Tomato plants are tender, warm-season crops that love the sun and cannot bear frost. It’s important not to put plants in the ground too early. In most regions, the soil is not warm enough to plant tomatoes outdoors until late spring and early summer, except in zone 10, where they are a fall and winter crop. See when to start tomatoes for your location.
Tomatoes take 60 days to more than 100 days to harvest, depending on the variety (see more about varieties below). Due to their relatively long growing season requirements (and late planting date), most gardeners plant small “starter plants” or transplants instead
of seeds after the weather has warmed up in spring. Many gardeners purchase their transplants at a garden center or nursery, but you can certainly grow your own from seed indoors.
A few guidelines on buying transplants:
For more information on how to grow tomato's click the following hyperlink to Farmers Almanac Tomatoes.
For other resources please click on Cornell Universities Tomatoes link or click on Gardening Know How's Tomatoes link.
Tomatillos are not just unripe tomatoes! Usually sold with their papery husks still intact, these green fruits are an easy-to-grow garden performer—and go wonderfully in salsas and more! Learn how to plant, grow, and harvest tomatillos.
Despite the name (tomatillo means “little tomato” in Spanish), tomatillos are not tomatoes but a separate species, Physalis philadelphica or Phsyalis ixocarpa. Common names also include Mexican ground cherry or husk cherry. The fruits are smaller than an average tomato, usually less than 2 inches in diameter. The plants, however, can grow quite large, some reaching 4 feet tall and wide.
Native to Central America, tomatillos grow wild in parts of Mexico and have been cultivated for hundreds if not thousands of years. Smaller than a standard tomato, the fruits are green and covered in a papery husk, called a calyx. Some varieties may ripen to yellow or purple.
Picked green, they have a tart, bright, almost citrusy flavor and are a good source of vitamin C. The most famous use for tomatillos is in making salsa verde, but don’t limit yourself to just one dish! Tomatillos are fantastic in chilis and soups, with eggs and seafood, as an ingredient in salad dressings, preserved in jellies, added to guac, and grilled with meats.
For more information on how to grow Tomatillo's click the following hyperlink to Farmers Almanac Tomatillos.
For other resources on Tomatillos please click Gardening Know How's Tomatillos link.
For growing information on other varieties of tomatoes please click on Gardening Know How's Tree Tomato Tamarillo link
Tomato Small Fruited Baby Boomer:
Each wildly prolific plant yields 300 or more little sweeties! A cherry tomato that's perfect for the patio! Each wildly prolific plant yields 300 or more little sweeties bursting with great-big flavor. Compact, whorled plants produce 1-in. (2.5-cm) tomatoes right up until frost. This one offers great Verticillium and Fusarium resistance. Ideal for small gardens and patio planters. We recommend that plants be caged.
Tomato Small Fruited Boost Cherry Punch:
Early with high yields, this indeterminate plant is perfect for the garden or patio. Tiny red tomatoes are bursting with flavor and healthy eating. 'Cherry Punch' delivers 30% more vitamin C and 40% more lycopene than the average garden tomato.** Early with high yields, the indeterminate plants are perfect for the garden or patio. This variety is a member of the BOOST Collection of high-nutrition vegetables.
Tomato Small Fruited Boost Mighty Sweet:
Makes a healthy snack with 45% more lycopene. Big tomato taste. It has 45% more lycopene makes Mighty Sweet a healthy snack... big tomato taste makes it a delicious one! Tall, vigorous, semi-determinate plants yield an abundance of deep red grape tomatoes with excellent sweet flavor. Plants have good leaf cover to protect fruit from sun/weather, and produces fruit right up until fruit.
Tomato Small Fruited Boost Power Pops:
Indeterminate plant produces ripe fruit up to two weeks earlier than others of this type. Delicious 'Power Pops' tomatoes can produce 55% more lycopene and 40% more carotenoids than the average garden tomato. But that's not all...the indeterminate plants produce ripe fruit up to two weeks earlier than others of this type! With its cascading habit, 'Power Pops' is another excellent variety for garden or patio baskets and containers. This variety is a member of the Boost Collection of high-nutrition vegetables.
Tomato Small Fruited Boost Solar Power:
Indeterminate-type tomato with good yields. Perfect for salads and sauces. The brilliant orange, meaty fruit can produce more than three times the level of beta-carotene than the average garden tomato. Indeterminate with good yields, 'Solar Power' is perfect for salads and sauces, with the bonus of extra health benefits! This variety is a member of the BOOST Collection of high-nutrition vegetables.
Tomato Small Fruited Chocolate Sprinkles:
Crack-resistant fruit have an attractive striped pattern. Delivers the first in this type with a disease-resistance package. Unique fruit color: red with dark green overlay/striping for a "chocolaty" appearance that will appeal to foodies. Very productive, with lots of cherry tomatoes that have true tomato flavor and a nice, firm bite.
Tomato Small Fruited Napa Grape Hybrid:
Eat these sugary fruits fresh off the vine or use in salads and party trays. A consistent top choice in taste tests, Napa Grape Hybrid has a higher sugar content than any other grape tomato. Enjoy these tasty treats in salads all summer long. These tomatoes need at least one inch (2.5 cm) of water per week and prefer six hours or more of direct sun each day.
Tomato Small Fruited Orange Zinger:
Yields large amounts of crack-resistant, round cherry tomatoes. Orange Zinger yields a large amount of crack-resistant, round cherry tomatoes in a beautiful dark orange color. Delivers big tomato flavor, too - a delightful balance of sweet and tangy flavor.
Tomato Small Fruited Red Grape:
These tasty baby grape tomatoes may not ever make it into your kitchen! Pop 'em fresh from the garden into your mouth. It's just too tempting to pop the sun-warmed, super-sweet fruits right into your mouth, fresh off the plant! Red Grape is a high-quality variety that produces long clusters of 20 or more bright red, crack-resistant tomatoes.
Gorgeous green/gold/burgundy fruits! The gorgeous green/gold/burgundy fruits of Shimmer are sure to inspire everyone’s inner foodie. These are absolute beauties with a sweet taste and fantastic disease resistance. Disease Tolerance: Bacterial Speck, Bacterial Spot, Fusarium 1-3, Nematode, Tomato Mosaic Virus, Stemphylium Leaf Spot, Verticillium Race 2.
These distinctive, tangy-sweet fruits are best eaten fresh off the vine or in salads and party trays. One of the most popular varieties of cherry tomatoes, Sungold ripens early to a golden orange, ready to harvest throughout the summer. These extra-sweet tomatoes stay firmer longer than other cherry varieties and will be ready to harvest twice a week once they begin producing fruit. These indeterminate tomatoes need at least one inch (2.5 cm) of water per week and prefer six hours or more of direct sun each day.
Tomato Small Fruited Sweet 100:
This garden favorite bears 100 or more small, sweet red tomatoes in clusters on long branches. Bursting with sugary flavor, Sweet 100s produce scarlet, cherry-sized fruits in long clusters right up to frost. You’ll definitely want to stake or cage these vigorous climbers to keep the fruit off the ground and avoid pests and diseases. These tomatoes need at least one inch (2.5 cm) of water per week and prefer six hours or more of direct sun each day.
Tomato Small Fruited Sweetheart of the Patio:
The perfect addition to a hanging basket on your patio! Super-sweet, semi-cascading Sweetheart of the Patio is a perfect addition to your hanging baskets or patio containers. The compact plants produce high yields of disease-free, snack-ready fruit all Summer long. Each baby cherry tomato weighs about 1 oz. (28 g) and measures 1 in. (2.5 cm) around.
Tomato Small Fruited Tidy Treats:
Tons of fruit power on a compact plant. Tidy Treats is Good in small-space gardens and containers, but unlike other patio types, it continues to produce tomatoes all season. Its habit stays compact like a determinate but produces like an indeterminate. Dwarf plants stay a manageable size with healthy green foliage. Enjoy red cherry tomatoes with a unique heirloom flavor all season long!
Beef Steak Tomatoes:
Tomatoes originated in the South American Andes in a region that now makes up parts of Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. Eventually tomatoes were planted throughout Central America and into Mexico where Spanish explorers found them growing in Montezuma's garden in the sixteenth century. The Spanish introduced tomatoes to the world. Recently scientists learned the lycopene content of tomatoes was especially good for maintaining a healthy heart. This extremely nutritious vegetable is now considered America's favorite vegetable.
Delights any small-space gardener. This determinate beefsteak tomato is well-suited for containers or in-ground production. Features a big yield of extra-large tomatoes and good disease resistance.
Delicious, flavorful, meaty fruits. These tomatoes have traditional beefsteak tomato shoulders and fantastic flavor. Prolific, vigorous plants produce big, luscious red fruits.
A great garden choice, these vigorous, productive and disease-resistant plants produce tasty, large fruits. An All-America Selections Winner, Big Beef is often considered the finest all-around tomato for your vegetable garden. It’s extra meaty with a true homegrown flavor and just the right balance of sugars and acids. Big Beef produces extra large, beefy fruit and the large, vigorous and disease-resistant plants are quite manageable when staked or grown in large cages.
Tomato Beefsteak Brandy Boy Hybrid:
Versatile in the kitchen, this is one of the tastiest tomatoes you can grow. A hybrid of the classic Brandywine, Brandy Boy has the benefits of an heirloom – incredible taste, smooth and thin skin – without the drawbacks. Producing loads of large pink fruits, this tomato is best eaten fresh in salads. These tomatoes need at least one inch (2.5 cm) of water per week and prefer six hours or more of direct sun each day.
Surprisingly compact plant with beefsteak size and flavor. Now beefsteak tomatoes can be grown in a container! This mid-season beefsteak is a standout for its exceptional taste, size and quantity. the surprisingly compact plant is loaded with big, flavorful and meaty tomatoes that mature early. It's well-suited for small gardens, too.
Tomato Beefsteak Love Gourmansun Sunrise:
A bicolor feast for the eyes and palette. Love Sunrise tomato plants are indeterminate and produce beautiful, flaming yellow bicolor beefsteak tomatoes in a unique oxheart shape. Everyone will fall in love with Tomato Love Sunrise and its great-tasting, heart-shaped fruit.
Tomato Beefsteak Oh Happy Day:
Enjoy lots of tasty beefsteak tomatoes in clusters of 3 to 7 fruit. These beefsteaks are quick to harvest, too, as they snap off easily from the stem. Oh Happy Day has an incredible disease-resistance package! The plants produce an outstanding crop of 5 to 6-oz (141 to 170-g) beefsteak tomatoes in clusters. This indeterminate variety resists Early Blight, Late Blight, Verticillium and Fusarium with a flavor that’s top notch!
Tips the scales at up to 4 lbs. (1816g)! Extra-large beefsteak tomatoes can tip the scales at up to 4 lbs. (1816 g)! Bursting with lots of rich, old-fashioned flavor, too. Luscious flesh is deep red all the way through, with the right balance of meaty solids and succulent juice. Perfect in the garden!
Tomato Beefsteak Steak House Hybrid:
One of the world's largest beefsteak tomatoes. It's bigger and it's better! One of the world's largest beefsteaks, Steak House consistently tips the scales at up to 3 lbs. (1362 g), and it produces high yields! The broad-shouldered tomatoes are loaded with true heirloom flavor and wonderful fragrance. Due to large plant and tomato size, support is required.
Tomato Beefsteak Supersteak Hybrid:
These jumbo fruits have excellent flavor, making them perfect for slicing. Producing fruits as large as two pounds (32 oz.), Super Steak Hybrid is a favorite among giant tomatoes. Smooth skin and a meaty texture make this variety perfect for slicing on sandwiches. One slice covers the whole thing! These tomatoes need at least one inch (2.5 cm) of water per week and prefer six hours or more of direct sun each day.
A feast for the eyes as well as the palate! Big Rainbow is a feast for the eyes as well as the palate with its red-and-yellow marbled flesh. Big Rainbow is a knockout sliced on a platter with other varieties. The sweet, mild flavor of the huge, 2-lb. (908-g) tomatoes complements sandwiches and salads to perfection.
Dark red-purple fruit with delicate skin and green shoulders. Originating in the Crimea, an island peninsula known for its perfect tomato summers, this beefsteak variety bears medium-sized, very dark maroon fruits with wonderfully rich flavor. Delicate skin and juicy, green-tinted flesh complete the package.
Tomato Heirloom Brandywine Pink:
Incredibly superb, sweet flavor. Dating way back to 1885, this heirloom tomato standard delivers incredibly superb, sweet flavor. Large, luscious red-pink fruits – weighing in at 1 to 2 lbs. (454 to 908 g) each – grow on unusually upright plants. Fruits set one or two per cluster and ripen late – but they’re worth the wait!
Tomato Heirloom Brandywine Red
Brandywine Red is a good-tasting heirloom tomato that is vigorous and bears large-lobed, beefsteak-shaped fruit. Brandywine Red is one of the most popular and best-tasting heirloom tomatoes...and now it's part of the Burpee Home Gardens lineup of vegetables! The very vigorous plants bear large-lobed, beefsteak-shaped fruit that are perfect for slicing. The thin-skinned, pinkish-red tomatoes are flavorful but not acidic.
Tomato Heirloom Cherokee Purple:
This large, dark purple-skinned tomato is rumored to have come from Cherokee gardeners. The flesh of Cherokee Purple is brick-red and very attractive sliced on a plate. It has a rich and full flavor that is often compared to popular Brandywine Red. Plants make large vines that yield tomatoes up to 5 in. (13 cm) across and 3.5 in (9 cm) high.
Huge, solid scarlet fruits average 1 lb., with some up to 2 lbs. Smooth crack-resistant slicer has extra delicious flavor. Huge, solid scarlet fruits average 1 lb. (454 g) with some growing as big as 2 lbs. (908 g) each! This smooth, crack-resistant, excellent slicer has extra delicious flavor.
Tomato Heirloom Mortgage Lifter:
A consistent taste test-winner! This huge 16-24 oz. (454-680 g) heirloom beefsteak tomato is rich and meaty, with few seeds. Great for slicing, sandwiches and salsas. Developed in the 1930s by a gardener who was able to pay off his mortgage in six years, thanks to his tomato discovery.
Long, blocky, 5 to 8-oz. (142 to 227-g) fruits are easy to seed, leaving plenty of meat for a first-class paste or sauce. It really is the perfect paste tomato! San Marzano's shape is also good for canning and excellent for drying.
A favorite of heirloom tomato gardeners for decades. Looking for the perfect Summer party hors d'oeuvres? You've found it with Yellow Pear! This variety makes a vigorous plant, which bears enormous numbers of bright yellow, bit-sized fruit that has a deliciously tangy flavor.
Tomato Heirloom Marriage Big Brandy:
This pink beefsteak is a cross of Big Dwarf and Brandywine. A cross between two heirloom parents, Big Brandy adds a new flavor dimension to the rich complexity of Brandywine and Big Dwarf. Slice and enjoy on your favorite summertime sandwich or use these rich flavor pink beefsteaks for a colorful tomato salad. Big Brandy has higher yields and is earlier maturing than its parents with fewer blemishes.
Tomato Heirloom Marriage Genuwine:
This Heirloom Marriage crosses the robust Italian flavor of Costoluto Genovese with the rich perfume of Brandywine. Produces an abundance of squat, pleated slicer tomatoes with all the flavor of its parents and none of their shortcomings.
Tomato Heirloom Marriage Jersey Boy:
Cross of two tasty heirlooms creates a tomato with all the flavor of its parents with fewer fruit blemishes. Tasty slicer is a cross between Sudduth's Brandywine and Rutgers. Jersey Boy yields lots of sandwich-ready, 10 to 15-oz (284 to 425-g) fruits with all the flavor of its heirloom parents and fewer blemishes.
Tomato Heirloom Marriage Perfect Flame:
Perfect Flame is a cross of two heirlooms, Jaune Flamme and Peron. Creates colorful salads and gives a flavor blast! This luscious saladette variety represents the sweet-tart fruitiness and color of one of France's most beloved heirlooms. Their flavor is intensified in Perfect Flame's rich orange fruit. Early-yielding, it bears plenty of meaty, orange 3.5 to 4.5-oz. (100 to 125-g) fruits with lots of flavor and few fruit blemishes.
Tomato Paste & Saladette Big Mama Hybrid:
This incredibly meaty variety sets a new standard for paste tomatoes - perfect for sauces and soups. Plum-shaped and enormous, Big Mama Hybrid tomatoes grow up to 5 in. (13-cm) long and 3 in. (8 cm) across. In the kitchen, this variety is easy to peel and core. One of the best paste tomatoes, Big Mama is excellent in sauces. These tomatoes need at least one inch (2.5 cm) of water per week and prefer six hours or more of direct sun each day.
Tomato Paste & Saladette Fresh Salsa Hybrid:
These small, plum-shaped fruits are ideal for tasty salsas, bruschetta and sauces. Salsa lovers, your tomato is here. You can chop this tomato into tiny cubes that remain perfectly firm and solid in salsa recipes. Plum-shaped and “dripless,” Fresh Salsa is all meat, perfect for recipes like bruschetta and light sauces. These tomatoes need at least one inch (2.5 cm) of water per week and prefer six hours or more of direct sun each day.
Tomato Paste & Saladette Gladiator:
A beautiful paste tomato plant that resists Blossom End Rot with its strong root system. Gladiator is shown to resist calcium deficiency from Pennsylvania to California. It's excellent for slicing and making sauce. Its secret is in the roots, which help the plant resist fruit damage - a big complaint about paste tomatoes! Fruits set in abundance on this indeterminate plant.
Tomato Paste & Saladette Juliet:
Big vines produce grape-like clusters of petite sweeties. Juliet is packed with flavor! This All-America Selections winner is a plum of a cherry - very juicy and sweet. Best of all, it's a crack-resistant tomato. Plants also resist Alternaria and Leaf Blight.
Tomato Paste & Saladette Little Napoli:
Finally! A Roma tomato for your patio! A great performer in containers, this is one of the only patio-type Roma's available, and it has disease resistance to Fusarium Race 1 and Verticulium for better garden success. The small plants yield large amounts of tasty paste tomatoes, so gardeners can actually harvest enough at one time to make a batch of salsa or sauce.
Tomato Paste & Saladette SuperSauce:
This game-changing paste tomato is the biggest you can grow - up to 2 lbs. (908 g) each! Finally, a tomato that wants to be tomato sauce! ‘Super Sauce’ is a large-fruited variety that is super-easy to peel, making homemade sauce a quick and easy meal. It's meaty, nearly seedless, and packed with flavor.