Tomato Outdoor Girl | Out of my shed:
Classification #1: Heirloom or Hybrid
Classification #2: Determinate or indeterminate
Determinate varieties of tomatoes, also called "bush" tomatoes. (cordon or bush)
Indeterminate varieties of tomatoes are also called "vining" tomatoes.
Classification #3: Shape
Globe tomatoes: the most heavily commercially-cultivated fruit
Beefsteak tomatoes: the biggest fruit
Paste tomatoes: thick-walled fruit, used to make sauces
Cherry tomatoes: smallest fruit
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Here's a quick reference:
• If you need disease-resistance, use hybrids, since most disease-resistant varieties have been developed since 1945 as hybrids.
• If you want to use seedlings from your local supermarket or nursery, you'll probably have hybrids.
• If you want standard round, red tomatoes or cherry-tomatoes, hybrids are fine.
BUT,
• If you want to be able to plant seeds from the tomatoes you grow and get a plant just like the one you started with, use heirlooms.
• If you want tomatoes like the ones Grandma grew, use heirlooms.
• If you want weird, wonderful, really different tomatoes -- purple or pink tomatoes for instance -- you'll only find this kind of variety amongst the heirlooms.
• If you want the very best in flavor, many gardeners swear by heirlooms.
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Types of Tomatoes:
Select one or two things that can function as a "bottom line," and base your choice of varieties on these.
- Do you need all your tomatoes to ripen in mid-August, when you have a week off work to can them? (Then you need a determinate variety and, if you live in a climate with a short summer, you'll need an early starter which was planted sometime in February or March.)
- Do you have only a couple of barrels or baskets to grow them? Then the key is a variety that can grow in a confined space.
- Does your patio only get sun in the afternoon? You'll need a variety that will tolerate shade.
- Do you have a long but cool growing season? Try one of the varieties listed on this site under Cooler Climates.
Take these key points to a sympathetic, knowledgeable nurseryman, and leave with the plants he hands you.
- On determinate plants, let suckers grow. On indeterminates, decide how many "main" stems you want, and pinch off all suckers after you've got that number on each plant. For larger (but fewer) fruit, limit the number of stems.
- Prevent blossom end rot by keeping the soil evenly moist and by adding a tablespoon of Epsom salts to the hole at planting time. Calcium will also help prevent this problem.
- Plant tomatoes on their side (horizontally in a trench) .
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