Tomato Blogging: Favorite Cherry Tomatoes

The sky outside my window as I write this is a dingy shade of gray, but I am dreaming of summer. And nothing says "summer" to this gardener quite like tomatoes. So I think I'll spend this week's blog posts reminiscing about my favorite tomatoes. Hopefully, these posts provide you with some ideas for tomatoes to grow in your garden this year. We'll be starting tomato seeds in mere weeks (some of my lucky warm-zone readers are already starting theirs!) so it's a good time to start narrowing down your choices.

My Top 5 Favorite Cherry (and Grape, and Pear, and Currant) Tomatoes

1. Red Currant -- If I could only have one small-fruited tomato, this would be it. The fruits are tiny, barely larger than peas, but wow do they give a burst of perfectly tomato-ey flavor. The vines are a little wild and will take over other plants nearby in no time, so staking or caging is very important, but the work is well worth it.

2. Yellow Pear -- I was attracted to these initially for their good looks, but they have a really nice, somewhat sweet tomato flavor. This is a good low-acid tomato that produces good yields all season long.

3. Juliet Grape -- This hybrid grape tomato is sweet, juicy, and very easy to grow. This is another plant that can get rather huge, so I'd recommend staking it. This is a really good snacking tomato, great for eating right out in the garden, in salads, or on kebabs.

4. Sungold -- Many gardeners consider this to be THE cherry tomato to grow. Excellent flavor, good yields, and good disease resistance.

5. Sweet 100 -- I like 'Sweet 100' more than 'Sungold' (both are excellent, by the way, so it's not like that was a heart-wrenching choice to make!) The trusses of perfect red little fruits look so pretty in the garden. I did find these somewhat more prone to splitting than the other cherries I grow, so that is something to consider.

So, there you have my five favorites. Now I want to hear yours! (I have seed orders to make, you know...) Share them in the comments!