My Must-Have Tomato

Steve Aitken, editor

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Photo: Steve Aitken

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Everyone who grows tomatoes has one that they plant year after year. I haven't grown tons of tomatoes ('Early Girl', 'Brandywine', 'Yellow Pear', come to mind), but the one I will always grow is 'Sun Gold'.

My reasons are simple. It is easy to grow and produces tons of fruit. My wife loves the sweet taste, and I think she thinks it is my gardening skill that does the trick. This past year, however, I didn't eat many. My son, 14- to 16-months-old this summer, was inordinately fond of 'Sun Gold', we discovered. Add this to the fact that he had just learned to say "more" and that he looks cute when he says it, and you will understand why he got every cherry tomato he could stuff into his mouth. And that's a lot.

So this year I will grow 'Sun Gold' for Evan.

I would love to hear what everyone else's must-have tomato is.

Here are some I already know:

'Amish Paste' (David Cavagnaro, garden photographer extraordinaire)

'German Pink' (Diane Ott Whealy, founder of Seed Savers Exchange)

'Rose' (Danielle Sherry, Fine Gardening Associate Editor)

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Comments (13)

betty413 writes: We've grown many, many varieties of tomatoes in our Midwest garden and always come back to Better Boys. They've been the mainstay of our crop for years and years, we always try a couple new ones each year, but look forward to those Better Boys. We start our tomatoes from seed in early March under the grow lights, this year we're planting a Brandy Boy - such good taste, a Goldman's Italian-American and the Better Boys. Posted: 1:10 pm on February 3rd

joandud writes: Sweet Baby Girl is my all time favorite. It's a delightful cherry tomato that is sweeter than any I've tasted. For late season I choose Park's Whopper. It's healthy, productive and tasty. Posted: 1:40 am on January 27th

JohnLowe writes: My favorite from last year, which did very well in a container, is Green Zebra, excellent taste and unusual appearance. As far as cherry tomatoes, Super Sweet 100 provided a fantastic yield and great flavor. Posted: 9:59 pm on January 25th

paperart writes: I love "Big Rainbow" it's big & sweet and the color is beautiful! Posted: 9:16 pm on January 25th

KarenBudnick writes: Steve: Sun Gold is great if you like a mild tomato flavor. I grow tomatoes for exactly the opposite reason - I want a tangy, acidy (is that a word?) flavor. To me, summer tastes like a large slab of "Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifter" on a cheeseburger hot off the grill. Each of mine were over a pound last summer and blight-free. Posted: 1:55 pm on January 25th

ploppyc writes: I was given a Nyagous plant last year, and it was far and away the best tomato I have grown in my zone 4 challenged climate - though I'd grow it anywhere. It's a delicious, prolific, small dark purple tomato. I like Sun Sugar too, but this is quite a bit bigger - good for slicing or wedging. Posted: 12:04 pm on January 25th

wilderness1989 writes: SUN SUGAR is the sweetest I have found in the 50 years I've grown tomatoes. I'm getting older and can't get around like I once did when I'd grow 20+ tomato plants a year. So it's containers on the patio now and all I grow is SUN SUGAR it's a hybrid, earlier in my life I concentrated on Heirloom varieties. Posted: 10:39 am on January 25th

paulacc writes: Yellow Pear is awesome...a definite 'must have' in my garden. Mine gets to be a little over 6 1/2' tall each year! I also absolutely love Lemon Boy...meaty...relatively few seeds...prolific! Survives these hot Maryland summers perfectly! Posted: 8:51 am on January 25th

Ruth writes: So many tomatoes, so little space. Sun Gold is a mainstay at my place, too. It's generally the first to ripen and it continues to produce well into fall. Other favorites are Amish Paste, Linguisa, Jaune Flammée, Juliet, and Black Prince (just to name a few). Posted: 8:54 am on January 19th

v49dvs writes: I enjoy growing Cherry Tomatoes for my salads, you can just pop them in your mouth anytime you like too!

I also like Steak Tomatoes, so great on anything grilled!
or You can just slice them up and serve them with any summer dish.

During the Summer months I love to make homemade Hot Salsa!

My Mom makes a real good corn relish, which she lets one of
the local shops sell out of her shop. When people try my Mom's corn relish they just keep coming back for more.

Mom and Dad have a green thumb and they taught me how to garden at a very young age. Posted: 8:04 pm on January 18th

TheWriteGardener writes: Tom Wagner's 'Green zebra' and Fred Limbaugh's Pittsburgh 'Potato Top' are two of my favorite heirloom tomato varieties. I will also heartily agree with Steve about the sugary goodness of 'Sun Gold,' a cherry we grow yearly. Posted: 5:30 pm on January 18th

WesternGardener writes: Thanks for asking about my favorite topic--I love growing heirloom tomatoes. My garden wouldn't be complete without black tomatoes like Black Krim, Paul Robeson or Black Cherry. The sweet and tangy taste is complex and they look beautiful in salads. Posted: 5:20 pm on January 18th

ChrisMcLaughlin writes: Steve: I agree - Sun Gold is fantabulous! We've been growing it ever since we discovered it about 13 years ago.
Another absolutely delicious tomato is a Russian one called 'Caspian Pink'. SUPER flavor! Posted: 3:36 pm on January 18th

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