Construct a Victorian-style tomato cage

Tomato varieties
There are so many cultivars to choose from that narrowing your tomato seed selection to the limits of your garden space is a challenge. Most gardeners have their favourites, the tried-and-true varieties that best suit their growing conditions and are as reliable as old friends. But it's hard not to be enamoured with all the new kids on the block.

A couple of factors to keep in mind: you only get the exquisite taste of fresh tomatoes if they have the opportunity to ripen on the vine, so check the days to maturity; we've had both drought and damp summers, so check disease tolerance, too.

Here are a few old and new cultivars we've heard good things about.

Slicing (Medium to large)

• ‘Big Beef' (73 days)
• ‘Early Cascade' (65 days)
• ‘First Lady II' (66 days)
• ‘Patio' (70 days)*

Plum

• ‘Roma' (75 days)
• ‘Viva Italia' (65 days)
• ‘Window Box Roma' (70 days)*

Cherry

• ‘Golden Cherry' (65 days)
• ‘Sweet 100' (63 days)
• ‘Tumbler' (48 days)*

Grape

• ‘Juliet' (62 days)
• ‘Harmony' (65 days)

Yellow

• ‘Lemon Boy' (72 days)
• ‘Yellow Pear' (65 days)

*Good choices for container growing.

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