Tomatoes

[Kazal]

Grew 3 types of tomato outdoors in pots last year -gardeners delight, ailsa craig and alicante. Had very good crops from all 3 but the skins were very tough and the insides were very soft flesh and no taste. What variety does anyone recommend for growing outdoors or how do I prevent these problems?

[madmaggot]

Not quite a straight answer but you might find it worth buying one of those small polythene greenhouses; Aldi get them in the spring at about 20.00.
I really find that it's only worth growing the really small salad toms because they're so cheap in the shops during the season. I also like to grow plum tomatoes for cooking as I make loads of soups and one-pot dishes; they taste better than tinned.

[Whoever]

The quality of tomatoes often depends on the weather, especially if they're grown outdoors. Possibly yours, because they were grown in pots rather than direct in the soil suffered intermittent water problems (too much or too little) which has toughened the skins as they try to continually adapt to the conditions in which they're growing. . I'm surprised you found your Gardeners Delight tasteless - they are generally reckoned to be one of the varieties with the best flavour and I never have a problem with mine.

Cherry tomatoes often have more flavour than the larger varieties. You could try growing Red tumbler or Yellow Tumbler which are low bushy varieties rather than tall ones, which produce cherry size tomatoes. They grow no more than 12 inches high so don't have to be tied up to a stake, and they don't have to be sideshooted either as the sideshoots grow flowers too and produce more tomatoes. These are both quite prolific varieties.

If you want to grow upright tomatoes, try Sungold which is a poular yellow cherry tomato or Idil which is a grape shaped yellow tomato which has hundreds of tomatoes on each truss.

if blight is a problem in your area, grow Ferline. It's an F1 variety which is blight resitant. The fruits are on the bigger size of medium, and it's a good cropper.

[hammerman]

I grew "Balconi red" last year from Thompson and Morgan and they were devine....loads of sweet cherry tomatoes grown on plants no bigger than 12". Growing the same this year alongside Balconi yellow. These grew happily outside with a weekly feed, loads of water when needed and a daily spray with the hose in the evenings.

I'm not bothering with "maincrop" toms any more....the flavours of cherry toms are a million times better. Also going to try Black cherry" this year...a purple skinned variety.

[juliet704]

For flavour you can't beat Golden Cherry. Sweet Million is also super-sweet, but the fruits are small. I was also very pleased last year with a variety called Diplom - the fruits gradually ripen off the plant if you pick them green and bring them indoors. Last year I also grew Fantasio outdoors. It is blight-resistant and the fruits were enormous, if maddeningly slow to ripen. I also grew Ferline, which is also blight-resistant. The flavour was good.