2017 Annual Tomato Review

                                                2017 Annual Tomato Review

Every year I plant a lot of tomatoes that I start from seed. and always get a lot of tomatoes as a result. Even when the Seattle area gets rainy summers and people are complaining about the poor season for tomatoes, I get tomatoes. I'm not giving myself credit here, I'm not an especially good gardener. It's just that I select varieties that don't need a long season to turn red, and the backyard garden seems to be transplanted from another part of the country. It rains next to the house, but it's sunny in the garden, it's weird, like a patch of Arizona stuck there or something.

Anyway, I experiment and usually try a couple of new varieties every year, but usually keep growing what I know will grow well.
So, from left, these are the varieties grown this year: Sun Chocola(cherry tomato), Nova(Roma tomato), Momotaro( the most popular variety grown in Japan), Halladay Mortgage Lifter( an heirloom variety that I save the seeds from), and Genuwine( which is a hybrid of Costaluso Genovese and Brandywine). The new varieities grown this year were Sun Chocola and Nova.

Sun Chocola: I haven't finished harvesting them because there are so damn many of them. They are a relative of Sun Gold and Sun Sugar( which I have grown before with success), but Sun Chocola is bigger than both of those , and has an unusual taste, kind of a smoky sweet thing going on, delicious and addictive. I will grow these again. it's very easy to eat too many of them.

Nova: It's hard to grow the San Marzano tomatoes in the Seattle area, (this place ain't exactly Italy), and the flavor of most of the Roma/Plum tomatoes that do grow successfully around here aren't all that great. Nova was probably the best Roma tomato I've grown. Fairly prolific, good flavor. I'll grow them again.

Momotaro: Last year was the first year I grew them, and they were a phenomenal producer. They also taste great. I can see why they're so popular in Japan. They're not monster sized, averaging about a half pound each. And this year, they were also the most prolific producer. I think I declared them the 2016 Best of the Sacharoff Tomato award winner( The Sachies?), and they were not at all a disappointment this year either.

Halladay Mortgage Lifter: For many years, I've been growing this big, ugly, juicy heirloom variety, and saving the seed. For years, they have been prolific. But last year's crop was a disappointment. Smaller tomatoes for the most part, and not as many.  I still grew them again this year, figuring last years's smaller crop was a fluke. Alas, this year's halladay crop was also smaller, with mostly smaller tomatoes. I may be ready to not grow them again.

Genuine: One cannot easily grow Costaluso Genovese tomatoes in the Seattle area, because they require too many days to mature. One cannot easily grow Brandywine tomatoes in the Seattle area for the same reason. But the Genuwine hybrid matures in about twenty less days than either variety, and produces monster sized, great tasting tomatoes. Almost all of them over a pound, and some in the twenty ounce range. Last year was the first year I grew them, and I'll grow them again.

So, who gets the awards? First, Rookie of the Year. It's between Sun Chocola and Nova, and they were both good. But Sun Chocola was such a delightful surprise, producing so many delicious, just pop them in your mouth tomatoes. Sorry Nova, I'll grow you again, and you had a good season, but you ain't the rookie of the year. It's Sun Chocola.

And the best of the best, for 2017?

Tough call. Genuwine is impressive again for the second year in a row. Sun Chocola was such a lovely surprise, a variety more people should be growing. But I'm giving it to Momotaro for the second year in a row. Vastly underrated tomato.