The Best Tomato Plants to Grow

Choosing a tomato plant takes some consideration.

Tomatoes are the most popular vegetable grown in the home garden, but knowing which plant you should get may be a mystery. Catalogs list hundreds of varieties ranging in colors from purple to yellow and sizes from tiny grape tomatoes to mammoth five-pounders. Ask yourself what you want from the tomato, thinking about the amount of space you have for growing and your climate zone. Once you answer these questions, you can choose from a somewhat smaller, albeit still very long list of tomato plants that will fit your specific criteria.

Space Considerations

Decide how much space you want to give to growing your tomatoes. Consider the vining type, also called an indeterminate grower, if you have lots of space, with varieties such as Marzano, Beefsteak or Brandywine. Plant these traditional tomatoes to grow in a tomato cage or up a trellis in a sunny spot. Find a determinate variety like the Golden Nugget, Celebrity or Small Fry for a small yard, or even a hanging planter or patio container, since you can prune it and control its growth much more easily.

Growing Zone

Find tomatoes that will grow within your growing zone, also known as the USDA plant hardiness zones. Choose the varieties that ripen early like the Early Girl and Early Swedish if your season is short, or the Fantastic, Jubilee or Top Sirloin which ripen later if your season extends late into the fall. Choose from varieties such as Fantastic, Champion, Stupice or Dona for consistently good tomatoes that grow well in almost all the zones.

Tomato Problems

Pick the tomato plants to grow in your yard with the advice from your local extension office to find varieties that are resistant to diseases affecting gardens in your area. Follow their recommendations to save yourself the trouble of watching the plant grow to maturity and then just shrivel and die from a fungal infection that is thriving in your community.

Tomato Use

Consider what you want to do with your tomatoes since they have varying amounts of juice, as well as different flavors and levels of acidity. Choose a plum tomato plant such as the Roma if you want to fill your shelves with spaghetti sauce, or yellow tomatoes like the Yellow Pear or the Lemon Boy for their mild acidity.

References

• University of Arizona Cooperative Extension: Tomatoes
• North Dakota State University; From the Graden to the Table: Salsa; Ron Smith et al.; April 2009

Resources

• Washington State University Extension; Tomato Varieties