A plant that is grown in 95% of all gardens is the tomato.

Originating in South and Central America it was once known in the 1600’s as ‘pommes d’amour’ meaning ‘love apples’. This was because it was thought that tomatoes had aphrodisiac qualities which caused the English Puritans to boycott the tomato which caused its unpopularity for around 200 years. Today, however, the tomato is probably eaten daily either in sauces, ketchup, salsa, juice, canned, soup, or raw. With so many different ways to eat tomatoes it is no wonder that there are so many different varieties of tomatoes which have different attributes.

My family always likes to grow 3 or 4 different varieties as we use them for different things. My family really enjoys eating the little cherry tomatoes so we always have a few of the ‘Tumbler’ plants which are great. These are perfect for people who have very little space as these grow in 12-14 inch hanging pots and cascade down. If watered daily and fertilized twice a week they will produce a couple of hundred tomatoes throughout the summer.

A regular cherry tomato plant is the ‘Sweet 100’ which grows well. A popular mid-sized tomato because it is early maturing is ‘Early Girl’ which requires 45 days to maturity. ‘Vendor’ is a mid-sized tomato which is specific for greenhouse growing and is one that we grow in the greenhouse at home. If you are looking for a paste tomato then the ‘Roma’ is an excellent variety.

Varieties that grow well in our Northern climate as they are able to withstand differing day to night temperatures are ‘Sub-Artic Plenty’ or ‘New Yorker’. These are just a couple of the many different varieties to choose from and I suggest that you look over the description given either on seed packets or the grow labels that accompany the young transplants when it comes to making a choice. When you look over the descriptions you will more than likely come up with the term ‘determinate’ or ‘indeterminate’ which is also an important factor when choosing varieties.

Determinate types are those that grow to a certain height and then stop. They take up more space as they grow wide instead of tall making them great for tomato cages. They are not pruned and produce most of their fruit at one time which is good if you want to can or process the tomatoes.

Indeterminate types are those that that require less space as they grow tall and need to pruned and staked. They produce their fruit throughout the season which is nice for having fresh tomatoes.

If tomatoes have lots of heat and sun they will grow just as good in a large container as in a garden or bed. Containers need to be large as the plant will produce a large root system by the end of the season so they need a pot large enough to sustain it. The pot should be a minimum of 12 inches high by 12 inches wide. Always use a high quality potting soil that has good drainage and never let the plant dry out. You want to keep soil consistently moist but not too wet and always water the plant at soil level never getting the foliage wet. It is best to water plants in the morning with slightly warm water as this will help prevent the spread of disease.

Another way to keep disease away is by making sure that there is good air circulation which helps prevent mildew. Sometimes tomatoes can get aphids and the best way to control this is to stay on top of it before they get out of hand. Placing yellow sticky strips in the greenhouse when you put the plants in will attract the aphids to the yellow strips keeping them away from the plants. If the aphids are on the tomato plant already, then you will need to use a chemical to get rid of them.

           

There is nothing that can compare to a freshly picked ripe tomato from your own garden.