That's an impressive list. I've not grown most of them, but many are on my "wish to grow" list. I look forward to hearing how your season goes. Do try to check back in, if you can. We need all the activity we can get here.

Martha

I grew the German Johnson this past season and found it to have VERY thick skins and an off taste. I also grew Old German which had a striking red blotch in the center of a yellow fleshed tomato. It was much better tasting. The OG usually is pictured as having a mealy looking texture in the tomato flesh; but I that appearance is caused by the lack of seeds in the cavities. Don't plan on growing either this year.

My list for 2023:

Mortgage Lifter

Dester

Brandywine Sudduth

Belgian Giant

Marianna's Peace

Maybe a Yellow Pear

I'm cutting way back this year. Less plants, more space between.

Old German tomato

My list, FWIW, nothing new for me, and not very many... getting ready to move.

Italian Heirloom

Superfantastic

Rose de Berne

Ananas Noire

Sungold

Lucia Grape

Martino's Roma

Grandma Mary's

Ropreco

Plum Regal

Siletz

Scotia

... and Thorburns Terra Cotta, if I can cage more seeds from the friend who gave them to me last year.

Most of the tomatoes I'm growing this year are new to me. So I appreciate feedback on them. Rose De Berne & Sungolds are a couple favorites of mine. The Sungolds produce a crazy amount of cherry tomatoes. Have a plan on what to do with them. They will split if you get a lot of rain.

booberrt85,

I've grown about 9 of the ones on your list. Rose, by far, would be my favorite.

For a list of what I may have available, here's a link...

https://www.tomatojunction.com/2021-master-list-tomatoes-t2996.html

I have been working at refining my list for this summer. I have plenty of space, but not space that is protected from wildlife. So, I have whittled my choices down to:

Paul Robeson

Brandywine Sudduth

Cherokee Purple

Sungold

Black Cherry

Pink Berkley Tye-Dye

Azoychka

Ananas Noire

Johannisbeertomate (to renew stock for the MMMM swap)

San Marzano or Speckled Roman (for sauce)

So many tomatoes and so little space. I'll probably try to grow two of each plant. I look forward to following everyone's progress.

Martha

Problem . Text Kicks out often

Sometimes does sometimes

Hi there.

I have following growing under light for April plant out

ARGG..BIG BEEF..BRANDY BOY ..

CHEROKEE PURPLE BLACK KRIM

COSTOLUTO CUOSTRALEE HILLBILLY GOLDEN JUBILEE

Seysonn,

Those all look like great varieties. I hope the seedling process goes well for you. I'm hopingb to start pepper seeds this weekend and tomatoes in another few weeks.

Martha

Which Costoluto?

One I'm most excited about is the

Dwarf Uluru Ochre,

many 5 star reviews on Victory seeds website . I must have missed the detail before that it's early, just what I need in North Idaho. Uluru Ochre sold out at Victory , Bounty Hunters carries it.

I have to try

Bloody Butcher,

another early variety. It's sold out at Bounty Hunters , I ordered mine at GardenHoard.

I can't plant a fraction of all the seeds I collected but I might try

Xanadu Green Goddess

Blood Moon

Tiny Tim

and I need Aunt Ginnys Purple for my ultimate tomato experience.

It's so hard to narrow down the choices.

With Uluru Ochre, you've picked just about the most controversial tomato out there. Reading reviews on gardening forums, not seed vendors sites, most people either love it , or hate it (being completely underwhelmed). I haven't trialed it, due to the many lackluster reports.

Tiny Tim, a micro dwarf, would likely be best grown indoors over the winter into spring.

Most of the very early varieties simply don't have much flavor, in my garden.

I highly recommend Pervaya Lyubov (First Love), the earliest very good tasting slicer that I've ever tried. It ripens at about the same time as SunGold.

And finally, Aunt Ginny's Purple is my all-time favorite tomato, out of 2,000+ varieties trialed.

THANKS for all the information Gary, I'm venturing into tomato world in the dark except for what I can glean online. No gardening wisdom to be found among my close neighbors, apartment dwellers that would rather buy fast food. The local nursery isn't much better.

I did find an online source for Pervaya Lyabov , now if I just give away 5 late seed packets for every new tomato I want to order, I'll feel it saved me years of trial and error.

I still can't part with my package of Everett's Rusty Oxheart, it was a dream to move to a warm climate someday. I may have to give up both, but a good first love would sure make it easier.

I'm going to baby my Aunt Ginny's purple plant .

I encourage supporting the small mom and pop seed vendors. Without them we wouldn't have all of the wonderful varieties that they hunt down, and then produce large quantities of seeds.

The only real problem I have with some seed companies, is that there is virtually no negative remarks about varieties. That would likely translate to lost sales. There are some very mixed views for some varieties, that will never be found at those sites.

If you are ever looking for any tomatoes (and many other types of veggies/fruit/flowers) that you cannot locate, I've supplied a link in an above post to tomato varieties that pass through my fingers.

As for babying Aunt Ginny's Purple, the mistake that almost all of us make when starting out, is to over water and over fertilize our babies.

Somehow I hit the jackpot ordering Aunt Ginny's last year, but didn't have the sense to plant one prioritizing the others.

So true about seed companies presenting the angelic qualities of their inventory. I learned that lesson from mail ordering roses that came so viciously thorny I had to dispose of them. Over a ten year period I learned to look closely at rose leaves and know just what the rose needed. I hope in time to study and become a tomato whisperer, I already learned most of the ways how to kill them.

I've found that the best tasting tomatoes comes from ALMOST starving the plants of water. It's a fine line between that and actually killing them.

If you live in a warm not too rainy area, about 3 to 4 inches of mulch keeps the soil moisture steady, with much less chance of killing plants when bare soil drastically dries out.

Hey, booberry! I'm happy to see you on the forums again.

Yes, I'm still here, still farming, still cooking and still canning. I've cut my tomato varieties WAY down this year. Several years ago I grew 96 tomatoes plants, this year I promised my DH I'd cut it down to 30, but I just don't think I'm going to be able to, LOL.

Great White (one of my favorites, but very sensitive to overwatering as a seedling)

Barnes Mountain Pink

Pineapple

Golden Jubilee

SunSugar

Rutgers (my canning tomato)

Black Cherry

Stupice (gift seeds)

Sophie's Choice (new to me and seeds were a gift)

Garden Peach

Green Zebra

Pink Oxheart (also new/gifted seeds)

Phil's Choice One (new to me)

I like open pollinated varieties best because I save my own seeds, but that doesn't stop me from ordering more, like the Phil's One which is just unusual and so I had to have it. You never know, you might find a favorite that way!

My acre of garden has room, but I can only use just so many tomatoes. Last year was the heirloom bean year, and the tomatoes didn't do really well anyway. The big gully washing rain(s) in August after a very hot/dry July just didn't do them any favors. So, this year I'll need extra to can. My pantry is full of dried beans, time to stock up on tomato products. THat's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

Annie

Annie,

Don't grow Sophie's Choice close to the others, or it might get shaded out. It's a determinate that only gets to about 2 1/2 feet high.

Here's my list for this and last year's notes:

Beliy Naliv - Juicy and a tad tart.

BrandyFred Dwarf - Yum. Great Brandywine flavor.

Buckbee's New 50 Day - High yield all summer. Great flavor. This was a producing machine!

Dwarf Pink Passion - Oxheart shape, sweet flavor.

Giant Doochov - Rich flavor. Low yield.

Grightmire's Pride - Robust sweet tomato flavor. Heart shaped Earlier than I expected.

Les's Sweet Japanese - Yum. Paste type.

Lida's Ukranian - Good all around.

Mrs. Maxwell's Big Italian - Pink beefsteak. Great flavor.

Northern Lights - Good yield. Middle of the road flavor. Yellow, orange.

Nyagous - I love black tomatoes. Smokey and salty.

Rab Orjak - Old fashion tomato flavor.

Severnye - Heart shaped complex flavor.

Thunder Mountain - BOLD flavor. Tri color, orange, black, red.

I haven't be able to get seeds for my favorite Orange Russian 117. Long DTM and low yield but the flavor is tomatey, fruity and sweet with a nice texture. Big beautiful orange and red, heart shaped slices.

Moosemac,

I'm amazed that I don't think I've heard of a single one of your varieties! It continues to amaze me how many incredible tomato varieties exist in the world. How can anyone ever experience them all? And everyone has their own opinion of what constitutes a great tomato, so the process of chossing is thatmuch more difficult.

I have seedlings under lights, currently. Those that have sprouted thus far include:

Azoycha

Amish Paste

Ananas Noire

Brandywine (not specified which)

Black Cherry

Cherokee Purple

Chocolate Cherry

Johannisbeer tomate orange

Nepal

Opalka

Paul Robeson

Pink Berkley Tie-dye

Sungold

I had a few sprout, but wilt due to damping off, though all are under identical conditions, with gentle fans blowing full time. I should get some hydrogen peroxide spray going.

I also have peppers, basil, spinach sprouted, with others I'm waiting on. Come on Spring!!!!

Martha

Martha, I agree the choices are endless. Moosemac's Thunder Mountain is interesting, have to look that one up.

The descriptions of Azoychka sound good to me, I've had seeds for two years but have not planted them yet. I bet it looks pretty among a dish of other colored dark tomatoes.

It's such a battle to fight off damping off...

The battle against damping off is to water from below, not too much, or some watering from the top at the container's edge. Keep water far from the plant stem.