For me it will be Marianna's Peace.

Check out this discussion from earlier in the week. Lots of answers in it.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomatoes you would grow again?

This years winners have been:
Black Cherry
Matt's Wild Cherry
Paul Robeson
Italian Market Wonder
Guker's Special
Dr Wyches Yellow

Dean

For me this year (disclaimer: very cold spring, cool summer)
Danko (for taste and production)
Black Cherry (for taste and production)
Matina (for massive production)
Aunt Gertie's Gold (for taste)
Cherokee Green (for taste)
Soldacki (for taste)

I fell in love with black tomatoes this year. I will definitely be trying again:
Black Cherry
Black Plum
Black Pear
Black
Black Sea Man

Also enjoyed:
Dr. Wyches Yellow
Earl of Edgecomb

1. Arkansas Traveler
2. Green Giant
3. Japanese Black Triefel
4. Purple Calabash
5. Kellogg's Breakfast

Out of 17 varieties this year:
Crnkovic Yugoslavian
German Head
Polish (Ellis)
Bush Big Boy

It's takes a special tomato for me to grow it twice because there are SO MANY tomatoes, so little time :-)
But there are two, both cherries that I will grow permanently:
Black Cherry and Dr. Carolyn. Both very productive, disease resistant and tasty. And pretty.

I try many new varieties each year. This year the most impressive were:
Sandul Moldavan
Olena Ukrainian
Gigantesque
Amazon Chocolate
Pink Sweet
Opalka
Russian Rose
Royal Hillbilly
These successful varieties will join the list of tasty regulars that I plant every year. The Sandul Moldavan rivals my best Brandywines and produces better that this years best tasting Cherokee Purple.

Vorlon was the best of the bunch in a lot of ways this year, and I'll definitely grow it again.

Others that were new to me this year that will likely become regulars are Cerise Orange (cherry,) Guernsey Island, and Negro Azteca (also a cherry, similar to black cherry).

The best flavored one was Purple Haze hybrid. I'm going to try keeping some clones over the winter...

my very favorite one this year is Costoluto Genovese. My other favorites were Black Cherry and Bonnie Best.

Not a comprehensive list, but here's some new to me in '08 that I will grow again:

Hege German Pink
Black Early
Catwell
Spears Tennessee Green
Jumbo Jim Orange
Brandysweet Plum
Golden Cherokee
Pink BTD
PPP x PP "C" (working name)
Rufus Carrigan's Mexican Pink
Spudulata Black
Tsar-Kolokol
Trees Bottom Yellow
Yasenichki Yabuchar
Zore's Big Red
West Virginia Sweet Meat
Black Bear
Brandywine "fliptx" (unknown strain)
1884 Purple
Dino Eggs

And here's some new ones that I grew this past season and several of them I will grow again, mainly b'c it was a lousy season here and I list varieties in the SSE Yearbooks and offer some of my new varieties elsewhere so seed production was not good at all.

Ceman
Ludmilla's Red PLum
Ludmilla's Pink heart
Serdste Buoliva ( a pink heart)
Herman's Special
Gianinni
Orange Minsk, a real fave, large orange beefsteak
Lincoln-Adams, large pink PL; I doubt the origin on this one
Malinovyi Charodei, a large pink beefsteak
Odesskiy Rozovyi, large pink
Moravskyy Div, small blocky red plums

And others I grew that I really liked but won't be listing them in the SSE Yearbook b'c they're already there and I know I'll be growing some of these again:

Linnie's Oxheart
Tennesee Britches
Green Doctors
Indiana Red
Black Cherry, have grown every year since available

Carolyn, who these days grows mainly varieties new to all or most. And it's the first year in a long time that I didn't grow Sungold. Sigh.

I grew this year that I'd grow again:

Ananas Noire
Green Cherokee (or Cherokee Green)
Sungold
Brads Black Heart
Indian Stripe

I was REALLY impressed with Ananas Noire, Cherokee Green,
and Indian Stripe for their flavor... And Indian
Stripe for it's productivity. Although Green Cherokee was
no slacker either - I have to admit it did take me a bit to
figure out when it was ripe! :)

Anyway, I grew close to
40 varieties and out of the new ones I grew - these were
exceptional ones and real keepers (this is not a pun, these
tomatoes are not KEEPERS they'll rot on you in a second!)

Sungold was early and perfect popping size - and of course sweet.
It's a definite repeat.

Brads wasn't the BEST tasting but reallywas quite good. I
AM a heart fan... this was a lovely color, nice seed/meat
ratio and tasted good.

All were magnificant to look at - Eye candy baby!!!

I grew a variety of the most talked about heirlooms this year. This was my first time trying anything other than Early Girls and similar varieties. Thanks to all on this forum for getting me out of my early-hybrid rut.

I acknowledge that everyone's taste is different, but here's what I observed in my multitude of taste tests this year:.

The Brandywine Sudduth had an amazingly smooth, creamy, dense meat. It has been described as almost a buttery texture. That's what I thought when I tasted it.
I found the Stump of the World, the Brandywine OTV, and the Brandyboy to be very similar to the B-wine Sudduth in texture; different, but similar, in taste and all VERY GOOD. The OTV sometimes had less smooth texture, almost on the edge of being mealy, dependent on overnight cold temps.

Marianna's Peace had a Sudduth-like texture, although a bit less dense and a bit lighter flavor. I liked Marianna's Peace BEST of ALL.

The PrudenÂs Purple also had a Sudduth-like texture and the taste was good, but noticeably not as good as those mentioned above. It had the very best taste and texture of all the shorter season tomatoes in my greenhouse, though. My Prudens Purple vines were earlier than my Early Girls and much better tasting, meatier, and with a smoother denser texture.

The Neves had a rich meaty texture, more traditional, and not so creamy smooth, but never mealy. It had a very rich, rich, rich tomatoey flavor. It is our favorite for flavor.

PRODUCTION
The numbers below show my best production numbers so far. My semi-insulated heated greenhouse is still producing:

Goliath Hyb.........ÂÂ.12 @ 105oz
Neves Azorean Red.......8 @ 104oz
Brandywine OTV..........5 @ 88oz
Marianna's Peace.....Â. 5 @ 84oz
Prudens Purple........Â.. 7 @ 84oz
Sophie's Choice.....Â...17 @ 84oz
Mortgage Lifter#1....Â17 @ 80oz
Mortgage Lifter#2...ÂÂ6 @ 77oz
Early Girl Hyb......ÂÂ.16 @ 75oz
Brandyboy Hyb........Â...7 @ 75oz
Early Goliath Hyb.....Â..8 @ 65oz
Stump of the World...Â.3 @ 55oz
Brandywine Sudduth......2 @ 45oz
Stupice...........ÂÂÂ...25 @ 42oz

Next year I will grow MariannaÂs Peace and Neves for taste and production.
I will grow some Prudens purple for EARLINESS, to tide us over til the others ripen.
I donÂt think I will have space for any "early" hybrids in my garden next year.

Happy Growing,

Bob-northernlight

I am just delighted with all the USDA/GRIN maters I grew this year, while all are good to excellent some were just outstanding for flavor. This morning I brought in the last of the 'Goji Faranji' beefsteaks. I sliced one and was in tomato nirvana--such excellent flavor. 'Early Kus Ali' and 'Hong Yuen', two lovely reds, will always be in my good graces as fine dual-purpose reds that were as good sliced as they were cooked--kudos to both for also being excellent croppers.

T

I will definately plant the Black Prince variety again. It's been a great producer and the taste is wonderful. I have a few posts and pictures relating to them on my garden blog linked below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Container Gardening in the Desert

OMG, i'm so jealous just reading about all your great successes (sp?). the only new ones that i got to taste in my garden this year is the black cherry and campari. YUM! they're keepers. I'm still waiting on a giant Cherokee Chocolate thats still really green. good news is that there are a lot more baby toms on it! I'm sure that will be a yummy one too.

For me the following.

Kellogs West Virginia
Black Mystery
Unnamed Hungarian Ind.
Unnamed Hungarian Det.
Tom's Yellow Wonder
Guido
JD's Special C-Tex
Plourde
Scabitha
Serenity
Sweet Dreams
Oleyer's German
Spudakee Purple
German Head
Golden Cherokee
Orange Strawberry
Brandywine x NAR
Ludmilla's Red Plum
Ludmilla's Pink Heart
Neves Azorean Pink
Big Chief (Brandywine Sudduth Cross)
Ed's Millenium
Japan Tomato Tree

Bradley (second year): Even better than in 2007.

Burgundy Traveler (new to me this year): I don't know why this one is called "burgundy," but it is one great tomato.

Pork Chop (new to me this year): Damn good tasting yellow tomato.

Indian Stripe, Bradley and Traveler have convinced me that Arkansas tomatoes are my future reliable stalwarts. They will all grow well in 10-gallon nursery tubs, they all thrive and laugh at rough conditions, they all have out-produced and continue to produce after all others wither and fail.

Reif Red Heart came to me by way of trade and was a real trooper. The plant is robust, production was good and the fruits fairly large, meaty and sweet. (Not as bit as Amana Orange was, though.)It's definitely on the list for 2009.

Gran Assaso (I'm sure I've misspelled that) was another happy suprise and was from a GW trade. Medium-large red pear fruits, little cracking, big yields, skins are a little tough, fewer seeds. They've bumped my favorite paste tomato off the list.

Super Sioux, definitely. By shaking the blossoms in the cool of the morning, I had a steady supply of tomatoes in July and August. "Suzie" seemed to shut down around the equinox, but I love her so much that, inspired by a tourist in Italy who encountered perennial groves of "artfully trained [tomato] vines," I have moved her to a permanent spot in the garden.

I assumed those toughened vines would have no bunny appeal, but I guessed wrong and the number of surviving stalks has been whittled down significantly. The remaining two are fenced now so we'll see how this experiment goes.

Sunset zone 18 is specifically mentioned as having an ideal year round climate for Mediterranean crops, so I figure I have an outside chance of success with this plan and nothing to lose but a little labor.

Well, OK, make that a lot of labor. That root ball was one gigantic heavy mass! In the meantime I am on the lookout for some Super Sioux seeds, just in case the experiment fails.

The other "new" tomato that I will grow again is a mongrel from a grocery store roma. I didn't expect much from it, so I put it in the smallest of the available pots and skimped on the soil. The plant stayed short and sparse, but it has been been very productive at the early and late ends of the season.

My Plum Dandy hybrids have much bigger romas, but they are in larger containers and are much larger plants. Size for size, I would say they are far less productive. Maybe I should put them under the same type of stress conditions as the mongrel?

Anyway, I've moved this freshly repotted baby to the sunporch and will definitely save some seeds from the next harvest round. This one may become one of my favorite local "workhorse" varieties.

j.

Black Sea Man. It's not my favorite for taste, but it's quite good, and it grew very well in containers for me. It was also the first tomato that ripened in the spring.