5 Things To Consider Before Choosing Tomato Varieties For Your Garden

Growing tomatoes is enjoyable and so rewarding. However, with a large number of tomato types and quality available, selecting plants and seeds can be difficult. Below are 5 things you should consider before choosing a tomato variety.

Purpose of Harvest

Tomatoes come in a variety of sizes, hues, and flavors.

• - Cherry Tomatoes: Cherry and grape tomatoes are very small, delicious, and frequently consumed whole and fresh in salads. They are tiny and ideal for growing in restricted settings.
• - Plum tomatoes: These are small, firm tomatoes with a meaty inside but little juice or seed. They are ideal for creating sauces and canning.
• - Slicing Tomatoes: You can slice these big, round tomatoes for sandwiches. They are deliciously seedy and juicy. Because most people grow more of this kind and they frequently produce throughout the entire season.
• - Beefsteak Tomatoes: These enormous slicing tomatoes are grown for their astounding size and global form.

You should have a variety of medium to large sized types and at least one paste tomato variety. By doing this, you can be sure to have a crop of unique flavors as well as a lovely display of colors and shapes. Once you have the right plant, make sure you use suitable soil and fertilizer for the vegetable garden. 

Growth Style

You must give the plant enough room to grow and sufficient support if you want a huge tomato production. Determine where you will grow the plants to help you focus your options. There are two development patterns for tomato plants: determinate varieties and indeterminate varieties.

Determined cultivars reach a specific height (often 2 to 3 feet), set fruit, and then focus on ripening that fruit. These types grow best in milder, coastal, or even desert climates, as well as high-altitude places.

Most fruit is often produced by indeterminate types. Until the first frost, these plants will keep on expanding, blooming, and producing fruit. These types need a little more care from the grower and extra support (from cages and stakes). If you have a longer growing season, these cultivars will produce larger plants and larger-sized fruit.

Time to Maturity

If you have a short growing season, timing is crucial. Tomato plants are divided into different categories based on when they typically produce tomatoes and can mature in 45 to 80 days, depending on the variety:

Early-Season cultivars, which mature in 60 days or less and set fruit at a lower temperature than other varieties, are more productive. They are therefore perfect for northern gardens that have later planting dates.

If you live in an area that becomes too hot at the end of summer, mid-season varieties (70-84 days) can be the best option.

Late-season tomato plant kinds are ideal for warm locations with lengthy growing seasons since they mature in more than 80 days.

You can choose different types to ensure a longer harvest even though the climate affects whether you plant early or late tomatoes. For harvesting dates, see the seed packet or plant label.

Disease Resistance

Numerous illnesses that can damage the plant and lower harvests can affect tomatoes. Verticillium and fusarium wilt are two very prevalent soil-borne diseases that damage tomatoes. Check the seed packet or plant label to check if the variety is resistant to these diseases.

A V or an F is used after the variety name to indicate disease resistance. Look for resistance to these diseases as well if tomatoes in your area are affected by Alternaria (A), Tobacco Mosaic Virus (T), or root-knot nematode (N). Select a cultivar that is resistant to late blight because it is a concern in many locations.

Hybrid, Open-Pollinated, and Heirloom Tomatoes

There are options for the plant's breeding method:

• - Hybrid tomato: By mating a male flower of one pure and distinct species with a female blossom of another pure and distinct variety, hybrid tomatoes are created. Tomato hybrids are developed for particular uses (size, acidity, disease resistance, ease of transport).
• - Open-pollinated tomato: Tomato plants that are open to pollination are bred by conserving their seed. Choose open-pollinated kinds if you wish to collect seeds or if you enjoy rich flavors. Typically, they mature slowly and later in the season.
• - Heirloom tomato: Open-pollinated tomato plants with a long history are known as heirloom varieties. Despite being more brittle in general, heirloom tomatoes consistently come out on top in taste tests. Vegetable heirlooms have a significant role in biodiversity and sustainability.

Sum up

It is a lot of fun and so tasty to grow tomatoes. Simply choose the characteristics you want your tomato plants to have, purchase some plants, and get growing. If you're looking for a reliable store to buy tomato seeds, go to Totally Tomatoes. Use our Totally Tomatoes promo codes to enjoy a variety of savings.

Hope you have a simple, enjoyable, fruitful, and always organic garden!