Reposting because I hadn't selected a flair. This year was my first vegetable garden. I learned a lot. I'm picking my tomato varieties for the next season and I wanted to share my picks. I was inspired by my absolute favorite of all time the Berkley tie dye pink (first photo). So I'm growing those again. My line up is as follows
1. Berkley tie dye pink
2. Cherokee purple
3. Black krim
4. Ananas noire
5. Berkley tie dye green
6. Granny Cantrell German red
Would love to hear your thoughts about my line up
by Daphnelouise2
27 Comments
Sounds delicious. I’m growing a few varieties from the dwarf tomato project, o be decided. I will grow Aunt Ruby’s Green and Celebrity hybrid.
These are all bangers and gorgeous tomatoes!
Black Krim taste awesome. They can crack a lot. Still terrific.
We love the black krim and pineapple tomatoes. Cherokee purple are pretty great, too!
ananas noir were a fave for me this year (my first time trying them)! my favorite thing that i did with them was make the wishbone kitchen tomato galette (highly recommend!). i also grew some black krim, which were awesome. my favorite of all was probably my prairie fire tomatoes! also grew some indigo cherry, and they were good, but i definitely preferred the prairie fires!
If you like the dark stuff (blacks/purples) but had a lot of cracking with your C. Purps?
I can recommend ‘Purple Boy” without reservation
If you’re not opposed to hybrids on principle, you might consider trying it sometime — it’s been very good to me the last three or four years, and the seeds aren’t horribly expensive (not many dark hybrid slicers to choose from, and they tend to be pricey).
For an open-pollinated, try Indian Stripe sometime — at least for me, it’s nearly identical to C. Purp but slightly better in every way (less cracking and catfacing, more productive, earlier, etc.)
B. Tie-dye was a surprise for me….grew it for the first time in 2024 & didn’t expect much — but it was impressive enough that I saved some seeds from them (which I rarely will do nowadays). Good production & set fruit pretty well in high temps, and were sturdy plants overall.
Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye is one of my favorites!! Haven’t tried the green version. I’d add Lucid Gem, Summer of Love, & Alice’s Dream to your lineup. Get them from Wild Boar Farms instead of Baker Creek though. Support the actual breeder of the varieties whenever you can. On the plus side, his company tosses in some free tomato seeds too!
Alice’s Dream has been my favorite variety this season. You can get it from Garden Hoard (they take 5ever to ship though) or some other vendors.
I love your picks. I have loved the black Krim, hillbilly and polish giant. But I love any of heritage varieties.
I loved black krim
Berkeley tye die is the best tomato I’ve ever had. Good picks!
Love Cherokee Purple. They’re finicky, but worth it
I grew Cherokee Purple and Black Krim last season too, and they really are on another level with the flavor. Black Krim especially had this deep, almost savory taste that made every BLT amazing. I haven’t tried Ananas Noire yet, but I keep hearing about how gorgeous the slices look, definitely adding it to my list next year. Your lineup looks super solid! Good luck!
The Hungarian Heart tomatoes from Baker Creek have been my absolute favorites to grow this year.
My mom did some cool ones called Queen of the night a few years back
Are those all heirloom tomatoes? They look delicious. I live heirloom tomatoes.
Black Krim is the GOAT as far as I’m concerned.
May I show off this year’s Striped Germans for your consideration?
https://preview.redd.it/xz3kfh33hfqf1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=15a180434e9c0ac752443c93769bcfc6ccd02689
This one is representative. Slow to ripen but they are crack free and gorgeous.
BLACK KRIM. Hands down seriously I think the best tomatoes I’ve ever had, we grow them every year now.
About your lineup, I’m a big fan of Black Krim. It’s usually my best producer among the indeterminate heirloom dark slicers. NE Texas. I have hard time growing Cherokee Purple, even though I love the flavor. (My garden has lots of fungal disease pressure. CP plants have proven too difficult for me to keep healthy.)
Black Krim is my absolute favorite tomato!
True Black Brandywine and Brown Sugar are both tasty. The Brown Sugar is also highly productive if you need lots for processing.
Have grown a couple of those, but find the off color (non red) more sensitive.
One that was raved about this season were Kellog’s Breakfast.
Early producers, fat, sweet and a lovely texture. Nice alternative to Beefsteak types for a slicer.
Berkeley tie dye we grew here too and the flavour was extremely good! The plant did well despite being in zone 4a lol
Our black krims this year were so good that every other tomato (including the cherokee purple and the berkeley tie dyes) were like store bought December tomatoes. Just incredible.
BERKLEY TIE-DYE FOREVER. I’ve been growing these for 10yrs. The flavour and productivity are unparalleled. They work so well in my garden. I encourage you to try Medovoya yellow cherry tomatoes. They are so delicious and productive.
Add Atomic Shrimp
Ditch half of those and go for Korean long monumental flavor and awesome for sauce too