Interest in food gardening remained very strong in 2024, with more and more people finding value in growing their own food. Unfortunately, it was also a very difficult year for growing tomatoes as we experienced a drought and extremely high temperatures in mid-late summer. This stress not only delayed blossom-setting, but also likely stressed plants into succumbing to disease more readily.

2024 was our inaugural year for our Great Tomato Survey, with an attempt to gather data from home gardeners in parts of southeastern Pennsylvania. Colonial Gardens carries over 50 varieties of tomatoes, which means that we have more options than our staff is able to sample. While we didn’t get a huge dataset, here are some insights into what we found.

Amish Paste: The Best Sauce Tomato

Heirloom ‘Amish Paste’ seemed to come out on top as our best sauce tomato option according to respondents. This tracks with our staff’s experience as well. Amish Paste is an extremely large paste tomato, which makes the work of creating sauces less labor intensive. In years when tomatoes struggle, Amish Paste tends to still give a good harvest, according to respondents.

“I also grow and like San Marzano for canning, but they are much smaller. There is less work involved when using Amish paste.” Wendy G., Chadd’s Ford, PA. San Marzanos had mixed reviews this year: while gardeners love the taste, the plant seemed more prone to disease and some didn’t make it to fruit.

As for Romas, Maryanne from Elverson noted that, while she liked that Romas produced a lot of fruit, “San Marzano are bigger. I will stick with them.”

Cherries: The Best Producers

In a tough year for tomato production, some gardeners still made out well with their cherry tomatoes. Chocolate cherries (a variety we carry in seeds) and Orange Zinger were listed as high performers, with long periods of fruiting and a lot of fruit.

Sungolds, often a favorite of our customers, had a bad year. While some gardeners had success, others reported that the plant succumbed to disease or had unpalatable fruit. With how experienced our gardeners are, it’s likely due to the increased disease presence we saw this year.

Heirloom Slicers: The Tastiest

Another weakness of relying on staff data: I love growing tomatoes, but I don’t like eating them. I’ll make sauce and other recipes from them, but I rely on my husband and others to tell me if they’re good on their own.

Unsurprisingly, Heirloom varieties were the most likely to be reported as tasty. Heirlooms tend to be grown for their unique characteristics and ability to stay true to seed, while many hybrids are a better option for disease resistance. Respondents noted taste as a particular standout in slicing tomatoes, especially those that had interesting colors, which can correspond with altered levels of acidity. A list of favorites, since there wasn’t too much overlap:

• Brandywine (also noted for being big and a repeat for several growers)
• Cherokee Carbon
• Cherokee Purple
• Black Krim
• Jet Star
• Rutgers
• Lemon Boy
• Big Boy
• Juliet
• Mortgage Lifter

Hillbilly: “Voted “best tasting” by my nieces”: Dennis H., Pottstown, PA.

Conclusions:

What makes a good tomato is very subjective and unique to each grower. Some growers are willing to baby sensitive plants and have the patience for late producers so long as they get something tasty. Others want straight production and large yields. This largely supports why we carry so many varieties: what floats your boat might not float your neighbors!

Fingers crossed that we have a more hospitable year for growing tomatoes in 2025! We can’t wait to hear about how they perform for you.

About Us:

Colonial Gardens is an independent garden center located in Phoenixville, PA. We’ve been serving our area with quality plants since 1967. With one of the largest selections of plants in our area, we are ready to help you get started on creating the garden of your dreams.