Editorial
Jo McCarroll seeks tomato advice from a few gardening greats
Ihave written a lot about tomatoes already in this issue, both in my sow and grow column (page 12), where I explain where and how to plant them, and in my regional column (page 84), where I give you some useful information when it comes to decoding the labels.
Since you have possibly heard enough from me about tomatoes this month, I thought I would call a few high-profile gardeners and talk about, well, tomatoes. Specifically, what is their favourite variety to grow, and why.
Jack Hobbs, Auckland Botanic Gardens manager: Jack’s favourite tomato is the meaty red ‘Country Taste’. “It’s an F1 hybrid,” Jack told me. “People can say what they like about heirloom tomatoes but they don’t perform like F1s and I have grown lots of both!” This indeterminate, or vine, tomato will easily reach 1.8m, so Jack suggests growing it up against a fence. Most years it receives no special treatment in his garden other than a regular liquid feed, although he does use copper spray to prevent fungal infections in especially hot summers. “And ‘Country Taste’ always produces lots of fleshy, large, delicious fruit.”
As a matter of interest, Jack also told me that Auckland Botanic Gardens and the Manukau Institute of Technology horticulture department are running a tomato trial this year, testing different hybrid and heirloom varieties and trialling the effects of different treatment regimes such as copper spray versus no spray. I’ve already volunteered as a taste test judge so I’ll write about the results in a subsequent issue.
Robert Guyton, Southland food forest gardener: I was surprised to learn that Robert – usually a passionate advocate for heirloom varieties, the more obscure the better – also picks a hybrid as his favourite: the cherry ‘Sweet 100’. “They are pure summer wonderfulness,” he told me. “Very sweet, easy to eat, no mess and they stay on the bush a long time.” Plus they ripen quickly, which is useful in Southland’s short summer, he says, and the ones in his tunnelhouse keep fruiting long after all his other tomatoes have bitten the dust. Robert also expresses a fondness for the glamorous ‘Ilse of Capri’, a ribbed beauty queen of a tom. “Simply because I like the tactile pleasure of picking up a fluted tomato.”
Gerard Martin, owner of Kings Seeds, Katikati: Gerard told me he liked tart tomatoes with lots of bite. ‘Black Cherry’ is a favourite, he says – “It’s prolific, with a great taste and a long season” – but he also rates the medium sized ‘Diplom’, an F1 hybrid that was, unusually, bred for maximum taste (hybrids are often bred for yield or disease resistance). Gerard also confessed to a fondness for big, meaty toms with heaps of flavour like ‘Black Krim’ (also one of my personal favourites) and ‘Black from Tula’: “They can be ugly but they taste so good.”
Ruud Kleinpaste, Christchurch bugman: With no hesitation Ruud picked the attractively striped heirloom ‘Tigerella’. “It’s consistent tasting. It’s not too big and not too small – the perfect size for lunch boxes. You can use it fresh in sandwiches and salads but you can also use it cooked in sauces. Plus it’s great looking.” Whatever tomatoes you are growing this year, I wish you good luck with them! And have a great October in your garden.