Thread by @nickykylegarden

#Gardeners are thinking about ordering #tomato varieties now - so I though it might be interesting and fun to do a tomato #thread. Some of you may know I started the #TotallyTerrificTomatoFestival in 2012 - more on the reasons later. Here's some of the 47 cultivars I grew for it>

2.This is my personal take on the best of some of the 100's of varieties I've grown over 40+ yrs of #tomato growing! If a tomato cultivar grows well here - I guarantee it will grow anywhere! Our climate is an average of 10C colder than the UK all summer and damp with poor light!>

3.I'll start with my #No1 bush variety Maskotka - which I proved a few years ago is the earliest variety in the world! Sown in late Feb - it ripens in the 1st week of June! Mouthwatering '#tomato sauce' taste, easy to grow in containers, compact, productive, disease-resistant🍅>

4.Another bush, Chiquito. Larger, needs support and a big container but too vigorous in ground! Medium, productive plum/cherry type, meaty/firm fleshed, dusky pinky/red. Sweet with good flavour raw. Cooks whole without collapsing. Fantastic taste cooked from frozen or dehydrated>

5.Tumbler, neat compact, crowded bush great for tubs, hanging baskets or anywhere! Another early, productive, great-flavoured cultivar. Slightly tough-skin but easy to grow, cooks, freezes and dehydrates well. As my #tomato stepladder #garden last year - a waterfall of tomatoes!>

6.Latah. A non-conformist, middle-sized bush tomato with many weird shapes and sizes! Almost as early as Maskotka and fantastic flavour, but doesn't crop as long! Thin, twiggy, airy foliage - so disease-resistant. Great in containers as all bushes are - this avoid slug damage!>

7.Incas. A favourite of the late great Geoff Hamilton. Easy and productive Italian plum type, which despite being terrific for cooking/sauce also has quite a good flavour raw. Makes a disease-resistant vigorous bush. Dehydrates brilliantly - when the flavour concentrates a lot.>

8.Greensleeves. Last bush var. Fun and fruit-flavoured! Impressive-looking, green/yellow striped, sausage-shaped fruit on vigorous, disease-resistant, medium bush. Cooks/dehydrates well - makes an unusual 'Tarte Tatin'! Hugely productive, crops for a long time and keeps for ages.