Verdict in: Which tomatoes I’ll grow again in 2022

We grew a LOT of tomatoes last year; 19 varieties to be precise. But with more than 10,000 varieties of heirloom tomatoes in existence and my personal interest in trying new things, only a few 2021 varieties will make it into my 2022 garden. So, which varieties made the cut? Which tomatoes will I be growing again in 2022?

We grew a lot of standout varieties in 2021, so making the decision of which varieties to grow this year certainly hasn’t been easy. 6 varieties made the cut. Here they are:

#1 – Cherokee Purple

Cherokee Purple was the only variety from our 2020 garden that we really loved. And in our 2021 garden, Cherokee Purple did not disappoint. The famed heirloom variety is a unique dusty rose color with green shoulders that take on a purple hue when exposed to lots of sunlight. The Cherokee Purple was one of the first varieties to ripen and continued strong throughout the season producing a total of 23.5lbs of tomatoes on two plants. The plants were healthy from start to finish and were not impacted by any tomato diseases. The flavor is one of a kind, although the intensity was not quite what I remembered from 2020.

#2 – Church

Church, from our SSE (Seed Savers Exchange) trial varieties, was a most unique tomato. The fruits produced were pink with a unique blocky ribbing that I hadn’t seen on tomatoes before. Most of the tomatoes produced were upwards of 14 ounces with the largest weighing in at nearly 1.5 lbs. Enormous! Overall, the tomatoes produced were uniform in shape and consistent in size. While rumor has it that pink tomatoes can be rather uninspiring when it comes to flavor, the Church was a stand-out in our garden for flavor. The tomatoes were sweet and meaty. The solid flesh made this tomato a perfect slicer in addition to a perfect canning tomato.

#3 – Smiley

The Smiley tomato was another variety from our SSE trials. This one was one of the earliest ripening varieties we grew, producing ripe tomatoes about a week after our first ripe Cherokee Purples. When it came to flavor, Smiley was definitely a favorite for us. The tomatoes produced were classic red tomatoes ranging from 3 to 8 ounces. There was very little cracking on our Smiley tomatoes compared to other varieties. The name says it all when it comes to our reaction to this tomato. It’s definitely a variety to smile about.

Perhaps the name is part of why we loved this tomato so much. I’d love to find out more about the history of this variety, but unfortunately, there is very little information available.

#4 – Black Krim

The Black Krim is another purple tomato with excellent flavor. The tomatoes produced show similar coloring to the Cherokee Purples, and once picked, are hard to distinguish. This was another of our earlier producers and seemed to come in waves. It seemed like we got three waves of Black Krims: an early, mid, and late wave. The variety was another top producer for us with a total of 19.5 lbs of tomatoes from two plants.

#5 – Indigo Apple

The Indigo Apple tomato was sent to me by my Aunt who got into gardening last year and also developed a fascination for unique heirloom tomatoes. Indigo Apple is a newer variety bred by Brad Gates of Wild Boar Farms. These tomatoes were the true show stoppers, just absolutely stunning. They took FOREVER to ripen, but when they finally did it was definitely worth the wait. They are a bit on the tart side, which seems to be a trait of Brad Gates tomatoes (at least between the 3 Brad Gates varieties I tried). They also had a sweet edge though which made them very tasty. I’ll let the pictures speak for themself for the beauty of this variety.

#6 – San Marzano

The final variety that made the cut was the San Marzano. These tomatoes only made it into my 2021 garden because I decided to give them a second shot after their poor performance in my 2020 garden. In 2020, San Marzano was a disappointment. They ripened late, the flavor was nothing to write home about, and they didn’t seem to be particularly prolific. Several gardening sources said you have to grow a variety at least twice before ruling it out, though, so that is what I did. Due to its poor performance the previous year, I only included 1 San Marzano plant in the garden while I planted 2 of most other varieties. Well, San Marzano must have realized it needed to shape up, or else!

The single plant outproduced many of our other varieties and came in near the top for production even though it was competing with two plants in all other varieties. One plant produced 16.5lbs, which if you do the math and divide all the other production numbers in half, means it produced significantly more than any other variety. The flavor was still nothing to write home about, in fact, my flavor notes were “tart, slimy; do not eat plain”.

However, the purpose of this tomato is not to eat fresh. Its purpose is canning. And for that, this tomato is a winner. The tomatoes it produces contain little to no juice in the seed pocket and very few seeds. It is a true paste tomato and will therefore make it into my 2022 garden for the purpose of canning. I haven’t yet found any other paste varieties that come close.

Runner Up – Crnkovic Yugoslavian

And, since I’m still inspired thinking about the tomatoes I grew last year, there is a runner-up I should mention. While I don’t think it will attain a place in my garden this year, I expect I will definitely grow it again someday when I have a larger garden space.

The Crnkovic Yugoslavian tomato was our biggest producer. This was actually quite a shock when we added up the numbers considering it was the most unhealthy of all our plants. Despite fighting blight all season, the plant consistently produced 5-12 ounce pink tomatoes all summer long. The tomatoes were sweet, but a bit on the bland side. They were rather meaty, which makes them a great all-purpose tomato. And, if I didn’t have such a limited growing space, they would probably make it into this year’s garden. However, we ruled them out this year due to their uninspiring flavor and their lack of disease resistance. If I was growing tomatoes solely for the purpose of yield, I would grow these again in a heartbeat. But, since I’m on more of a tomato flavor and intrigue quest, these don’t quite make the cut.

That’s a wrap

Well, that’s it for now. Stay tuned to find out what exciting new varieties I’ll be growing in this years’ garden. I’d love to hear what tomatoes you’ll be growing this year or what varieties you loved from last year. Feel free to share your tomato experience in the comments below.