If you are a tomato lover, this is a February SoCal gotta post because WHO CAN WAIT, LOL?! Decisions now affect your space use all summer long, and how to have the soonest and continuous supply, from tomatoes that are strong producers, survivors best suited to you and your planting conditions! The right choices will have tomatoes on your table toot sweet and all summer through fall!
How many varieties are there? There are more than 3,000 varieties of heirloom or heritage tomatoes in active cultivation worldwide and more than 15,000 known varieties. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says there are 25,000 tomato varieties. The list is constantly expanding. One group added recently is the Indigo series of tomatoes!
HEIRLOOMS VS HYBRIDS
Heirlooms are more lovely than words can say with their many shapes, sizes, and colors! But they are particularly susceptible to wilts and blights. Instead, get resistant hybrid varieties that have VFN or VF on the tag at the nursery. The V is for Verticillium, the F Fusarium wilt, N nematodes. Ace, Early Girl, Champion, Celebrity, are some that are wilt resistant/tolerant. In the Mother Earth News tomato survey, they found gardeners chose heirlooms over hybrids if their soil is wilt/blight free. Otherwise, the longer the gardener has gardened, the more they chose wilt resistant hybrid toms if their soil has the fungi. If you are gardening at home, you can strengthen your soil, and take practical measures to grow some heirlooms successfully. If you are at a community garden that has the fungi in the soil, it’s virtually unavoidable because the wilts are not only in the soil, but are windborne as well. See Wilts & Cucumber Beetles, Tomatoes & Cukes!
DETERMINATE AND INDETERMINATE
The other two main categories are Determinate and Indeterminate. Determinate get about 3′ tall, produce prodigiously all at once. They are grown for two main reasons. Since they produce when they are shorter, they produce sooner. Since they produce a lot at once, they are great for canning. If you want to can a lot, grow several of them at the same time. If you want a large steady supply, plant successively, like more plants each month or so. You can do that if you have the space.
Determinates are great for container growing! Pick varieties that have patio, dwarf or mini in their names. These will be more compact. Small tomatoes don’t necessarily mean the plant is small! Be sure you check that it is a determinate variety. Also check for height, that it will grow no taller than the support you will be putting it on. The Dwarf Tomato Project offers dozens of options, identified by gardeners from around the globe.
Indeterminate are vining tomatoes, grow 6′ to 10′, sometimes more! Grow them on a trellis or in a large substantial supporting cage; they will take up a lot less space. Or up against a wall, along a fence. But if they ramble, the fruits will be on or close to the ground, fungi and pest susceptible – slugs, insects, mice, little birds. Indeterminates produce a little later, but continuously all season long! They have flowers, ripening fruit and mature fruit all at the same time. If you aren’t canning, these are terrific because you plant just once. When they start producing, there is no waiting time like with determinates that require another planting and a further 2 months wait time for production if you don’t have space to grow both at once.
It’s good strategy to plant Determinates and an Indeterminate or two at the same time. When the early Determinates are done, the Indeterminates continue! If you start with quick producing cherry determinates, you have toms right away. Then you can feast on indeterminate summer biggies. Plant medium size and beefsteaks (big slicers) at the same time. The smaller ones come in first they you get those big boys! Before the big ones are done, plant more early cherry varieties that tolerate shorter cooler days. Feasting will continue through fall depending on weather.
TIME OF YEAR CHOICES!
In SoCal, spring’s first choice, February, March, is cold hardy determinates that produce and ripen in cool weather! That’s to get toms on your table soonest! When they are done, in their place, pop in some other favorite summer veggies that do better in that by then warmer weather. If you live in the north with a short growing season, go with these quick growers. Try Sophie’s Choice, a Canadian variety that produces a heavy crop of six to eight-ounce fruits about 55 days after planting. The compact plants grow to about 24 inches tall, making this a good option for container growing. Siberian (NOT Siberia) sets fruit at 38°, but is still not very frost hardy – popular in Alaska! Considered a determinate, but grows 48 to 60” tall. Bush Early Girl and Oregon Spring are favorites. You can start indeterminate cherry toms like Sungolds, because cherry toms ripen soonest while larger varieties are still growing.
In SoCal start your indeterminates at the same time as the cool producing toms! They will come in with red fruits about the 4th of July or a tad sooner. Czech heirloom variety Stupice is a favorite cold tolerant and comes in early. The old standby Early Girl indeterminate gives you a head start and gives high yields!
Later, April, May, plant whatever toms you want to your heart’s content! Just be sure you get resistant varieties if you have soil fungi. Also, depending on your climate, get heat/drought tolerant varieties. April is better if you are planting monster varieties like Big Boy – they need time to grow big! If you have a short season summer, there may not be enough time for beefsteaks and huge slicers.
Beefsteak toms can grow to enormous proportions! ‘Grown by Del and Julie Faust (both USA), the heaviest tomato weighed 11.65 pounds (5.284 kilograms) as confirmed at the Stillwater Harvest Fest in Stillwater, Minnesota, USA, on 8 October 2022 by representatives from the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth. The total circumference of the tomato was 32.5 inches (82.55 cm).’ Wowser! Can you imagine…that’s almost a yard across?! Congratulations to them! It was grown from a “9.06 Brown” seed, in case you would like to give it a try!
June?! You betcha! Many tomato-loving gardeners wait until fungi laden soils are warmed and drying. Your plants have a better chance to get a healthier start. True that the Wilts are also windborne, but with less fungi in the soil your plant can better withstand the fungi.
In late summer, early fall, before your tomatoes are getting tired, southern gardeners can go back to planting quick growing cool type determinates. Weather in SoCal is starting to cool, day length is shorter, and the early northern varieties will do well again. Select petite varieties like bush, determinate, even dwarf cherries that mature more quickly.
Winter, though many toms may have tomatoes on them, the toms are slower to turn red if at all. Day lengths are shorter. Let go. Instead, plant other winter favorites that thrive in short day cold weather and are so nutritious! Kales and chards are prolific choices per their footprint and how quickly they grow! Start new vigorous tomatoes in spring.
PLAN to INCLUDE COMPANION PLANTS!
Pepper plants repel cabbage worms! Hot peppers emit a chemical from the plant roots that helps prevent Fusarium wilt, root rot, and a wide range of other plant diseases! Tomatoes have high susceptibility to Fusarium wilt.
Eggplant releases potassium for tomatoes to benefit from. Tomatoes have a relatively high potassium requirement.
Radish have become my new religion! Radish repel Western striped cucumber beetles! They are a vector for bacterial wilt. Best to plant your radish before installing your transplants or have it up before the seedlings start growing from seed. Grow your radish companion along where you will let the cucumber vine travel, among squash and pumpkins and TOMATOES! See more
Basil’s strong fragrance repels flea beetles, stinkbugs, spider mites, aphids and whiteflies. If you live in a hot area, plant that Basil on the shady side of your toms.
Borage repels tomato hornworms.
Chamomile improves the flavor of any neighboring herb! Plus, it helps neighboring plants – called the Plant Dr! I especially plant it with my wilt susceptible tomatoes.
Bumblebees, buzz pollinators, pollinate tomatoes, honeybees DON’T. Long-tongued bumblebees are attracted to flowers with hidden nectar spurs, such as larkspur, monkshood, monarda – bee balm, columbine and snapdragons – multicolored favorite! Plant plenty of these to get prolific tomatoes! From the Wildlife Trusts, How to Attract Bumblebees, 30 of their favorite plans and plants per season!
As a companion plant itself, tall varieties of tomatoes give shade for lettuces, kale and many herbs including parsley, tarragon, chives and cilantro. These smaller plants in turn, make living mulch planted on the sunny side of tomatoes.
Biodiversity is another form of companion planting. A wise choice may be to biodiversely alternate, zig zag, okra, peppers, eggplant and tomatoes, putting the shorter plants slightly on the sunny side. If you are growing shorter varieties of okra, maybe your tomatoes will be the tallest. You could plant a tomato, a pepper, okra, then an eggplant and pepper, okra, tomato, pepper. You get the idea, mix it up! If you are growing row by row, plant each row in a different order. This stops pests and diseases from going plant to plant.
LOCATION
In drought conditions, consider growing only indeterminates. If you are repeatedly growing determinates, there is the time it takes to regrow them, using water when there is no production.
There are super heat tolerant varieties of toms. Just look up those varieties at southern or desert locations. Check on local university recommendations, cooperative extension, what Master Gardeners in your locality have to say. See what the nurseries near you carry or what the farmers market farmers are growing successfully. See Growing Super Veggies in HOT, Drought, Desert Areas! Desert can be turned into an oasis using permaculture techniques! Jeff Lawton in Jordan
Humidity and wind are conditions to consider. You can open up an area to reduce humidity, or put in some shrubs to buffer winds.
SIZE AND PURPOSE CHOICES
Cherry and Grape tomatoes for buffets and snacks. Saladettes for salad bites. Texas huge for slicing. Romas for canning, sauce and paste. The bigger the tomato the longer it takes to mature.
At left is a fine slicer SteakHouse Hybrid, a meal in itself! Steakhouse are the largest Beefsteak Tomato there is! It is available at Burpee. com. They refer to it as a tomato titan! If you love huge toms, these fruits are enormous, up to 10 inches wide and as heavy as 3 lbs! In good conditions, each plant will yield nine to 11 fruits.
COLOR, TASTE & SKIN!
Poetically, in Jim Duncan’s post Harvesting Sunlight he says ‘Different carotenoids give such fruits their red, yellow and orange colors. In photosynthesis, they trap certain waves of sunlight and funnel their energy into the chlorophyll system. In this sense, different colored tomatoes are packed with different waves of sunlight. Artists can’t look directly at the sun but tomatoes can and artists can look inside tomatoes.’
As an organic gardener you are an artist that looks to the health and wellbeing of us all. Your garden reflects who you are, tells your story. It creates beauty. It makes a difference.
There is no doubt color makes a difference. Blind people can feel which color it is! Colors have different frequencies. Just looking at them makes us change. We pick that color to wear today. Choose the colors that uplift your spirit!
Taste is often subjective. We know too that people genetically taste the same thing differently ie Cilantro! People describe different tomatoes as tasteless, robust, bland, mild, sweet, fruity, tangy, tart, mealy, meaty, watery, juicy, dry, firm, soft, mushy, smoky, musky, old-time, winey, perfect! Toms are like fine wine only in a different body! Taste is something you will need to try for yourself. While it was originally thought that certain regions on the tongue detected specific flavors, we now know this is not true. Smell is more predominant! So you smell it and swish the wine/tomato around in your mouth! Modern tasting techniques If you don’t have space to experiment, to garden several varieties at once, stick with the standards at first – or go to the nearest Farmers Market and buy one of each, the fresher the better! Have your own tasting & smelling – you and the others who will eat them with you! Save some of those seeds!
Tomato skin thickness varies a lot! They can be thin and easily damaged, or so thick you can hardly take a bite and if you manage, the juice squirts out! Some you seriously need a knife for. If you are canning or making tomato paste you need to remove the skins for a smooth consistency! Roma VFA, Amish Paste and Super Marzano are excellent sauce toms, meaty with low water content, improved disease resistance and taste.
The next most important choice you will make is for disease and pest resistant varieties! Many pests – aphids, cucumber beetles – carry diseases, like the wilts that affect and can kill tomatoes; that’s why resistance to those diseases is essential. Cornell University has Disease Resistant Vegetable Varieties Lists! The lists are alphabetical. Not all varieties are listed, but this will give you a great start. Check on local university recommendations, cooperative extension, what Master Gardeners in your locality have to say. See what the nurseries near you carry or what the farmers market farmers are growing successfully. When researching, always look at the post date or update date to get current information.
HEALTH BENEFITS
Tomatoes contain a good amount of vitamins A, C, and K, folate and potassium along with Thiamin, niacin, vitamin B6, magnesium, phosphorus and copper, all of which are necessary to maintain good health. The best part is that tomatoes are naturally low in sodium, saturated fat, cholesterol and calories.
Besides righteous colors that feed your Soul, and taste for your palate, varieties do vary a tad health wise. Here are some choice points:
- The Kumato tomato is slightly higher in carbs than regular tomatoes. Compared to a standard red tomato, the Kumato contains a higher amount of fructose.
- Grape tomatoes, despite their similarities to cherry tomatoes, have a thicker skin, less water content and smaller amounts of fructose. As a result, these tomatoes are probably slightly lower in carbs.
- The colossal beefsteak Steakhouse, the largest variety of tomato, has more carbs as well as overall nutrients.
Colors and the different carotenoids associated with them give specific different benefits to our health. Indigo tomato breeder Jim Myers says ‘The red pigment in tomatoes is lycopene. Orange tomatoes have beta-carotene or prolycopene, while yellow ones may have other carotenoids such as delta-carotene. Carotenoids have antioxidant properties and are thought to have health benefits similar to flavonoids.’
From fighting cancer to fighting wrinkles, the goal of the Indigo series of tomatoes is to breed the antioxidant purple anthocyanins into the flesh as well as the skin. Oregon State’s high-flavonoid breeding program breeder Jim Myers is almost there! Indigo Rose is the closest so far. It is an open pollinated variety, meaning seed saved from self-pollinated plants will grow true and not produce hybrids.
In the image below, is Blue Beauty bred by Brad Gates of Wild Boar Farms in St. Helena CA. It is a self-pollinated variety, will grow fruit the same as the parent. The young blue tomato fruit appears amethyst purple and turns dark purple-black as it matures, with the skin of the darkest ones becoming almost jet black. Tomatoes hidden by leaves remain red. These are ‘modest beefsteak-type slicers,’ weighing up to 8 ounces. High in antioxidants. Brad says TOMATOES HAVE CHANGED MORE IN THE LAST 10 YEARS THAN THEY HAVE IN THEIR ENTIRE EXISTENCE. They are the Heirlooms of the Future! Check out Brad’s Atomic Grape Tomato at Baker Creek! Outrageous, I swear!
Right here in your own garden…happiness is! Like eating your favorite homegrown organic tomatoes at the garden! Cherry size poppers or huge drizzlers so big they are more than a meal! That beautiful color that just makes your heart sing! A shape that calls your name! This year I’m trying….
PURE DELIGHT!
Updated 1.26.23
Love your Mother! Plant bird & bee food! Think grey water! Grow organic! Bless you for being such a wonderful Earth Steward!
The Green Bean Connection started as correspondence for the Santa Barbara CA USA, Pilgrim Terrace Community Garden. Both of Santa Barbara City’s remaining community gardens are very coastal. During late spring/summer we are in a fog belt/marine layer area most years, locally referred to as the May grays, June glooms and August fogusts. Keep that in mind compared to the microclimate niche where your veggie garden is. Bless you for being such a wonderful Earth Steward!