An intro, and suggestions for 'normal' sized tomato varieties for 2021?

Hi All,

New member here I found this site when Googling and trying to decide what varieties to grow this year, and found lots of discussion about different tomato tastes and great tips for growing, so I signed up!

So in tomato terms, my single aim for this year is: Be able to go into the greenhouse each day for most of summer, pick a few normal sized tomatoes to ripen in the house, and most importantly, that they taste "great" (higher BRIX rating I guess, soft skins, plenty of the jelly stuff in them). This last bit is important to me; last year I went to a lot of enjoyable effort to grow various varieties, but the end result for the normal sized tomatoes was just, bland.

I'd describe myself as an "Amateur, amateur gardner" , last year I grew about 30 tomato plants in a 12x8 greenhouse, all in 3 Gallon fibre pots. Varieties from memory were Ferline F1, Marmande, Supersweet 100, Crystal F1, and a load of a bush variety outside that produced collectively about 0 tomatoes :( Not sure they were planted too late. I didn't keep a detailed log (I intend to this year) but overall there was nothing stand out. The Ferlines were my workhorses but they didn't really taste of anything.

Any tips on some "normal" varieties that taste really nice? As close as possible to what you get in a greengrocers from UK growers (I appreciate they're a lot more controlled etc.)

I'm thinking, a couple of Beefsteak varieties (Honeymoon and Steak Sandwich?)
Three "normal" varieties (?, ?, and ? ), and a couple of cherry varieties just for snacking and for the kids to enjoy (Sungold F1, Floridity, Jeunne Flamme?)

Another factor last year is the neighbour has a really tall Leylandii thing that blocks most of the sun in the greenhouse until about 1PM, I think he may be amenable to getting rid. I think this affected the harvest.

Nuggets I've gained from this site (so a huge thankyou!) Growlamps, don't wet the leaves, us Mychorizal fungi, asprin, molasses, ripen next to bananas, bulrush compost..)

Any other suggestions particularly for mid sized tomatos, appreciated! In the past yes I've used seeds from a shop bought ones I liked, to plant the following year.

I also had luck with 3 Cucumber plants (Cucino, each plant must've produced about 15 5" smooth cucumbers, definitely doing this again this year as the kids love cucumbers) but no luck with the Peppers, think it just didn't get enough light/heat.

Cheers all

 

@BillyBumbleBeard I suppose you've already come across Tomato Growing Thread 2021
Would recommend Sungold. I grow Ailsa Craig and Golden Sunrise as "normal tomatoes" and Black Russian (large nice flavour can be misshapen low yield) Orange Wellington (Nice flavour large good shaped fruit better yield than Black Russian) as beefsteak type.
I leave mine to ripen on the plant and don't overwater them. I know can be a tricky balancing act.
I would buy seed of known varieties; as seed from supermarket tomatoes may not come true; also those varieties have been optimised for commercial greenhouse conditions.

 

Tomato taste test 2020

 

Cheers all, will look into the Ailsa Craig and Golden Sunrise so cheers @NigelJ Better get them ordered as want to be starting soon after this cold snap has gone!

 

Hello @BillyBumbleBeard and welcome to GC forums
I grow sweet million, it's good in and out, but when it's out it doesn't get tomato blight. It's a large cherry tomato. With tomatoes it's best to let them ripen on the plant, that's when they taist the best.

 

Ailsa craig i found to produce loads of fruit with no taste a complete waste of time,