2016 Tomato Review.

It is always with a bit of a heavy heart that I strip out the tomato plants at the end of summer, a real indicator that autumn is here. Well, in a good year: I have been know to have lost the lot by late August if the wretched blight is bad enough. It seems such a shame as we may not see a frost before December so, in theory, they could keep on giving right through the autumn. In 2011 we were lucky enough to still be picking outdoor peppers two weeks before Christmas.

October the third was the day this year; all the remaining fruit was showing the brown wrinkled signs of blight and the leaves were all long gone. There was no point in putting it off. This patch will be growing leeks next and therefore it won't be in cultivation until June 2017. In place of the tomatoes I have sown phacelia, a green manure beloved by the bees. If we have a mild winter it will be flowering early in the spring and if it is harsh the foliage will collapse onto the soil, protecting both it and the fauna that will seek shelter underneath.

But back to the tomatoes. This year I planted the following (number of plants):

• Roma (6) for passata
• San Marzano (6) for passata
• Prince Borghese (6) for sun-drying
• Gardener's Delight (1) for lunch
• St Pierre (2) for stuffing and cooking whole
• Marmande (2) for stuffing and cooking whole, and slicing in salads 
• Sungold (2) for lunch
• Currant Red - a new variety (2) for lunch
• Black Pear - a new variety (2) all purpose
• Cuore di Bue - a new variety (2) slicing and cooking

The first ripe fruit appeared on the Sungold, Gardener's Delight and Prince Borghese as usual; we ate the latter fresh to start with until I began batch sun-drying, using the Renault Captur, naturally. The yield 350g of dried tomatoes, and probably the equivalent of another 150g eaten fresh. As ever a healthy, reliable and productive cropper. I cannot imagine not growing this: just taking the lid off the jar of sun-dried tomatoes and breathing deeply the intensely tomatoey air can drive away the winter blues! 

The Gardener's Delight have been slow to produce in quantity this year, typical as I also lost a plant very early on to the voles who clearly fancied a bit of tomato root.  The Sungold performed as well as last year (see here) although I have to say the flavour has not been quite as stunning as I remember.

Both the St Pierre and Marmande have suffered with poor health, not unusually: blight, sun scorch and green shoulders. It has often been difficult to find nice enough fruit for stuffing, although we've had plenty of spice-roasted St Pierre on curry night!

I had hoped that the Cuore di Bue would add to the beef heart fest, but it has been very disappointing, with fruit rarely getting to anything like the size suggested and again, being very susceptible to rotting.  But when we have managed to get some solid fruit the flavours have been good, and I will persevere next year.

The other two new varieties, Red Currant and Black Pear, have been challenging. The Red Currant has been a sickly plant; with all the leaves dropping off one plant in July, I was down to a single plant for the bulk of the season. Fruit only came in any quantity in late September and in general I would call them little explosions of not a lot. Yes, they look delightful scattered through a salad, but I'm not sure they are worth the space. Having said that, next year I'm going to plant them in hanging baskets; my last such experiment was not a success, but you have to keep trying!

The Black Pear produced amazingly flavoured fruit, dark rich brown rather than black, but was quite slow into production and again the fruit tended to rot. (It is starting to look as though my growing is at fault rather than the plants themselves this year!) I look forward to these again next year and I will watch them like a hawk, and possibly pick earlier and let them finish ripening off the vine.

The Roma and San Marzano was as good as ever, the Roma bigger and the SM more flavoursome - together I reckon they make an ideal blend for passata. I have one jar of the 2015 vintage left and hopefully have made enough this year to see us through until July 2017. I make a combination of straight sieved tomatoes that goes into three quarter litre parfait jars plus roast tomato passata in little jars, just perfect for chucking on a some fresh pizza dough - essential eating during the Six Nations Rugby.

And finally for the rating

• San Marzano 9/10
• Roma 9/10
• Prince Borghese 10/10
• Gardener's Delight 8/10
• St Pierre 7/10
• Marmande 6/10
• Sungold 8/10
• Currant Red 3/10
• Black Pear 6/10
• Cuore di Bue 4/10