Pick 5 out of the 5000 or so varieties, huh? :-)

Off the top of my head - Rutgers, Mortgage Lifter, Giant Belgium, Brandy Boy, Bella Rosa (det.). Nothing unique. All round, red, and big.

Dave

Oh My Goodness! This is tough. Paul Robeson, Green Zebra, Sungold, Rutgers, and any disease resistant land race. I'd then let all the varieties hybridize and like to get surprises the following year!

Hmmmm.....forever or just for one season?

This following list will change as soon as I hit submit...

Rutgers

Sun Gold

Mortgage Lifter

Persimmon

Black Krim

Black From Tula

My No Name which is a big black/purple beef steak.

christacharlene(6)

Hmmmm.....forever or just for one season?

----------------------------------

Just one season, Christa

Sey

I would want to have a variety of shapes and sizes to keep it Interesting. Sun Gold (a cherry and also an orange tomato), Cherokee Purple (purple/black beefsteak), Eva Purple Ball (pink, medium-plus a good producer), Texas Star (bi-color, large), and Crimson Cushion (red Beefsteak).

Sun Gold, Black Krim, Kellogg's Breakfast, San Diego, (oh this is hard) Marvel Striped.

Hmmm. I'm only growing 6 varieties this year so I'll go with 5 of them -- Black Krim, Anna Russian, Brandy Boy, Super Sauce and 1884. Have had success with all but the 1884, which I'm hoping actually comes up this year.

Red, Pink, Purple, Yellow, and Green. :)

Hmm lets see:

Sungold F1

Black Krim

Purple Russian

Rebel Yell

KBX

For me it would be Rutgers, Brandy Boy, Black Krim, Aunt Gertie's Gold & Opalka.

John A

Keep Going !

We are discovering TOP FIVE tomatoes. So far Sun Gold seems to be the front runner.

If someone is a new gardener and wants to grow just a handful, then she/he can get good ideas from the comments posted here. That is good.

Sey

Goose Creek (pink one

Earl's Faux

Mortgage Lifter

Nectar (cherry tomato) and

Ample (cherry tomato), even though I haven't tasted it yet, it is really early and I have a feeling it is going to be a good one!

AND for my daughter-in-law, I am starting Juliet because it is her all around favorite and Mortgage Lifter. Does that count as 2 votes? :)

Rebecca

I only really have room to grow 5 or 6 varieties, with the exception of dwarfs I can tuck away in containers somewhere, so this isn't really a hypothetical for me. This thread will be helpful.

Dave, are your choices based on personal taste or what you find is successful at market?

Indian Stripe (black)

Pruden’s Purple (pink)

Rose (pink)

Early Annie (compact red cherry)

Dwarf Wherokowhai (yellow/pink)

Linda

Cherokee Purple (It gets a spot regardless of yield, flavor is awesome.)

Steak Sandwich this one will always have a place in my garden. Nice largeish fruit up to about a pound or so. Nice reddish pink color. Uniform shape, and excellent flavor. A winner last year.

Black Krim was not included last year due to a mix up when selling off my extras. That is not the case this year.

4th of July A decent flavor. Plentiful yield, and it still produced when the others were done, and dying away from the heat.

Black Cherry is my cherry type this year. Friends down the road had tons of them cranking out all summer. I hope to be as fortunate.

haven't grown too many varieties however these would just about cover all bases:

black cherry

jaune flamme

aunt ruby's german green

earls faux

german red strawberry

Black Krim - by far my favorite slicer

Sprite - by far my favorite grape - it tastes like V8!

Pink Brandywine

San Marzano Red

Black Pearl

Matina (a UK cool summer banker)

Sungold (although I hate the splitting)

Amish Paste - good for ketchup, canning

Bloody Butcher (cos I like them..or St.Pierre at a pinch)

Ferline F1 (Blight buster).

Cherokee Purple

Black Krim

Amish Paste

Mortgage Lifter

Arkansas Traveler (it thrives when others fail)

Mortgage Lifter Estlers

Big Zebra (about as hard to find as MLE, unfortunately)

Big Rainbow

Black Cherry

Yellow Oxheart

It was hard to whittle the list down that far!

Edie

Please post your High Fives.

Then later we might count the votes ant see which FIVE got the highest gardeners' vote. So far I can tell 3 front runners.

To me peer review is of high value. There is good reason behind what/why you prefer to grow. It comes after many years of experimentation, reading review ...

Sey