How to Choose Tomato Varieties

I always end up planting five (or six or seven) different kinds of tomatoes in my small urban garden, because when it comes to tomatoes, I just don’t know when to say when. There are literally thousands of cherry, beefsteak, slicing and paste tomato varieties. And tomatoes come in many hues, including classic red, as well as pink, yellow, orange, green, black and even white. To help you narrow down your list of tomatoes to grow, I’ll explain basic tomato terminology, give you hints on choosing tomatoes that suit your tastes and reveal some great places to buy unusual tomatoes.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. First, think about how you want to use your tomatoes. Can’t wait to taste your first tomato of the season? Well, you better plant a cherry tomato because they ripen early and produce loads of fruit. Do you plan on making homemade tomato sauce? Then you’ll need to add a couple of paste tomatoes to your list. Dying to make fresh salsa and bruschetta? Try slicing tomatoes. They are juicy—but not too juicy—and hold together well when chopped. Love BLTs? Then you must grow at least one beefsteak, because they have the best tomato-y flavor and a single slice can cover an entire piece of bread.

2. Tomato plants have two basic growth habits: determinate and indeterminate. Determinate tomatoes only grow to a specific height and ripen their fruit in one big flush, which comes in handy if you want to can tomatoes or make sauce. Roma and paste tomatoes tend to be determinate, as do varieties marketed as “patio” tomatoes. Indeterminate tomatoes keep growing all season, produce fruit continuously until you either rip them out of the garden or they are knocked down by frost, and they need super sturdy cages. I like to grow a few determinates in containers and several indeterminates in the garden, though they also grow fine in containers if you cage them right after you plant.

3. You can choose between hybrid, open-pollinated, and heirloom tomato varieties. Seed saved from open-pollinated varieties produce offspring that are true to type, meaning they have the same characteristics of the parent plant. Heirlooms are open-pollinated varieties that have been passed down through generations of farmers and gardeners. Hybrids are a cross between two genetically different plants. Seeds saved from hybrids are often sterile, and even if they are viable, they will not be true to type. This means you must buy new hybrid seed each year. Hybrids are often bred to resist diseases and cracking, while heirlooms are often adapted to specific climates or growing conditions and offer up excellent flavors and unusual shapes and colors.

4. Now that you know all the essential tomato terminology, you can make a list of criteria you want from your tomatoes this summer, and then start researching varieties. Settle down with a cup of tea and flip through the latest seed catalogs or browse online. Another great way to find out about awesome varieties that meet your criteria is to ask other gardeners, nursery workers and Master Gardeners what varieties do well in their gardens.

5. If you don’t want to start your own tomatoes from seed, plant sales put on by botanic gardens, Master Gardeners and garden clubs are good places to find unusual varieties. You can also order live tomato plants online from eBay (strange, but true!) and many seed companies, including the Seed Savers Exchange (seedsavers.org), Totally Tomatoes (totallytomato.com) and Cross Country Nurseries (chileplants.com). See Resources below.

Resources

• Seed Savers Exchange
• Totally Tomatoes
• Cross Country Nurseries
• DigginFood

[presnick]

on 2/11/2008 excellent summing up of a complex subject...it's still february and i'm already looking forward to planting my tomatoes.