Tomato Moneymaker

The workhorse of the British kitchen garden, and it does exactly what the name says. Moneymaker has been a fixture since the 1960s because it is reliable rather than remarkable — sown in late winter, trained through summer, cropping steadily from July under glass or August outdoors right through to October.

Fruits run to 70 or 100 grams, big enough to slice for a sandwich or halve for a roasting tray, with the classic balanced tomato flavour. There are tomatoes with more drama and higher sugar. What sets this one apart is that in a warm summer it crops abundantly, and in a cool one it still crops.

Open pollinated, and one of the oldest established heritage tomatoes in British growing, so a single packet is the beginning of a self-renewing supply rather than an annual purchase.