How to Choose Tomato Plant Varieties

   

The best tasting tomatoes are the ones you grow in your own garden. Whether you start your own or buy tomato starts from us, there's nothing like growing and picking your own tomatoes. It doesn't matter if you have a large garden bed or grow your tomatoes in a container on your patio, there's a tomato variety for you. A good place to start is to understand the difference between determinate and indeterminate tomatoes.  Determinate variety tomatoes grow to a certain height and set fruit all at once. Determinate tomatoes include Bush Early Girl, Celebrity and Patio, among others. If you're limited on space, determinate tomatoes are great for container gardening. Indeterminate varieties of tomatoes continue to grow and produce fruit all season long. Mortgage Lifter, Sun Gold and Fourth of July are just a few of the indeterminate varieties available. Another distinction to consider is whether to grow heirloom or modern tomatoes. As a rule, heirloom tomatoes come in a variety of shapes and colors and are grown for their outstanding flavor. Modern tomatoes are grown for their yield, uniformity and resistance to diseases.  

Grafted tomatoes offer the best of both worlds; heirloom tomato taste grafted onto a modern rootstock. The key to growing grafted tomatoes is to keep the graft line above the soil level when you plant them.  Don't have a lot of space for growing tomatoes?  Select varieties such as Bush Early Girl, Tumbling Tom Red or Patio. These tomatoes can be grown on your patio or deck.  

Start by choosing a three to five-gallon size container, then fill it with a premium potting soil such as Happy Frog. 

Tomatoes need full sun to do their best, so pick the sunniest spot on the patio. Same is true if you're planting in a garden bed or raised bed.  Speaking of which, make time to amend your garden beds with organic material such as Earth Essentials® Sheep, Peat and Compost. Doing so will improve your yields significantly.

Tomatoes are heavy feeders. Choose an organic fertilizer such as ferti•lome Tomato and Vegetable or Happy Frog Tomato and Vegetable to keep your tomato plants producing fruit all season long. Don’t let a lack of space keep you from growing your own tomatoes. There’s a variety of tomato that will work in your garden or on the patio.