As YLL’s legendary horticultural expert, people often come to me with questions like ‘what is your favourite tomato?’ The usual reply is ‘it depends’ — a response that often elicits a quizzical look. But it does depend, while the questioner is usually thinking of flavour, to the seasoned gardener; taste isn’t everything. Of course, good flavour is key, there’s no point in growing a bland tomato, but there are other considerations. These include how easy a variety is to grow and whether it’ll produce a worthwhile amount of fruit. So, to finally put those questions to an end — this is my tomato ‘top ten.’
Before we get underway, I should point out all my tomatoes are grown under cover in greenhouses and polytunnels, so this is a top ten for covered tomatoes — if I was cultivating outside then my top ten would be different. The plants start early and are cropped over a long season, some are planted in pots — often in a homemade compost mix, and some are grown in soil. None are ever cultivated in growbags. Something else to bear in mind is that I have lots of plants! All of this influences the selection. So here is my current top ten, based on the tricky tomato growing conditions of 2023. Favourites shift over time as new varieties are trialled and past stalwarts perform poorly.
So, here’s the top ten, counting down from the bottom:
10: Modus, a small red cherry plum. It offers a good to moderate flavour but is mainly in the list because it’s a strong grower, has good disease resistance, crops heavily and ripens quickly.
9: Buffalosun, the only beefsteak variety included. It can be an absolute whopper and the flavour is good if it’s warm. It grows taller in comparison to many beefsteaks but like most of its’ beefy cousins, it doesn’t give many fruits.
8 Crokini, a small, red and round cherry. It has a good, sweetish flavour and is very prolific — providing 20 or more fruit to each truss.
7: Bottondoro, a slightly elongated orange cherry. Another strong grower, this tomato is far less likely to split compared to Sungold. Its only vice is a tendency to blossom end rot (black bottomed fruit).
6: Shirley, a standard sized red tomato. It offers good to moderate flavour but makes the chart due to its consistent reliability over many years.
5: Golden Crown, a largish yellow cherry that provides a very good flavour, but the plants can be unreliable. Some make for strong growers while others are weak and straggly.
4: Sakura, a good-sized red cherry. I now grow this in preference to Gardener’s Delight. It’s nearly as good in flavour but is a much more prolific fruiter and is far less prone to problems.
3: Sungold, an orange cherry. My top choice for flavour and would head the chart if it was easier to grow. Its most annoying vice is a tendency to split later in the season.
2: Sparta, a large standard red tomato. Good flavour, prolific cropper and very reliable and disease
resistant.
1: Mountain Magic, a smallish standard red fruit. While MM is a relatively new variety, ever since I first had the chance to grow the tomato it’s been my chart topper. The flavour, especially in a warm summer, is excellent and the plants are disease resistant. The only drawback is that you can’t get enough of it — the seed is quite hard to obtain, probably because it’s rapidly become popular.
Remember, this top ten is very much a personal choice. There’s no shortage of websites offering different selections. If you grow tomatoes outdoors, many could struggle (although Mountain Magic may be worth a try as it’s said to be blight resistant).
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