Have you grown any of these tomatoes?

This is a list of the tomatoes in our SFGs this year and I was wondering if any of you have grown any of these before and if you have, how did they do and how did they taste?

Abe Lincoln
Hillbilly
Early Girl
Goliath
Ox Heart
Big Beef
Red Beefsteak
Celebrity
Better Boy
Jet Star
Husky Cherry Red
Pink Brandywine
Lemon boy

I've grown the Early Girl before and got a early medium size tomato but haven't tried any of the rest.

Currently growing Big Beef
I have had
Jet Star
Better Bpy
Celebrity
All are pretty good

Big Beef: Fairly good
Early Girl: Mushy and relatively tasteless
Champion: A winner! A second-year plant was very prolific, and quite delicious!

From your list I have only had the Jet Stars. They were one of my best producers last year. Good strong bunches of three or four fruits and they all ripened evenly. Smooth skin and nearly perfectly shaped. No misshapen-ed or splitting fruits to speak of.

I am trying Celebrity this year but nothing to report so far.

I've grown
Early girl -- tastes pretty much like the tomatoes I buy in the store
Celebrity -- great producer here in the South, medium sized good tasting
Better Boy -- good producer, well formed fruits, good tasting
Lemon Boy -- medium producer, well formed fruits, a bit tart tasting, but still good

Thanks everyone for your input!

I've been looking for different varieties to try that they sell locally here, that's what I've found so far, I don't think I will grow the early girl this year since it's pretty much a negative input on it.

Thanks again, you all have been a great help!

lemon boy awesome taste, and texture.

My family, as long as I can remember, has only grown Better Boy. I grew 2 plants last year in plain dirt, gave them little care other than watering, and I had more than I could give away. They are a good size, taste GREAT, worked great for slicing, eating raw with a little salt, and I even made salsa with them. I have never grown anything else, so I don't have much to compare to, but we obviously love them. This year I am also growing Summer Salsa, which is obviously great for making salsa

Josh

found mr. stripey and some other neat heirlooms at walmart yesterday for $3 each, nice sturdy looking plants.

Home depots were wimpy and 3.50.

Thanks aspiegardne, I've been wanting to get the Mr. stripey, so I'll check our wal- mart out and see if they have it.

Thanks everyone for your input!

Big Boy and Better Boy were developed in Florida (or so I've been told..) and that's the kind an awful lot of commercial growers raise in that area. (I used to live smack in the middle of the biggest tomato-producing area in that region.)

Nice big tomatoes with firm texture and great taste..when they're allowed to ripen on the vine instead of being picked and shipped pink!

We grew Lemon Boys last year and they were delicious and we got a few from one planting. We grow heirloom tomatoes and I especially love cherry or small tomatoes.

We get our plants from the local farmer's markets, since I don't like to shop at the big box stores. A delicious tomato we really like is Carbon, as well as Virginia Sweet. I'm not sure how they'd grow in Illinois, though. Have you talked to any local gardeners? Maybe you could find some blogs or a forum of gardeners in your area?

We planted 16 different kinds of tomatoes this year, so I suspect I'll be learning to can and making sauce and salsa

Husky Cherry Red was a good one for me last year.. Heavy producer, only a few cracked fruit from a period of heavy rain.I did have a problem with Leaf Footed Bugs, they really liked them. Brandywine grew HUGE.. late producer and I did have a problem initially with blossom end rot, but after I added some calcium we got a decent crop of very tasty good sized fruit. I have started those again from seed this year and I intend to pre-treat with a little added calcium. Early Girl and Celebrity were a bust for me.. I don't think I got a single usable tomato from either of them..

Oh no! I'm really sad to see all the bad press about the Early Girl tomatoes. That's the one and only tomato I planted. I hope I have better luck with them then everyone else did. But sadly I'm now not holding out much hope.

aspiegardner,
I found the Mr. Stripey at Wal-Mart today!

It's a really cool looking tomato!

Big Boy and Better Boy have been some of my best tomatoes through the years. I tried Jet Star last year but thought it was lacking in flavor.

I tried Mr. Stripey twice but only got one or two tomatoes from each plant. I'm trying another green heirloom variety this year, Aunt Ruby's German Green. Has anyone grown that one?

I love the flavor of Brandywine, although the yield could be better.

I tried Arkansas Traveler last year - it was okay.

Rutgers, a determinate type, has a good flavor and ripens a lot of fruit at one time if you're looking for a canning tomato.

I tried Long Keeper a couple of years ago - it was hard and flavorless.

I was given Pink Ponderosa seed as a free gift - has anyone tried that one?

My best tomato last year was a yellow tomato I picked up at Wal-Mart, but I couldn't find it this year. I had to settle for a yellow pear-type from another store.

I've grown the Mr. Stripey tomato for several years now and you will not be disappointed. Middle slice completely covers a piece of bread. I'm also a big fan of the Cherokee Purple and the little Yellow Pear.

So far I've got tomatoes from the Goliath, pink brandy wine ,husk tomato.
The husk tomato is small,real sweet
the pink brandy wine was big but tried to split open, tasted really good
The Goliath was good size and tasted really sweet