Tomatoes, well, surely tomatoes grow like crazy in the Mediterranean!? Yes and No.
When I first planted tomatoes in the open vegetable plots in 2022 I was shocked to see them turn completely white on one side with “sunburn”. In 2023 I tried shading them but they still suffered and by August all plants were more or less dead – despite watering.
In 2024 I planted tomatoes into good soil in one of the new raised beds along the Eastern facing wall. Instead of tutoring and pruning I experimented with letting them grow as they wished. They quickly formed into a real jungle, effectively shading each other and producing lots of wonderful fruit until late summer.
However the “jungle” made it difficult to see and pick ripe tomatoes as well as to control disease or the green vegetable bugs (Nezara viridula) that showed up in late summer and damaged quite a lot of fruit.
I will go back to a moderate form of tutoring and pruning with shading next summer.
Tomato Varieties for a Mediterranean Garden
There are thousands of tomato varieties to be found all over the world and most of them will work here. I certainly don’t want to grow the same kind every year but stick with some favorites and try one or two other varieties each year.
Won’t-try-again Varieties
Galapagos Tomato (Solanum cheesmaniae)
Seedshunters “Dry Farming” Variety. Pretty productive. Very small yellow berries, crunchy, more tangy than sweet in taste.
Wild Tomato (Solanum pimpinellifolium)
Seedshunters “Dry Farming” Variety. Tiny red berries with an intense and sweet tomato flavor. But not that productive and picking all those tiny berries takes time.
Thessaloniki Tomato (Lycopersicon lycopersicum)
Seedshunters “Dry Farming” Variety. Classical red tomato, with unremarkable flavor.
Spagnoletta Tomato from Gaeta (Lycopersicon lycopersicum)
Seedshunters “Dry Farming” Variety. Flat and indented red tomatoes, unremarkable taste. Not very productive.
Favorites to Try Again
Barano d’Ischia (Lycopersicon lycopersicum)
Seedshunters “Dry Farming” Variety. Very productive plant with firm fruit, skin is crunchy and yellow, the flesh firm and apricot-colored. Very good taste. Good tomato for drying.
Piennolo Tomato from Vesuvius (Lycopersicon lycopersicum)
Seedshunters “Dry Farming” Variety. Very productive plant with small firm elongated fruit with typical pointed tips at the end. Very good taste. Good tomato for drying.
Paul Robeson Tomatoes
Dark red tomato with dark green shoulders and dark red-green interior. Rather big and juicy with very good taste.
Orange Russian
Large indented heart-shaped fruit, orange-yellow outside and inside, very juicy. Great fruity taste, with soft flesh and few seeds.
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