Quick answer

Choose the Tomato Taste Test Winners Collection if you want a spread of flavours and fruit types from one purchase, especially for fresh eating and impressing guests. Choose Tomato 'Leicester Jones' if you want to help keep a Tasmanian heirloom in circulation, or Tomato 'Sweet Casaday' Organic if you need a productive plum tomato for both salads and preserving. The collection is the lowest-risk way to discover which tomato suits your palate and kitchen.

What the collection actually contains

The Tomato Taste Test Winners Collection brings together five varieties that rated tops in the largest taste test Diggers has run at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show. The lineup is Tommy Toe, Pink Bumble Bee, Jaune Flamme, Wapsipinicon Peach and Green Grape. That mix covers small cherry types, a bicolour, a golden-orange tomato and a green-when-ripe grape tomato, so you get a genuine flavour comparison without buying five separate packets.

Because Diggers has been trialling and tasting tomatoes for over 30 years, the collection is effectively a shortcut to varieties that have already cleared a flavour benchmark. It does not tell you which one will grow best in your patch, so treat the collection as a tasting exercise first and a production crop second.

How the single varieties differ in the kitchen

Tomato 'Sweet Casaday' Organic is the most versatile of the three for cooking. Its elongated plum shape and high productivity make it a sensible choice if you want fruit for salads as well as preserving and cooking. That dual purpose is the trade-off: you get less of the novelty and colour range that the collection offers, but you get a focused crop you can process in bulk.

Tomato 'Leicester Jones' carries a different kind of value. It is an heirloom that Diggers tracked down through a Tasmanian member and a retiring seed supplier, and the catalogue positions it as a variety the club is committed to keeping available. Growing it is partly a conservation act, so choose it if that story matters to you as much as the fruit.

Space, staking and picking practicalities

Five varieties in one collection means five different growth habits to manage, and the catalogue does not list plant height or days to maturity for any of them. Plan for staking or caging and leave enough room to walk between plants, because cherry and grape types can sprawl. If you have a small garden, the single varieties are easier to slot into a bed without committing space to a tasting trial.

Pick cherry and grape tomatoes as soon as they colour, because leaving them on the vine invites splitting. For the plum-fruited Sweet Casaday, harvest when the fruit is fully coloured and slightly soft at the blossom end, then set aside the excess for preserving. Keep a simple notebook of which variety you liked raw versus cooked; that record is more useful than any generic ranking.

Trade-offs to weigh before you buy

  • Variety versus focus: The collection gives you five varieties but only a small quantity of each, so you get breadth rather than a bulk harvest. Sweet Casaday gives you one productive plum tomato for preserving and cooking. Pick the collection to explore flavour; pick Sweet Casaday to fill jars.
  • Novelty versus reliability: The collection includes unusual colours and shapes, which makes tasting fun but can complicate knowing when each fruit is ripe. Leicester Jones is a single heirloom with a clear provenance story, but the catalogue does not list its fruit size or maturity. If you want a straightforward crop, choose a single variety and learn it well.
  • Conservation versus convenience: Growing Leicester Jones helps keep a Tasmanian heirloom in circulation, but it is one variety rather than a tasting set. The collection is the easier way to compare flavours in a single season. Choose based on whether your goal is saving seed history or finding your favourite tomato.

Product facts at a glance

  • Tomato Taste Test Winners Collection: Collection includes Tommy Toe, Pink Bumble Bee, Jaune Flamme, Wapsipinicon Peach and Green Grape, and rated tops in the largest taste test Diggers has run at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show. One purchase gives you five distinct flavours and fruit types, which is ideal for a home taste test or for gardeners who want variety without buying five packets.
  • Tomato 'Leicester Jones': An heirloom tomato that Diggers tracked down through a Tasmanian member and a retiring seed supplier, and the club is committed to keeping it available. Choosing this variety supports heirloom seed availability, and it suits gardeners who value provenance alongside flavour.
  • Tomato 'Sweet Casaday' Organic: Bred by Tom Wagner in the USA, also known as 'Sweet Cassidy', with an elongated plum shape, excellent flavour and colour, and high productivity; suitable for salads, preserving and cooking. A productive plum tomato that earns its space if you want one variety for both fresh eating and preserving, rather than a spread of tasters.

Which tomato seed is right for you?

Best for

  • Gardeners who want to compare several flavours in one season without buying five separate packets
  • Home cooks who want a mix of cherry, grape and slicing tomatoes for salads and fresh eating
  • Gift buyers looking for a ready-made tasting selection for a gardening friend

Not for

  • Gardeners with very limited space who need one reliable variety rather than a tasting trial
  • Anyone planning to preserve a large crop, who should choose a productive plum tomato such as Sweet Casaday
  • Shoppers who want a single heirloom with a documented local provenance story