INTRODUCE me to a gardener who has never made a mistake and I will have met a fibber, guaranteed...

All growers have all made multiple errors and, hopefully learned valuable lessons for the future from them. But from my most recent slip sprang forth a definite positive...

I had planted some old Franchi beefsteak tomato seed I bought years ago from the best-smelling shop on the Island — Easy Weigh — and not a seedling showed when plants from the six other varieties I had popped in were racing away.

I made an assumption that they would not germinate and made what turned out to be a schoolboy error of re-using the compost for Black Beauty aubergine.

Up the plants sprang, right on cue, were promptly pricked out by my other half and we all looked forward to moussaka.

As the leaves developed all looked perfect, but then the flowers appeared and all was not well...

The leaves looked just like aubergine, but the flowers, well, they were not the usual pink but appeared just like those of a tomato.

So, the long and the short of this tale is that we are now enjoying not the Greek national dish but burgers with hefty slices of my mild Normandy onions and the late-showing Pomodoro Marmande.

Isle of Wight County Press:

Richard Wright's Tomato Marmande.

I now have two old recycling tubs in the greenhouse and one plant outside of this favourite tomato of Provence, despite the seed being supplied by Italy’s oldest seed company which really does provide the best value-for-money packets.

The heavy ribbed fruits are very meaty, perfect for slicing — it is best put outdoors but can also be grown in the greenhouse for earlier crops.

It is semi-determinate and definitely needs support as the first ripened tom tipped my scales at 14.3oz.

It isn’t Gigamtomo, which produces toms that can only be picked up using both hands, but a plant bearing several Marmande fruits will certainly topple.

It is certainly my favourite beefsteak for texture and juice but its flavour cannot compete with Rosella.

The reviews of this cherry tom I have seen do accurately sum up the taste describing it as: “...a unique deep pink, cherry tomato. Tasting of a blend of raspberries, blackberries and other summer fruits, with high levels of sugar and acidity it makes it a really interesting tasting tomato...”

This year in my salad bowl alongside Rosella there also sits a green tomato which came from a chum.

My former colleague, Rachael, was so impressed with this variety last year that she kept some seed to grow her own and gifted me a few plants.

It brings interest and variety to the tomato party on our summer plates.

And, as she quite rightly observes, close your eyes and you won’t notice the difference from a regular cherry tom, sweet and lovely when ripened to a yellowy hue.

Following my recent column I have had more e-mails from readers whose plants, mainly tomatoes, have grown with distorted leaves — and the common link definitely seems to be peat-free compost.

The problem seems to be spread across the brands, so it really is a lottery whether you get one of the, admittedly few, batches contaminated with powerful hormone-based weed-killer from treated mown grass which has been composted.