[missmoneypenny]

After a year which many would say was bad for tomatoes, what are other members doing to try and ensure a more successful crop in 2013? I lost all my marmandes to blight in a few days, interestingly my San Marzanos which were at the other end of the plot all survived. They would have done better with more sun, but still produced lots of healthy fruit.
Any ideas on succedding in a wet summer/ avoiding disease. Any favourite varieties for the UK weather?
I'm thinking planting early eg late Feb, avoiding Marmande and maybe applying bordeaux mix next year.

[compostqueen]

I am thinking of planting fewer varieties in the hope I choose more wisely, eg ones that will withstand the rigours of our weather and are better able to come back from blight.  Outdoors I've done best with Red Pear and Gardeners Delight.  The Sub Arctic toms have been unaffected by both and have produced lots of fruit but all of it green, which is a bit of a flop but on the up-side I do like fried green tomatoes 

If you can get some of your toms under cover you can extend your range somewhat 
A new variety to me this year indoors has been Saint Pierre and I rate it. It's very upright for a start which helps, has fruited all up and down its length and the fruits have ripened well, so I shall be growing that one next year. The one I won't bother with ever again is Black Krim. It looks fab but is so prone to rotting even indoors that it rules it out for me in future

[Nikkithefoot]

I've grown Orkado F1 for the last 2 years in my greenhouse. Last year it survived my very erratic watering, and this year it has produced an excellent crop of good sized 'meaty' tomatoes despite the very cool weather with poor light levers. I'm definately growing again.

For cherry tome I personally don't think you can beat Ildi, loads of pearshaped yellow toms per truss.

Plum toms don't seem to do well for me, have tried Roma and San Marzarno, but Orkado outstrips in terms of quantity. Just need to find out how they do for passata.

[compostqueen]

Oh I love Ildi, they remind me of pear drops. Certainly look like em 

[JayG]

Red Alert (bush) - grown every year outdoors for the last five years and has never failed. It's early, prolific, and despite some increasingly drastic pruning due to blight they still have some healthy red tomatoes on, so they don't give up easily!

Greenhouse - first time with Sungold which haven't enjoyed the adverse conditions, and have been massively out-yielded by Sweet Million this year.

Inca plums have produced a good yield and stayed healthy but need to hurry up as at least 3/4 of the crop is still green! 

Hope this helps, but of course above all what we really need is more tomato-friendly weather next year. 

[LilacSandy]

I shall do exactly as I have always done, start some off early and then a few more later to extend the season.  No one knows what the next summer will bring so I see no reason to think it will be bad again next year.  My Roma toms have performed well, but then they always do and a couple of cherry have been good.  The rest have been rubbish but it will not put me off growing them again.

[GrannieAnnie]

My best ones were the polytunnel ones.  The 26 outdoor grown, most of them got some blight, but I didn't lose much fruit really as I kept picking off the blighted bits, but the Tigerella's and moneymakers in the polytunnel did a lot better than the ones outdoors, as did the gardener's delight and although I only had 2 floridity plants they did well too.

Oh and the roma in the tunnel did really well but the inca were quite small this year.

I will probably do the same again next year, but perhaps not many outside.

[sunshineband]

Like CQ, red pear and gadreners' delight have fared well outside.

Inside, Black Sea Man, Golden Sunrise (yellow) and Sungold (small orange) have been prolific, with Ferline and Amish Paste giving a decent crop too

Black Krim rotted, probably due to the rain (outside of course   ) but I managed to salvage enough for sauce, which tasted good.

[shokkyy]

I had Rio Grande, Roma and Principe Borghese outside this year but had absolutely nothing from them. They all went down with blight but even before that there was hardly any fruit on them, even though the plants themselves looked healthy. Seems to have been some kind of pollination problem or something. My outside Gartenperle didn't do any good either, and it's the first time they've ever let me down. The only good crops I've had were the Alicante and San Marzanos in my tunnel. Both had a big crop but didn't turn red. I've just had to pick them all and bring them indoors to ripen.

I've been toying with the idea of trying Red Pear next year. How big are the toms on Red Pear? How do they compare to Roma in terms of fruit size?

[fatcat1955]

Bordeaux mixture is banned next year, rightly so in my opinion.

[mumofstig]

this is what's available to use instead, if you do decide to spray

http://www.bayergarden.co.uk/en/data/Products/f/Fruit-and-Vegetable-Disease-Control.aspx

[GYO Girl]

Last year was my first ever growing year and, not really knowing what I was doing, I sowed Gardeners' Delight because I had read on here that they were reliable.  Despite my lack of knowledge and tlc, I have to say they were brilliant!  I got loads and loads of tasty toms and we had to have tomato soup on a regular basis to use them up.  I think they thrived on neglect! I also put some spare plants outside which also did really well.  We went camping in the south of France at the beginning of August, so I took all the ripe and green ones off to take with us, and the green ones gradually ripened over the two weeks holiday, keeping us in a constant supply of toms over our holiday, and my supply just ran out as we were due to come home!

This year I sowed Gardeners' Delight and Moneymaker.  I sowed them in February and then put them in the greenhouse, and the cold spring sent all the Moneymakers blue, whereas the GD survived the cold weather. 

OK, so I didn't get the wonderful crop of last year, but next year I'm just sticking to Gardeners' Delight.  At least I know they are a bit hardier temperature-wise. 

[DD.]

I shall do exactly as I have always done.

Me too, there's no second guessing the weather.

[mobilekat]

Having been blighted for the last 3 years, (share a valley with potato growers- who were nearly wiped out this year) I was thinking of trying the 'Blight resistant' varieties that I have seen.
I also dont have very much Greenhouse space so they have got to grow outdoors.
Has anyone ever tried Lizzano, as it sounds good (if you believe the vendors info!)

I was thinking of trying a couple of different ones and seeing who did survive and tasted best!

Having read the label for the Bayer spray, I think I will avoid it- as it sounds like quite vicious stuff, and I am not sure I want to wear 2 layers of clothing, gloves and breathing apparatus to spray in my garden!

[Willow_Warren]

I'm just going to grow more variety!  12 sungold plants gave me a lot of little tomatoes!! 

Hopefully get a greenhouse (but in reality it's unlikely!)

Otherwise just plough on as I did this year and hope for some sunny weather (seems a long way off though!)

Hannah