Growing Tomatoes: A roundup

I need to learn not to put up pictures of sunny days, in October, its faintly depressing

Now who wouldn't have spotted that this had a double head?  Me, not until I
looked back at the picture and there it was clear as mud.  It was swiftly rectified
but the plant was left forever lopsided.

I had grand plans for my tomatoes, I was going to keep track of how many each variety produced, size, shape, regularity, that kind of thing.  It all got away from me Im afraid and I truly haven't a clue.  Im pretty sure I had a steady constant flow from plants to sandwiches, but as they went straight into lunch rather than accumulating a pile I will never be sure.  I bought all of them from Gardener's Kitchen, except my beef tomato.
It all started so well; I potted them on into bigger pots, snipped out side shoots, checked on them regularly and generally was attentive.  Then when I photographed them at the beginning of the summer on a beautiful day I discovered the little rotters had been growing double heads right before my eyes.  And the best of it is, I only noticed when I looked back at the photos, why I can't spot them in the flesh I don't know.  That's not to say I am that useless that I let all of them grow double heads, but a couple tucked in the back were sneaky.

Tumbler, looking faintly drunk and in dire need of a little support in life

They started flowering and making little tomatoes; so good so far.  Then life got in the way and that blasted roof caused problems again.  As previously mentioned, scaffolding right through my potted vegetable patch.  The tomatoes were holed up cramped in a dark corner of the patio (its large, we have quite the patio) for almost a month.  I couldn't really get at them and neither could the sun, by the time they were back in position the best of the summer was gone and the plants were doing their own things.

So instead of doing a huge in depth analysis I am just going to share the few notes I took down during the summer.

• My beef tomato 'Big Boy' was a complete and utter waste of compost.  It grew, it flowered, but it didn't produce even one measley tomato, not one.  Possibly I should have cut the top out of it at some point, but even still: rubbish.
• Tumbler F1 was the first plant to have red tomatoes on it.  Not a great one for height, looked like a small man who had been at a party far too long and was gently sagging into its pot.  I finally got round to staking it, just as a man came to inspect the roof, great.  Fruits were sizeable and oval shaped, would definitely grow again.
• Shirley had huge tomatoes.  No idea how they tasted.  Kept producing quite late into the season as I noted it had 'six big ones' still on it when I took stock at the beginning of October.
• Sweet Millions were little but numerous I believe and extremely tasty.  A definite grow for next year.
• Supersweet 100 had thicker fleshier skins than some of the others such as Sweet Millions.  Slightly less tasty, fairly tough little skins.  Probably a good candidate for popping under tooth and squirting all down your top, little whatsits.
• Moneymaker was a huge plant.  Fruits smelled amazing but had quite pithy centres, slightly floury and fluffy texture and were quite tasteless.  The mother informed me (after the purchase which is always helpful) that this variety is known for quantity rather than quality.  Probably would rather give the pot space to a better tasting one, but good for bulking out the stocks.
• As for Alicante and Gardener's Delight?  Well I didn't write anything down but I do remember when I was made to pick the green ones and chuck the plants last weekend that Alicante were big and Im pretty sure I said 'Gardener's Delight are indeed delightful' at some point over the summer.

What a big and juicy looking green tomato, mm mmmmm

So in conclusion, I don't think it was too bad considering.  In fact looking back through all the photos I took I had some real beauties.  Many I would grow again (not big boy) and while I won't get any more this year there is a small colander of green ones currently sitting in my kitchen waiting for chutney time.

Shirley or Alicante, but I do like the non-spherical shape, they somehow look more rugged and home grown