I’m growing 24 tomato varieties this year, and I wanted to give everyone a quick tour of all of the tomato varieties which are in the garden right now! All of these tomatoes are indeterminate, and all but 2 are heirloom varieties. I’ll point out the non-heirlooms when we get there! Here’s a sneak peek at the tomato varieties I’m growing for the 2024 growing season. Fasten your seatbelt and keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle.
New Tomato Varieties for the 2024 Season
Amethyst Jewel
This tomato is a stunner! Medium sized, slightly flattened, with hues of pink and purple. Red insides. So far Amethyst jewel has been a very strong, healthy grower. I definitely cannot wait to report back on the flavor of this one!
Great White Blues
I think this is the tomato variety for the 2024 Season I am the most excited about. This tomato is a relatively recent cross between the giant Great White beefsteak tomato and a specialty blue tomato, resulting and a large tomato with blue shoulders, dripping down into a white with whitish-yellow insides. Absolutely a stunner.
Rosso Sicilian
This heavily ribbed tomato is bright red and large for a sauce tomato. Beloved Italian heirloom, this was brought to the United States in 1987. It has been extremely hearty so far and I look forward to large harvests of big fruit.
Queen of the Night
This black tomato hails from the Rhine valley in Germany. A small tomato, the size of an Indigo Apple, Queen of the Night is mostly dark with crimson streaks and raspberry insides. Purportedly great on salads.
Blue Keyes
Blue Keyes is a pear-shaped, violet colored cherry tomato, which ripens into an deep eggplant color with red flesh. Thick skinned, this cherry resists bursting or fermenting in heat.
Some Repeat Performers
Blue Beauty
This gorgeous tomato is one of my favorites – a true beauty! With even blue throughout its skin, the flesh is a pinkish – red on the inside. While this is a beefsteak style tomato, it is moderately sized. Crack and sun scald resistant.
Black Beauty
One of the darkest tomatoes in the world, the Black Beauty has consistent color throughout its skin. Moderately sized and a heavy producer. Sweeter than other dark tomatoes and resistant to cracking.
Black Brandywine
One of the first black tomatoes to combine the superior flavor of the Brandywine with the deep rich and smoky flavors of the black tomato. An excellent garden tomato, however like its namesake, the skin is thinner than Black Beauty and can crack.
Ananas Noir
This is being called the new classic. Ananas Noir is a super sweet and citrusy bright green tomato with red streaks. It produces huge beefsteak style fruits and my plants have been heavy and consistent performers. Definitely one of my new favorites which topped the list last year.
Lucid Gem
The lucid gem is a variety I was introduced to for the first time last year. It is similar to the Blue Beauty, but instead of a red interior, has a yellow interior which ripens into orange. Very striking and looks lovely on a plate. Better yet, the flavor is intense, sweet and fruity. And Lucid Gem is a wonderful performer.
Beauty Lottringa
A deeply pleated or ruffled tomato, this one is lovely when sliced in half and plated. It is also a large rounded tomato, not as flattened out as some ruffled tomatoes.
Zapotec Pleated
A moderately pleated tomato, Zapotec is a much healthier and a more reliable performer than many other pleated tomatoes. Lovely when sliced and great for making sauce as it is meaty and has a mild flavor.
Sergeant Pepper’s
This is an oxheart shaped tomato with very dark purple shoulders and a lovely raspberry red tip and inside. My plants were skinny and droopy all season last year, but the production was excellent. So I’m giving it another go this year and I’m ready with extra stakes and clips for these wispy but productive vines. Apparently this is a trait of Sgt. Pepper’s, and as long as the tomatoes show up, we’re doing ok.
Indigo Cherry
These cherry tomatoes are a deep rosy red with purple tops and are super high in the coveted anti-oxidants that indigo tomatoes have. Indigo Cherries produce sweet mouthfuls all summer long and are easier to store without bursting than many other cherry tomatoes due to their thicker skins.
Tried and True Varieties
Brandywine Sudduth’s
Often touted as the best and most flavorful tomato in the world, Brandywine is grown all over the world in many different colors, such as black, pink and yellow. Brandywine is a reliable performer and the plants are generally healthy and robust.
Gold Medal
One of my favorite tomatoes, gold medal is an orange, red and yellow streaked tomato with an absolute gorgeous mottled flesh inside, but don’t be fooled by the color…. This is one of the best tasting tomatoes around. Complex and perfect for a Caprese. Also a very heavy producer of huge sized tomatoes. Make sure you have strong cages.
Chefs Choice
This is an orange tomato which is probably the heaviest producer of any tomato I’ve ever grown. Very mild flavor, great for sauces, salads or an Ossobucco in the slow cooker. While the tomatoes themselves are a medium to large size, there are so many that you need a REALLY strong cage for a Chef’s Choice tomato. This baby will make toast of store bought stakes and cages.
Orange Russian
The second of the three oxheart-shaped tomatoes I’m growing, this one is mottled yellow and orange, and the seeds were harvested from the largest heart shaped tomato I’ve ever seen…. larger than both of my fists together and tipping the scale at over a pound. And the flavor is crisp and sweet – a true winner in the garden.
Sexy Beast
This is the third and last of the oxheart shaped tomatoes I’m growing this year, and the only all-red one. Of the three this is the most prolific performer, too, when conditions are right. Like the other two, Sexy Beast has a great, sweet flavor.
Mortgage Lifter
This is the largest beefsteak tomato that I grow. An enormous slicer, I grow this one specifically for John for slicing to put on burgers and BLT sammies. Good flavor, meaty and robust.
Early Girl
Early Girl is the only hybrid tomato I grow, with the exception of the Sungold Cherry. I love it because it is the earliest to produce, allowing me to get a head start on the year’s batch of pizza sauce. The Early Girl is a medium sized tomato, perfectly round, and an extremely heavy producer. Make sure to inspect your plants carefully because these tomatoes hide inside the dense foliage. You can make many batches of sauce from a single plant.
Chocolate Sprinkles Cherry
This is such a great cherry tomato! It has a thicker skin, allowing it to withstand high heat without bursting or fermenting. But the best feature of the this oblong cherry is the complex and super sweet flavor, reminiscent of, yes, chocolate.
Sungold Cherry
I think everyone knows the sungold cherry…. So sweet it’s like eating candy. Great for snacks and lunchboxes. Or for extra sustenance while out in the garden. 🙂 This is a hybrid tomato, easy to eat because of the very thin skin, but hard to keep for the same reason, so best to eat these on the day you pick them!
