This season was the besttomatoyear we ’ve had in a long time ! I had the biggest harvest I ’ve had in years , managing to freeze 15 quart of spaghetti sauce and 20 quart of tomato soup , and attend multitudinous saucy sliced tomato plant to family and friends . Although former blight struck the garden due to our showery time of year , it did n’t stop the plants from produce a bounty of fruits , despite their brownish leaf .
I grew seven tomato plant varieties this class . Most were heirloom selections with only one hybrid relieve oneself the gash . Here ’s the low - down on this time of year ’s favorites .
1. Cosmonaut Volkov
This is a perennial front-runner in my garden . I acquire at least three plants every year . The circular , uniform fruits are fist - sized and ripen to a endearing red all the way to the stem . This heirloom variety produce about two to three dozen fruit per plant in my garden , and they pop the question moderate sourness , which is a trait I love in a tomato . Although I use Cosmonaut Volkov primarily for soup making , it ’s also amazing just sliced and thinly salted .
2. Heart of Italy
I grew this tomato for the first time this yr . The vast ticker - mould fruit are pink and very meaty . The only thing I dislike about this tomato was its tendency to have hard , light-green shoulders . I found myself abridge the shoulder off before using the fruit in spaghetti sauce . It matte like a waste , but the flavor and texture of this tomato could not be dumbfound . Each works produced between eight and 10 fruits .
3. Chocolate Stripes
Another first - timer in my garden , this unique tomato is slenderly larger than a baseball and features argent brown streaking on the peel of the yield . The streaking does n’t go through to the figure , but the fruits certain were beautiful in the garden . The plant were a moderate producer with each plant providing a adept dozen or so love apple . The flavor was fairly mild without being weak .
4. Persimmon
My go - to orange tomato , the Persimmon ’s flesh is a bit on the dry side and not overly acid — two traits I really do it in a sandwich and slice tomato . There are minimal seed pockets and not a heap of “ slime ” surrounds the seeds themselves . Persimmon produces tomato plant that are slightly bigger than a fist and mature uniformly to a beautiful , brilliant orange .
5. Pineapple
This is my favorite beefsteak - type heirloom love apple . Each monumental yield weighs between 1 and 2 pounds . The skin is a soft yellow with pinkish streaking , and when cut open , the form is pink and jaundiced streaked . Stunning ! Each piece of this amazing love apple is as big as your bridge player . It ’s luscious with a very delicate nip that ’s staring for a BLT or with a slash of mozzarella and some check pepper .
6. Early Girl
Early Girl completes my garden by supply me with the first tomatoes of the season . Many of the heirloom kind I produce have a longsighted season and do n’t mature until late summertime . Early Girl , however , is my stand - by for early season production . The crimson fruits have the perfect counterweight of sour and sugariness and are both unvarying and prolific .
7. Green Zebra
This tomato notice a home in my garden every year only because I love how it looks slice with other tomatoes on a plate . The fruits remain immature , even when mature , and have a pernicious striping on the skin . The flavor has a little zing and the juicy green flesh is just beautiful when made into reinvigorated salsa or green gazpacho .
