The Tomato Seeds for 2022 have been chosen! Ranked, With Notes.

Ranked from favorite repeats down to new. See notes for details.

All seeds grown in the high wind prairie, Midwest, in macro-climate zone 5(ish). Average dewpoint in summer is around 60. Soil is a loamy clay. Although my preference is organic, I have used commercial fertilizers from time to time. Growing days are approximately 135.

The Maters 2022

These are ranked from my favorite to new. Bolded are varieties I have grown before. Feel free to leave comments on any varieties you feel moved to do so. I figure if you are here, you love garden talk!

1. Rosella – A rich, very sweet cherry tomato. Plant is on the spindly side, a high producer typical of cherry tomatoes. Similar to the Black Cherry, but a touch smaller.
2. Pink Tiger – A Fred Hempel (I’m a fangirl) creation. Closer to a grape tomato in size, exceptionally sweet. Plants are spindly, long and true to their vine origins. The fruit is one of the longest lasting tomatoes one can grow. Pick them and let them sit for days, will still be delicious. It is also a beautiful fruit.
3. Agi Red – Another Fred Hempel tomato. This is a sweet large cherry tomato, more a 2 bite snacking size. The longest lasting of all tomatoes. I picked the last before frost in October, and ate the last two in mid November. They sat in the tomato bowl on my table for weeks. They are quite pretty and the flavor is very good!
4. Sungold – Because so sweet!
5. Hillbilly – the prettiest of all the tomatoes. Outside is a yellowish orange fading to red at the very bottom. Inside is a blush of red in the orange. It is a low acid mater, very sweet for a large tomato. Plants are NOT prolific, nor early. Finding true hillbilly seeds can be a challenge. Has to be sublime in flavor to grow it every single year. It is.
6. Royal Hillbilly – A large pink tomato. Earlier than Hillbilly, and more prolific. It is very sweet for a reddish pink tomato.
7. Curtis Cheek – WOW. The flavor is this tomato is the perfect balance of sweet and acid.
8. Sunrise Bumblebee – Fred Hempel, the man is magic with maters.
9. Aunt Ruby’s German Green – Gorgeous, with a small, soft yellow pink blush on the blossom end when it’s ripe. Plant average harvest.
10. True Colors – A tri-color green, orange and red. Easily makes top ten for sweet tomato flavor and holy cow is this mater a stunner. It’s a smaller oxheart in my garden. Mid season harvest.
11. Pink Brimmer – The flavor is a good balance of sweet and acid, nice concentration of flavor in a larger tomato. It wasn’t very prolific for me but the flavor makes it a must grow.
12. Black Cherry – Sweet, rich and a prolific producer. Slightly bigger fruit than Rosella.
13. Lucky Tiger – Many shades of green and orange, these larger grape snacking tomato is delicious. Like most of Fred Hempel’s tomatoes, it’s rich, sweet and long lasting after harvest. Plant is prolific.
14. Lucky Agi – Similar to the Lucky Tiger in flavor profile, the fruit are closer to a small roma size and have more red than the Lucky Tiger.
15. Dr. Wyches – A large yellow orange tomato, averaging a pound each. A mild sweet tomato, my favorite orange. plant are average production for me.
16. Carbon – Love this tomato. It’s early, one of the first larger tomatoes every year. It’s definitely has the rich “smoky” flavor of the darker tomatoes.
17. Amish Paste – a large roma
18. Barry’s Crazy Cherry. These are going in hanging baskets out front in place of flowers.
19. Mushroom Basket – only because it is very early and very large. Prone to sexy megablossom fruit
20. Orange Icicle – Spindly, prone to BER (blossom end rot) and spot. Why am I growing this?
21. Orange Accordion – This is a drier tomato. Taste average. Growing because I think they look cool and I am going to try to grow a really big one.
22. Creamsicle – No recollection of if I like this so growing again.
23. Red Pear – Just growing to try. Second try to see if I like it.
24. Caprese – No recollection how I feel about this. Trying again.
25. Green Giant – NEW
26. Green Doctors – NEW
27. Liz Birthday – NEW
28. Rosella Crimson – NEW
29. Rosella Purple Dwarf – NEW
30. Dwarf Stone – NEW
31. Bread and Salt – NEW
32. Orange Russian 117 – NEW
33. Oaxacan Jewel – NEW – Recc’d By Mark’s Garden Life
34. Dwarf Wherokowhai – NEW
35. Dwarf Suzy’s Beauty – NEW
36. Desdemonas Heart – NEW
37. Copper River – NEW
38. Burracker’s Favorite – NEW
39. Ananas Noire – NEW – Recc’d by Mark’s Garden Life
40. Goatbag – NEW – Imma get that 2 pound tomato!! I got so close last year.
41. Virginia Sweets – NEW – Recc’d by Mark’s Garden Life
42. Jasper – NEW – Recc’d by Sharon’s Home and Garden
43. Blush 2.0 – NEW – A Fred Hempel
44. Taiga – NEW – A Karen Oliver bred mater
45. Captain Lucky – NEW
46. Pink Cherrywine – NEW – Fred Hempel
47. Thornbergs – Terra Cotta – NEW free seed
48. Sart Roloise – NEW
49. Hughs – NEW – Recc’d by Sharon’s Home and Garden
50. Dr Carolyn – NEW
51. Amalfi Orange – NEW – Fred Hempel
52. Kenneth Pennolo – NEW – Fred Hempel
53. Rainbow Jazz Heart – NEW – Fred Hempel
54. Green Cherokee – NEW – maybe? I feel like I grew this before but unsure. EDIT: yeah, I did and I enjoyed
55. Paul Robeson – This is my third year growing this. I’ve never gotten ripe fruit off of this but I am determined as everyone raves about this type. Not getting it but this the last year I’m trying. Maybe it just hates the prairie. Or me. I’m cursed by Paul Robeson…ha!
    
    
    

Now the Best Part. The Photos.

Largest Bowl to Smallest. Bowl One is the Largest.

Bowl One = Pink Tiger, Maglia and Red Pear.

Bowl Two = Agi Red.

Bowl Three = Lucky Tiger (greenish), Sunrise Bumblebee, Sungold, Sun Sugar, Isis Candy (yuck) and Creamsicle.

Bowl Four = Barry’s Crazy Cherry, Green Tiger and mystery green cherry

Bowl Five = Rosella and Black Cherry

Blush Tiger is scattered in there as well. They are a streaky orange grape type.

More!

As of today, February 12th, that is the list of tomatoes I am growing. Do I have room for all of these? No. *shrug*

I’ll follow up with a list of tomatoes I won’t grow anymore and why. Please check back!

The End