[rhysdad]

did you use saved seeds or buy new seeds,

New seeds, from T&M (cue howls of derision!)..... 

[rhysdad]

Are the tomatoes getting plenty of sun or are they hidden by the leaves most of the time?
I think the more sun the fruit gets the sweeter it is.

This truss is the lowest down on the plant and was obsured a bit by foliage until a couple of days ago, we'll see if being in the sun makes any difference now!!!

[shokkyy]

Actually, I grew Sungold this year for the first time and I wasn't that impressed with the taste either. Nowhere near as sweet as Red Alert.

[viettaclark]

I used to use growbags and results were ok but not amazing. This year I made up a mix of top soil, compost, manure and fbb and planted in deep big pots. I'm using my comfrey tea to feed.
It will be interesting to see how this affects the flavour.
My Sungold haven't ripened yet and they were T&M too. I tasted some of a friend's last year and they were like eating tomato flavoured honey. Fantastic!
We'll have to wait and see......
My yellow Tumbling Toms ARE fantastic but I've only had 2 ripen so far!!!

[mumofstig]

well, that's 2 more than I've had 

[Dolce vita]

Here in Italy I grow my toms outside and plant basil between the plants and always have a lovely flavour from my huge " Bel Monte " ( a local variety of beefsteak type tomatoes). It may also be something to do with the endless sunshine they get too!

[peapod]

I've been given a tom plant from a lotty friend. They are apparently Italian and beefsteak, but he can't remember the variety, only that the seeds cost a packet (groan)

It'd be interesting to see a pic of your toms Dolce Vita? The flowers on mine are huge!

[greenun]

I know of a producer who cuts his tomatoes back after flowering and makes 'em start again, He said the roots are really big and the  fruit is better. I've never been game to try it. Although tomatoes have to be threatened with extinction by holding back water occasionally, this makes them fruit better. Too much water makes them tasteless.

[rivkele]

Too much water makes them tasteless.

Yeah, maybe that's your problem. i've heard from several people that too much water makes them tasteless. mine were a bit dissapointing last year, so this year i'm trying not to water them soooooo much. It's a balancing act though, because if you let them dry out at all they get blossom-end rot. Maybe ask your neighbour how much he waters??

[JayG]

Toms need consistent but not excessive watering; letting them alternately dry out and then soaking them will cause split fruits as well as a good chance of blossom end rot.

[Kristen]

My Toms have not been as sweet this year as usual. We've had loads of sun here in East Anglia (drought in fact).  I've been watering them as I normally do, same sort of seed, same sort of compost (although I think I may have rather more manure than home-made compost in the mix this year, but its very well rotted).

Seed was sown same time as previous years, never saw a night temperature less than 10C, but was a good 2 weeks later to first-truss-flower, so I conclude less light during the prolonged Winter and probably fewer warm days.

But I think that should only have made them late, rather than less-sweet.

Definitely going to take a bit more care over the greenhouse-border soi/compost mix next year

P.S. one other difference, when I came to plant out I had 6-of-each (of three) varieties, and I reckon previously I have only grown 5-of-each, so they are probably a bit clsoer together than normal. But a single row along the central path, so room to spread sideways, and only a row of Sweet peppers and Aubergines on the other side - so nothing "tall".

I think the feed makes instructions favour selling more fertilizer! so I don't seed mine as much as the packet says. The border soil had a good dousing of wood ash at the start of the season; haven't tried that before.