for the idea! I'll keep it in mind. Not something I had thought about.
Cherokee purple is my go to tomato 🍅
Yep, you and a lot of other people.
Thanks for sharing.
You're welcome! Thanks for watching!
Got some fantastic Mortgage lifters here in WA state last year so I've 3 of those back in this year, also trying the Polish Giant and a few Paul Robesons.
I always grew quick producers due to the short seasons but I've been starting them in January for the last few years and now trying all kinds of mid and long season tomatoes.
Sounds like you are going to have a great tomato year! Great to hear that you figured out a way to try a wider variety of tomatoes. I bet that put some fun back into gardening :)
I love your tomato taste test videos. I have changed my mind 3 times on what toms to grow this year. I was going to grow some short season varieties but getting inspired by your vid, I ordered dwarf Rosella Purple, BrandyFred and Sean's Yellow. Excited for my own taste test on these. Not a fan of any cherry toms. I will also grow one indeterminate, either Jetsetter or Old German. Any thoughts on these two? Thanks for all your info!
Thanks Sherry! Old German has only done well for me in years with a very mild summer. In years with a normally hot, or hotter summer, they sometimes can not set a tomato. That is just my experience with them though. I've never grown Jetsetter.
My tomato seed starting is all but wrapped up, my 6th and final batch will be some remedial starts to compensate for mistakes earlier in the year and poor germination from older seeds. I've been noting a big difference in cold tolerance in varieties I've started hardening off early -- "cold tolerant" and "early" are not the same thing at all, even when "cold tolerance" is listed as a characteristic. Much of my tomato growing is focused on short season productivity as the forest surrounding my gardens keeps them cool and moist. Two new favorites from last year were "Peron", which was slow to produce but very disease- and pest-resistant, with beautiful, mild-tasting tomatoes; and "42 Days" which is a very early dwarf-type tomato that (as I found this year) is only a little bit cold tolerant.
Thanks for the tip on those two. I'm sure others will appreciate it too. 42 days might be one worth looking at for me. I will check it out.
Good morning from sunny Southern California Jim. Can you please tell us how you prevent / control blight?
Thank you.
I follow you as you do a creditable work.
Hello. I haven't found a solution for blight. By spraying with Copper Fungicide, you can slow it down a little. It should be used as a preventative. I did a video on the different things I use on tomato plants. If you haven't seen that, I will include a link. ua-cam.com/video/mFhDxEtjHp0/v-deo.html
I also did a video called 8 Ways To Help Keep Blight From Infecting Tomato Plants. Here's a link to that video. ua-cam.com/video/fmG3iSu0YDY/v-deo.html
I have some Sungold seedlings started. Also some Yellow Pear cherry and Sweeties cherry. A different cherry I'm trying is Gold Nuggets cherry. It is a determinate and can go in a container. It is a relative of Sungold. It was bred for colder weather (zone 4 here). Also, it is said to be stable so you can harvest the seeds!
That Gold Nuggets sounds like an interesting one. It's good that they are working on different types for specific climates. I hope that one works out well for you...and the other too of course!
We tried Honeycomb cherry tomatoes 2 years ago and saved the seeds bc they're real tasty. But try to find a friend who has the seeds cuz they're pricey.
Thank you for these videos
You're welcome! Thanks for watching them!
I'm growing Sungold for the first time this year. Hoping it's as good as all the hype. I have 23 different varieties started, but only 5 are ones I've planted in past years. I'm looking forward to Cherokee Carbon, hoping it produces more than the standard Cherokee Purple. Ananas Noir is the one I'm most looking forward to taste testing. I've added Oxhearts and plums to the line up this year. Overall a good variety of color, shapes, and tastes. Hopefully we Kansans have tomato better weather this summer!
I'm with you on hoping we have better weather. Last year was pretty rough on tomato growers in our state. Sounds like you have a really nice selection. Now, if the weather will only cooperate.
Awesome 👍
Thanks. You must be talking about the thumbnail, because you didn't have time to watch the video.
In my climate, beefsteaks are hard to grow; however, I'm going to try an early variety called "Marmande." I'm also trying: Black Russian and Chilega as new additions.
I've never tried Marmande. I'll have to check it out. I'm not doing it so much this year, but I think it is a good idea to try a new one or two each year. You never know when you will find the perfect one for you area. Good luck, Gibby!
No White Tomesol? When you get a good one, brings tears to my eyes. Exquisite
I've grown it before. I had one amazing year, and the next year they tasted bland. Not sure what happened.
Fun to know what you're growing! I'm starting late as you know so I hope it works out but I plan to grow:
Large Barred Boar
Dr. Whyche's Yellow
Brad's Atomic Grape
Thorburn's Terra Cotta
Uluru Ochre
Boronia
Carbon
Dark Galaxy
Wish me luck! And praying for a not so hot summer this time. 😮
Yes, we need a milder summer for sure. I really like your list. I grew Large Barred Boar one year, and it was really good. Good luck! I'm pretty sure you don't need much luck though, with that green thumb of yours :)
@@MidwestGardener haha! Thanks☺️
I’m trying pink ox heart this year.
That's a good one. I hope it works well for you!
the tomato varieties that I grow from saved seed every year are...
1. red brandywine (my favorite) 2. pink brandywine 3. Amish Orange 4. Unknown black-cherry heirloom I've cultivated 5. Beefsteaks
6. 1 or 2 random cherry varieties I usually switch up
That's a nice list. You can't go too wrong with that list.
Where do you find all these different varieties? Do you buy them online or does your local nursery sell them?
I buy the seeds online, unless I've grown them before. If I've grown them before, many times I save seeds for the next time I want to grow them.
I am from the Kansas city area and I have tried to grow brandywine 3 years but just can't get them to produce for me, any suggestions?
I can't remember what the weather was like the other two years, but last year was terrible for tomatoes here. When the weather gets really hot and stays there, pollen can even become unviable. Lots of indeterminate tomatoes will stop setting fruit once it gets really hot.
@@MidwestGardener that's what mine do, in the heat the leaves curl dry up and they don't put on fruit, but I had about 45 plants total, 15 varieties and some produced great, I just can't get the brandywine to produce in my soil, thanks for the reply, my seeds are all started, heat mats and grow lights, can't wait
@@billw7894 Good luck this year!
Hello, I've got a question about Sun gold tomatoes you're speeking here. I think there is a variety of Sun gold (heirloom) and Sun gold hybrid F1,, if I'm not wrong. Which seeds do you use ? Here in Belgium I've just found seeds of Sun gold (no hybrid). Is it a difference between those 2 varieties ? thanks and nice weekend
I wasn't aware of an heirloom Sun Gold. The one that I'm growing is an F1 hybrid.
@@MidwestGardener ok, thanks, it seems that it's a stabilized kind from the F1 sun gold, that's all I've found here but it's similar : same colour and shape, we'll see this summer :-)
@@cfbx-lx7216 Let us know how it works out.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE try Ron's Carbon Copy. Got it from Secret Seed Cartel. I don't care for Cherries but this one was 'the one'. Will grow each year - taste is right up there/better than a Krim, Carbon, etc. etc. Insanely good cherry
Thanks for the tip! I haven't tried that one. I might have to check it out next year.
@@MidwestGardener the flavor is insane. Never had a cherry taste that good.
@@karunald Sounds good.
I don't like cherry tomatoes either, but I had an accidental cross that I really enjoyed. It is black prince x champagne bubbles f2. Last year it grew very large and produced a lot of thin skined cherry tomatoes. I'd say around half split due to the thin skin and watering inconsistencies. But I ended up eating every single perfect one that came off of it. I never once ate cherry tomatoes like that because I don't like the skin on them.
Sounds like you had a nice little accident there. Maybe you can stabilize it with thinner skin. Would be cool if you could.
For the first year, I'm not trying any new tomatoes. The climate here just doesn't work for most, and it's always a disappointment. I'm planting only pink brandywines and black krims this year. Happily, they do well for whatever reason. Especially the brandywines. Maybe it's the thick, tough leaves that can take the sun?
Well, if you have only two that work well, those two are pretty good ones to have. I don't know how the weather out your way is right now, but we are in extreme drought. I sure hope that breaks soon. Good luck this year!
@@MidwestGardener Right now, we have a roaring Nor'easter blowing cold, wet wind and rain. All the little tomatoes are sheltering indoors. Spring bounces from one extreme weather condition, to the exact opposite, and then back again. But they'll be going outside soon.
@@cathyf.1234 I hope you get over that weather soon. We were in that roller coaster weather pattern for a while, but we are going to be a little warmer than normal for the next 10 days or so.
Where do you find the Baronia seeds at?
Victory Seed usually has Dwarf Tomato Project (Boronia) Varieties
@@charlesscarborough7424 thank you
Yes, I got mine at Victory Seeds. Not sure which ones are in stock right now though.
Will grow all dwarf instead of indeterminate this year. Being that I share the likes of deep tomato flavor I am trying : Kookaburra Cackle , Rosella Purple, Boronia ,Uluru Ochre , Purple Heart ,Blazing beauty, Chocolate Champion, Emerald Green Giant, Fred’s Tie Dye , Adelaide Festival,,, I may condense my selection come planting time ,, zone 5 a ❤
Wow! I really like your list. Some of my favorites on there. I predict you are going to have a really good tomato year :)
Why is this so exciting?! Looking forward to this coming season 😊😊😊 I’m having a hard time choosing, but I think I’m gonna take the plunge and grow them all bc I’ve got some acres to work with. If I ever get my nerve up I’ll make a video about it. Thanks for sharing!
I'm with you on that, Sarah! I can't wait to get started!
I'm going to get off UA-cam here and start my tomatoes
Yep, it's that time. Good luck with yours this year!