Since I live in Southwood which has big homes and practically no yards, I don’t have a large garden just six standard size Earthboxes, two herb towers and about 20 planters for various herbs and succulents. The Earthboxes (and I mean the trademarked self watering kind found here
https://earthbox.com/gardening-syst...w6bG7RYoyiggRRZd6P_0Uo2QDw8LywyxoC8YUQAvD_BwE and not the generic type you build yourself) are fantastic for greens like lettuce, mustard, cabbage, collards, watercress, arugula, kale, etc… and do well with things that produce small fruits like various hot peppers, eggplants etc….but large and medium varieties of tomatoes do not work.
Earthboxes cannot easily grow any tomatoes that are plum sized or bigger as the constant supply of water causes the fruit to swell and they literally burst at the seams. So I don’t know how any of the medium and larger heirloom varieties work and taste in a typical garden. But I have successfully grown thousands of grape and cherry tomatoes. The Earthbox works fantastically with the small tomatoes and each plant will be literally loaded down with hundreds of small fruit.
My particular favorites of the small tomatoes are:
yellow pear (they are very light in flavor with a mild citrus flavor and produce like crazy. They are not sour nor are they overly sweet. Just a perfectly balanced tomato that is best eaten fresh. In Earthboxes they are usually the best producers)
Sun gold (tiny orange colored grape tomatoes that actually have an intense flavor. Probably the most flavorful of all the small tomatoes)
Sweet100s (your typical red cherry tomato that is very sweet. Not as intense of flavor as the Sun Golds but has a standard tomato flavor alongside the strong sweetness)
Black Cherry (similar to Sweet100s but with a stronger tomato flavor and less overall sweetness)
Green Envy (very sweet despite staying green, these are perfect for grilling and high heat preps)
Italian Ice (probably the mildest tomato, it’s almost white with only an off yellow color. It’s best for eating fresh in salads and in salsa)
Sunsugar (similar to the Sun gold but bigger and sweeter with a less intense flavor. They’re fine but I personally prefer the Sun Golds)
Jaune Flamme (an orange French heirloom that is the largest tomato that grows well without bursting in an Earthboxes, they’re in between a cherry and a plum tomato about twice the size of a golf ball and do have a fairly intense tomatoey flavor).
www.burpee.com
www.extension.iastate.edu
