Despite the less than ideal weather and a late start sowing seed, I’ve had a bumper crop with some interesting results in the 2024 tomato Gardening Trials.
Family life got in the way of my usual late February sowing so I knew everything would be delayed. Thankfully, the mild – if not sunny – autumn meant plants could be left outside until well into October and I’ve only just cleared the greenhouse.
This year, there were 13 varieties tested in the 2024 tomato gardening trials, ranging from tiny cherry fruits to beefsteak varieties.
(I was given seed to trial but am not paid.)
The shifting of my growing season has meant that I’ve got more green tomatoes than usual to ripen indoors, which they are slowly doing. Though not as good as sun-ripened, they are still way better than anything bought in a supermarket.
Obviously, my growing conditions and the weather will have affected results and taste is always subjective! Here’s what we thought about what was grown.
One of the family favourites this year was ‘Tutti Fruitt’ from Premier Seeds Direct. These dainty cherry tomatoes had a great flavour and were very juicy.
‘Micro Cherry’ (Kings Seeds) certainly lived up to its name, producing tiny, slightly tart fruit with a lovely flavour.
‘Vesper’, also from Kings, were more regular sized cherry tomatoes with a pleasant if somewhat watery flavour.
Thompson & Morgan sent me ‘Crockini’, which we thought had a good texture though the flavour wasn’t strong.
Two of the biggest in the 2024 tomato gardening trials were ‘Delicious’ and ‘Bountiful’, both from Chiltern Seeds. Did they live up to their names? Well, ‘Delicious’ produced huge fruit that were juicy without being squishy with a pleasant but not outstanding flavour. ‘Bountiful’ also had large fruits that were very juicy but not strongly flavoured. Both were excellent for cooking.
One of the prettiest had to be ‘Artisan Pink Bumblbee’ from Premier Seeds Direct. Its cherry fruits were delicately marked in pink and gold. It wasn’t our favourite though as we found the flavour weak and the skin tough.
‘Buffalosun’, also from Premier Seeds Direct, was prolific, producing masses of large fruits. It should have yellow fruit flashed through with red but ours were more solidly red, perhaps down to growing conditions. The flavour was good and the tomatoes were juicy.
‘Scatalone’ (Premier Seeds Direct) is a plum variety but I found none of my crop got much bigger than a medium-sized tomato. One to try again next year.
‘Vivacious’ (Kings Seeds) had a fabulous yellow colour, was sweet with firm flesh but we weren’t sure of the texture, which was a bit a bit ‘cotton woolly’.
Two that didn’t make it in front of the camera were ‘Lemonita’ (Thompson & Morgan) and ‘Black Russian’ (Mr Fothergill’s). ‘Lemonita’ had a great colour and was extremely juicy. ‘Black Russian’ was also full of juice though the flavour wasn’t strong.
The last of the 2024 tomato gardening trial varieties was chosen purely for the name! ‘Hamlet’ (seed from Unwins) produced large tomatoes with the classic English tomato flavour and a firm texture. Another that was good for cooking.
Along with varieties from previous years, I ended up with more than 50 plants, despite being determined not to grow as many this year. However, there really isn’t anything that sums up summer more than a freshly picked tomato and, with fruit still ripening and roasted tomatoes in the freezer for future soups, pasta sauce and risotto, it’s a taste that will keep us going through winter.
You can read about more of my vegetable and flower growing here.
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50 plants! Gosh, I struggled with half a dozen a few years back. I didn’t grow any again this year, but my aim is to try some bush varieties. Reading your review it seems quite a lot of tomatoes don’t have any decent flavour, which is what I want in a tomato. So many to choose from, maybe too many? And I imagine that hot weather contributes to the flavour. Something we had very little of this year.
I rather liked Gardener’s Delight and Tigerella and I think it was Sungold that I grew.
It was fewer than in previous years! I’m sure the weather has a lot to do with flavour. We can only hope next year is better.