How to Choose Tomato Plant Varieties

 

 

There are many advantages to growing your own tomatoes including the ease of mind knowing what’s gone into raising the plants, as well as the superior taste. Whether you start your own or buy 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. As you’re deciding on which tomato varieties to choose, consider these things:   

Do you want a plant that produces fruit all season long?  

Are you interested in making sauce with your harvest?  

Do you know what kind of growing conditions tomatoes need? 

  

To answer these questions and get the most from your tomato plants, it’s important to understand the terminology. Tomato plants are classified as either indeterminate or determinate. Indeterminate plants grow all season, continuing to bloom and produce fruit right up until first frost; even longer if you protect them with a frost cloth. Mortgage Lifter, Cherokee Purple and Fourth of July are just a few of the indeterminate varieties available.   

 

Determinate variety tomatoes, also called bush tomatoes grow to a certain height and set fruit all at once. Determinate tomatoes are great choice if you plan to preserve, can or make sauce with your tomatoes.  Determinate tomatoes include Bush Early Girl, Celebrity, Patio, and Tumbling Tom Red.   

  

Heirloom versus hybrid.  A tomato is considered an heirloom when the seed has been saved and grown for at least fifty years. Heirlooms are grown for their superior flavor, texture, and unique appearance. In general, heirloom take longer to produce a tomato crop, but the taste is worth it.   

  

Hybrid tomatoes offer a shorter time to maturity, generally higher yields, and improved disease resistance over heirlooms. Hybrid tomatoes look like grocery store tomatoes, but with a superior taste because you grew them yourself.   

  

Finally, tomatoes fall into four basic types: cherry and grape, paste, slicer and beefsteak. Cherry tomatoes are shaped like cherries and tend to be sweet. Grape tomatoes are meaty and crunchy and tend to taste like a tomato. Paste tomatoes tend to be meaty fruits with fewer seeds, good for making tomato sauce. Slicing tomatoes are mid to large sized, just right for sandwiches. Beefsteak tomatoes are one of the largest varieties.   

  

As a home gardener, mixing types of tomatoes is a good way to ensure you’ll have a fresh harvest throughout the season. Plant varieties that mature in fifty to sixty days, such as Fourth of July (49 days) and Sun Gold (57 days), followed by main season varieties like Mortgage Lifter (80 days) and Cherokee Purple (80 days). For a complete list of tomatoes available this season, click here:  https://www.theflowerbin.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/2022-tomato-1.pdf 

Tomatoes need full sun to do their best, so pick the sunniest spot in the garden or on the patio.  Take time to amend your garden beds with organic material such as Earth Essentials® Sheep, Peat and Compost. Tomatoes are heavy feeders. Choose an organic fertilizer such as ferti•lome Tomato and Vegetable or Happy Frog Tomato and Vegetable.