Tomato Mania

The warm-crop planting season is finally here and we can safely plant our crops and yes, our tomatoes.  I love this time of year because my wife and I get together with the kids and pick our favorite tomato varieties to grow, and of course some new ones we may not have tried before. One of my favorite things is slicing up a bunch of different tomatoes (different shapes, sizes, colors, etc.) and tasting with friends. The favorites are usually written down to remember to plant next year.  Over the years we’ve come up with a delicious list.  One question I often get is, “what’s a good tomato?”  I’ve got to answer their question with a question: “good for what?  Salads, sauces, salsa, sandwich slicer or maybe a good cherry or grape.  I have favorites for all occasions.

These are some of my favorites. Try some new ones this year – you may be pleasantly surprised.

Super sweet 100

What a great cherry! I like to call this one the ‘’babysitter’’ because it produces so many small red sweet cherries it will keep the kids busy for hours when you say, “go pick them”. This plant is very vigorous – don’t be confused by the size of the fruit, this is a huge plant and it will take up a lot of space. It’s not great in small pots, as it will outgrow them quickly, but that’s doesn’t make me love it any less.  I strongly recommend it, even if you don’t have kids to entertain.

Sun gold

This one is probably the sweetest cherry I’ve come across.  If you haven’t tried this one, it’s worth it. A little bit on the orange side so it adds a different color to salads. It’s on the low acidic end, too.  

Brandywine

Now this is what summer is about! This old Amish heirloom comes in pink, red and yellow – and they’re all great.  Who knows which is the original, but it doesn’t matter when you taste these. It’s not a heavy producer, so I make sure to grow more than enough. But man what a taste!!  Slice those babies up with some buffalo mozzarella and a little pepper, creamy Italian dressing, maybe some fresh basil (I don’t like balsamic…too much heart burn). Yumm!!! If you’ve grown this one and want to try something new try Burpee’s ‘Brandy Boy’.  It’s a cross between Brandywine and Big Boy. I got a nice yield with that great taste, plus it produces much earlier in the season.  

Big Beef

This hybrid produces nice large, round, blemish-free tomatoes.  But don’t confuse this with commercial varieties that are bred to look ripe before their time. This Big Boy is very disease-resistant. So if you have had problems with disease or cracking try this one, it won’t disappoint you.

San Marzano

This is the plum tomato that all others are judged by.  It’s larger than roma, and tastes better according to my Italian relatives and friends. This variety is open pollinated like roma so you can grow it with other tomatoes without cross pollination (which can result in different tomatoes than what you intended).

Juliet

A large grape or small plum, this is a nice sweet variety that I love in salads, although you may want to slice them in half for the kids because they are slightly larger than your typical grape tomato. Nonetheless they are a nice sweet tomato with a long shelf life.  

Prudence purple

This is another great heirloom I love to grow. These big purplish or dark red tomatoes are another great tasting tomato like Brandywine. A great one for any occasion.  I love mixing these in with a caprese dish. They are really big and meaty and they taste great together.

Ramapo

This one was a surprise. We tried Rampo for the first time last year and it was great.  It’s an old reintroduction of a Jersey favorite.  Medium to large fruit with a great yield, this tomato will please all your uses. In fact I remember tossing a bunch in when making a sauce and they were not to watery. They’ve become a staple in my August salads.

Whopper

This is one big, big, nice tomato. Wait ‘til you see it – size alone is reason enough to grow the ‘Whopper’. You’ll agree, it definitely deserves a spot in your veggie garden. 

Mortgage lifter

This is a big pink or maybe more red tomato that has a heavy yield of large low acid and low seed fruit. But the best part is the story of its origin. It was developed by radiator repairman, M.C.“Radiator Charlie” Byles. Without any experience in breeding, Byles made a successful cross of four of the largest tomatoes he could find - German Johnson, Beefsteak, an Italian variety, and an English variety. With the money he made selling the tomatoes he ended up paying off his mortgage, hence the name.

Lemon boy

If you want yellow, here it is. This medium-sized fruit is great tasting, as yellow as a lemon and has a heavy yield to boot. I love how they really brighten up a salad,

Jet star

This probably is a tomato you may have passed by or maybe you’ve grown it before, but a nice medium fruit sized fruit that is low in acid (you don’t have to be yellow to be low acid).  This plant is a perfect size for those upside down tomato planters, it won’t take down the house when you water it and it also makes a great vine ripe bunch like in the groceries store.

This is just a short list of our ‘Uncle Mike’ varieties that we grow in our growing range in Woburn. We have selected a range of hybrids, grapes, cherries, heirlooms, dwarf, and lots of others varieties.  We also buy a lot from other local quality growers so we have even more of a selection for you, and as we find new ones, well we’ve got to check them out as well right.  All our tomatoes are locally grown so there is less of a chance to get late blight which is a disease that has been a problem in the last few years.

Uncle Mike Mahoney

The Guy  Mike’s 41 and married with 3 kids - a boy 12 , a girl 7 and a boy 5.  The Gardener  Mike loves all gardening but says he’s known for the veggies.