[simond9383]

I am taking advantage of the half price seed offers currently around and thinking of outdoor tomatoes for the first time next year.

Can anyone recommend tried and tested varieties for ripening outdoors and flavour?  Ideally I'd like to grow some small cherry/plum types and if anyone can come up with a reliable variety, a continental beefsteak type.

I am in the South East and so hopefully the weather maybe on my side next year, if not this!

[WG.]

Gardener's Delight is a favourite bush variety for small tomatoes.  Can also be grown as a cordon

[Lesley Jay]

My favourite plum tomato variety for outdoors is Inca and for a beefsteak Pink Brandywine. I must recommend Ferline which is a blight resistant variety and gives an excellent harvest. There is also a blight resistant beefsteak variety Fantastico (I think) from Suttons.

[muntjac]

if you plant em out in july then any tomato wil bear fruit  

[Bernard]

When I used to grow them outdoors, I had a lot of success with a bush variety called 'Amateur'. I kept them under polythene tents (cheap cloche substitute) until they grew out of them and picke fruit ovwer a long period.

In the greenhouse I now grow nothing but G Delight. Never tried it outdoors.

[brucesgirl]

Totem is my favourite bush tomato, the fruits are gorgeous and it is really prolific - not done any good this year though.

[splodger]

gardeners delight for me   and alicante

[Ann]

I was trying Tornado this year and think that if the blight had not got them we would have had a good crop.

Have also had sucess with Shirley and Alicante but I have found Moneymaker a better cropping plant.

[David.]

Red Alert (bush) for the earliest tomatoes and despite being F1 plants grown from saved seeds appear identical.

Brasero (bush) non-F1 for 2nd early crop of salad tomatoes (I've been saving seeds for about 10 yrs and they're still going strong, but it seems to have dissapeared from the shops.

Tornado (bush) heavier cropping.

Gardeners Delight & Sungold (cordons) cherry tomatoes for kids and roasting to make pasta sauce.

[simond9383]

Thanks for the help everyone - a few things to go at!

[Jim T]

Gardener's Delight is a favourite bush variety for small tomatoes.  Can also be grown as a cordon

  My Gardener's Delight are giving lots of delicious cherry toms -- after I protected them from neighbouring potato blight with several puffs of  Bordeaux powder.
How do do the cordons WG :?:

[Lynne]

I love Gardener's Delight too. I have masses of fruit this year and I grow mine in chimney pots at home (not at the allotment).

[yummy]

I have Ailsa Craig and Sweet Million. They have been pretty slow due to the weather but perked up a couple of weeks ago when the sun appeared. At least they didn't all die or get blight.

First tomato almost ripe  

[David.]

I used to grow a variety called Sigmabush as my main outdoor bush variety about 15 years ago, then the seeds disappeared from the shops and catalogues.

Does anyone know if the seeds can still be obtained?

[Fat Hen]

I'm growing Red Berry they've done fantastic this year when crops of others has been poor to fair.

The trusses just keep going (on average about 2 foot long trusses)producing more and more juicy sweet little toms.

Also had ripening toms much earlier than anything else and are still going strong.