I have leqning towards not growing the San Marzano Tomatoes this year.
I got a lot of tomatoes per square foot last year but I can only use the San Marzanos for 1 purpose....tomato based sauces like spaghetti and chili.
I have 3 other heirloom tomato varieties that produce as much or more tomatoes per square foot....an unknown variety I call Chelan heirloom which produces half to 3/4 lb (an occasional 1 pounder) juicy slicing tomatoes of varying lovely shapes, another large slicer that I believe is Brandywine (delicious and juicy as heck with a pretty pink hue) and some black Krim that I bought from Costco and harvested seeds from.
The brandywine take forever to mature but I actually made some delicious spaghetti sauces out of them.
I also will have some cherry toms (sweet 1000s) but I am open to another medium sized variety that matures in 75 days or so....
Any suggestions for something good for zone 8b? I should add I have a greenhouse to start tomatoes early.
I use my San Marzano-type tomatoes for everything; Canned Salsa, Drying, Pasta sauce, fresh Salsa, V-8 Juice and my Bloody Mary Mix.
I like them because they have less seeds and aren’t as ‘wet’ as other tomatoes.
Of course, I throw other tomatoes in there, but it’s mainly the Roma-types.
So, I’ll be the one growing more San Marzano/Roma types this season; I didn’t have nearly enough last season. We’ll balance each other out. ;)