Pick out the perfect tomato plant for your yard! The secret? Choosing one that's right for your garden and your favorite summertime meals.
Juicy slicers for BLT sandwiches, cherry types for salads and snacking, Romas for homemade sauce—the tomato varieties are endless, but the amount of space in your garden and on your countertop is most likely not. One tomato plant goes a long way, so before you run out and buy the first seedling you spot, first decide how you’re going to use your harvest in the kitchen.
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Slicer Tomato Plants
The smooth, round fruits of slicers are super delicious on sandwiches. You probably recognize or have grown many of the most popular varieties available. Better Boy is a well-known tomato plant and has a classic tomato taste. Celebrity is an All-America Selections (AAS) winner with good flavor and disease resistance. Early Girl is one of the first to ripen—it’s ready to harvest in about 60 days. Rutgers offers resistance to disease, meaty consistency and good flavor.
Have your best tomato-growing year ever with these 14 top tips.
Beefsteak Tomato Plants
Globe or irregular-shaped beefsteaks have dense fruit and weigh more than a pound. They take longer to mature than smaller types. Beefmaster produces solid 1- to 2-pound red fruit, while Big Beef has smaller fruit but great disease and crack resistance. And if you’re looking for heirlooms, check out the popular red-pink Brandywine and dark red to violet Cherokee Purple.
What’s the best way to ripen tomatoes? Learn what’s true — and what’s bogus!
Paste Tomato Plants
Paste tomatoes are perfect for preserving and cooking. The fruit is meaty and has fewer seeds than other types of tomatoes. Roma is a longtime favorite tomato plant. It’s resistant to disease and ready to harvest in about 75 days. Amish Paste has recently gained popularity. The medium-size fruit is red-orange and ready to harvest about the same time as Romas. Many cooks have turned to San Marzano due to its excellent flavor, size and crack resistance. And then there’s Big Mama, which is easy to peel. If you have limited garden space, try the more compact window box Roma with its sweet flavor. They’re also fantastic tomatoes for making homemade salsas and sauces.
Should you grow hybrid or heirloom tomatoes?
Salad Tomato Plants
These are the bite-sized currant, cherry, grape and pear tomatoes. They’re excellent for salads, snacking or relish trays. Sun Gold regularly rates high in taste tests. Sweet Million is a crack-resistant improvement of Sweet 100. AAS winner Sugary produces sweet cherry tomatoes in 60 days. Candyland Red currant tomatoes are the perfect size for popping in your mouth.
Small-space gardeners may want to try Patio Choice Yellow. This AAS winner produces about 100 small yellow tomatoes on an 18-inch tomato plant. Or fill a hanging basket with Sweetheart of the Patio, Tumbling Tom Yellow, Lizzano or Terenzo. When covered with fruit, these tumbling-type tomatoes provide as much beauty as a basket of flowers.
Climate Considerations for Your Tomato Plant
Tomato plants definitely thrive in warm summer weather, but even they have a heat threshold. Daytime temperatures above 90 degrees and nighttime temperatures above 70 may result in blossom drop and poor fruit development. And then when night temperatures linger below 59 degrees, less viable pollen is produced, which results in fewer fruits.
Tomato growers in hot climates should consider varieties such as Solar Flare, Talladega, Summer Set and Heatmaster. If you live in a cooler climate, you will likely have greater success with Early Girl, Celebrity and New Girl. All three are ideal for shorter growing seasons.
Cherry tomatoes are a good choice for most gardens but especially those in the cool conditions of the Pacific Northwest. Oregon State University has introduced several varieties suited to the area. These include Saucy paste tomato, large-fruited Oregon Spring and crack-resistant Willamette.
If you have an overabundance of tomatoes, here are a few genius ways to use up your extras.
How to Read a Tomato Plant Tag
- D – Determinate – Grows to a certain size and stops. The fruit tends to ripen all at once and in a relatively short period of time.
- I – Indeterminate – Continues to grow, flower and produce new fruit throughout the season. Use tall stakes and big towers to keep these large plants upright.
- V, F, N – Indicates that the plant is resistant to verticillium, fusarium and nematodes. Consider varieties resistant to more than one, and to other diseases, when possible.
- AAS – All-America Selections – Plants with this designation have been tested nationally and selected for their suitability for backyard gardens.
- H – Heirloom – A tomato variety that has been around for more than 50 years, and preserved to keep it true to its parentage.
- Tumbler – A type of tomato that is more compact, needs little support and can be grown in a hanging basket.
- Hybrid – The result of breeding programs. Typically, they’ve been selected and bred for desirable characteristics.
- Days to Harvest – The average number of days from planting until the first tomato is ripe.
Next, learn how to stop the tomato hornworm from damaging your tomatoes.
