54 Luscious Tomatoes for 2024: Not an easy choice

I honestly didn’t expect this to happen. After growing 21 varieties in 2023, my plan was for fewer varieties for 2024, mostly the same, but with two or three changes. The flavors of everything I had grown were great, but it turned out that the majority of my selection were late season varieties and we didn’t have any tomatoes until August.

The tomatoes from last year were mostly already favorite varieties that I had grown for a few years. Among these were Ardwyna, Black Sea Man, Chocolate Sprinkles, Costoluto Florentino, Dark Galaxy, Jolly Elf, Mary’s Austrian, Mashenka, Matina, and Reisentraube.

I’ve planted several of each variety to sell from my farmstand, The Garden of Eatin’s and through Cow-Op, a local farmer’s collective, after giving away my land back tithe. Normally I keep at least 2 plants of each variety, and several of my favorites. Last year that amounted to 70 plants from my selection of 22. I’ll take some time to look into each of these varieties and make a choice later. Not sure if I am up for 150+ tomato plants in addition to all the other things being grown. These include: 3 varieties of spinach, 8 varieties of peppers, 3 of eggplant, 10 or so squash, 5 varieties of potatoes, 5 of beans, peas, 20+ herbs, asparagus, rhubarb, strawberries, raspberries, black currants, huckleberries, and more.

Any and all of these vegetables and herbs will be used for preparing food for Gayle’s Greek Gourmet, my new catering venture.

The tomato that excited me the most last year was not one that I had ordered. It was also not the bonus tomato that the vendor thought she had sent. It was meant to be Rebel Starfighter VT-16, a Green When Ripe tomato. Instead, it turned out to be a beautiful purple tomato with a red star and point.

A bit of research turned up the fact that it appears to be an accidental cross and a completely new tomato. I decided to name it for Eleanor Collins, a Black Jazz singer from Vancouver. Eleanor Collins was “the first woman, the first person of colour, and the first jazz singer to headline a show on national TV.” (quote: Wikipedia)

This tomato has the most delicate and fragrant of flesh. Cutting into one releases a floral aroma reminiscent of rose petals. It has a tough, easily peeled skin that allows the tomato to last very well. A meaty but juicy tomato with relatively few seeds and a complex taste showing stone fruit notes (peach/nectarine/plum) and a nicely balanced sweet/acid ratio. Exceptional

Through Etsy, I discovered Mar Azul, an equally beautiful and delicious tomato with a virtually identical appearance (except that Dark Galaxy has speckled skin).

A truly beautiful tomato, this is a nicely balanced ow-acid slicer with a pleasing taste. Fruity and smooth without being overly sweet. They are firm but with a soft texture. Has overtones of sage, basil, and nuts,

Side by side, they are hard to tell apart. They are similar when they are sliced and tasted, but with nuanced differences. They have similar growing habits except that Mar Azul fruits earlier and was just finishing its season when Dark Galaxy was beginning to fruit. Both produce tomatoes that are also fairly durable and last for quite a while once picked.

When it finally became warm, they grew with a vengeance. It was still mid-September though before there was a ripe full-sized tomato, and only a few cherries as well.

They were red, black, gold, or striped, depending on the variety. Nevertheless, we picked nearly 4 bushels, with 200lbs of 3oz weighed picked tomatoes. Possibly we missed about 2-3lbs, but not likely more than that..It’s sort of a lot, but we had over 40 full sized plants going, plus 20 miniatures.

Dark Galaxy is surprisingly tasty. When you cut into it, the salmon orange centre contrasts beautifully with the deep eggplant purple exterior.  It isn’t very prolific, so it’s not really a market garden candidate for me, except as a special item in a large basket perhaps.

I liked all but one of the tomatoes from 2022. Golden Nugget however, was a bomb,.Despite that it was incredibly prolific for a cherry tomato, Golden Nugget is totally forgettable. There were at least 10lbs on each of two plants, but they were flavourless and so low to the ground that picking them was like trying to milk a corgi. I won’t grow them again.

Waiting for the final bushel to ripen so they can be canned and made into ketchup, tomato sauce, dried tomatoes, and salsa. There are already several litres of roasted tomato sauce in the freezer, and a jar of dried cherry tomatoes.

Frost finally arrived and the plants are fully done. Will be taking them down today to get ready for the winter…and next season!

(Note) Tomatoes continued to ripen through December, and the last were finally cooked in mid-January.