What is a Brix rating?
The Brix scale measures the level of sugars in plant sap or juice, as a percentage, and is used by commercial plant breeders to give an impartial, accurate assessment of sweetness. To get a measurement, we put droplets of juice from each cherry tomato variety onto the refractometer plate of a Brix meter, and the results were read from a calibrated scale. This is the ultimate test of sweetness!
Bite-sized, juicy and full of flavour, cherry tomatoes are the epitome of summer and one of the most delicious crops to grow. Popping a freshly picked cherry tom into your mouth is one of life's best treats. But if you want the sweetest fruits, which are the best varieties to grow?
We set out to discover this, last summer, when we trialled over a dozen varieties bred to be among the sweetest. All were grown in a greenhouse to boost sugar levels, and with 2021's wet summer this also kept the plants dry, helping them to evade destructive tomato late blight fungus, which runs rife in damp conditions.
We taste-tested for flavour and, for 100 per cent accuracy, donned our lab coats to measure specific sugar to sugar levels using the recommended industry standard - the Brix scale. So whether you want a conventional red-fruited variety or some yellow, orange, black or green options, we'll help you grow a successful crop of cherry toms that are the sweetest they can be.
‘Black Cherry'
This cordon variety produces large tomatoes with purple-brown skin and flesh, held in multi-branching trusses. It is open-pollinated, so if you save seed, the resulting plants are likely to be true to type.
Taste-test results These tomatoes had a pleasant soft texture and thin, crunchy skins. A good balance between sweet and acid, making the fruits nice and tangy.
'Cherry Baby'
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة February 2022 من Gardeners World.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة February 2022 من Gardeners World.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
We love June
We're cruising towards midsummer: this is a month full of love and abundance. Wherever you look there will be something in your garden that lifts the spirits and makes you glad to be alive. We have colour to cheer us, we have leaves that still have the bounce and freshness of small puppies, we have the first berries fattening up, there are birds frantically parenting very demanding broods of chicks, the bees are all over the place, it's prime barbecue and picnic season, and we have lawns as lush and green as billiard tables. What a month to fall in love.
Your wildlife month
The female will usually lay one clutch of up to eight eggs
An edible garden in pots
Join Lucy Bellamy in creating an edible container garden for all seasons, as she harvests what's ripe now and starts later-season crops
Garden craft with kids
Fill the summer holidays with fun nature makes for kids, including botanical printed t-shirts, seed sowing in upcycled food containers and a hanging home for beneficial insects. Jaime Johnson and family show you how
Secrets of a COLOURFUL GARDEN
Using a colour theme is an easy way to give any garden a strong, unified character - Nick Bailey shows you how
Indoor plants, outdoor treats
Break the rules and give your house plants a summer holiday, with Michael Perry's mixed pot display ideas
YOUR PRUNING MONTH
The first few weeks of summer are a good time to get spring-flowering plants in shape. Follow Frances' guide for best results
Gardening for wellbeing
As the pressures of modern living bear down, our outside spaces can provide soothing respite for our minds and bodies, says Arit Anderson
Your greenhouse guide to A fruitful summer
Get the best from your greenhouse fruit and vegetable crops this summer, with these tried and trusted growing tips from Adam Frost
Stars of the show
Agapanthus is the perfect midsummer plant, flowering with spectacular blooms from June onwards and, as Monty explains, it loves to grow in a pot
