Tomatoes

Of all the vegetables and fruits people grow in their gardens, none provoke more joy—or frustration—than tomatoes. Everyone’s passions come out when the tomatoes come in. It’s no wonder they were once called “love apples.”

Confused? We can help you with everything you need to know to grow your own! Whether it's in your vegetable garden or a patio garden, our tomato starts will get you going. And we have a selection that will make your mouth water with the sweetness of fresh, homegrown tomatoes!

We carry over 200 varieties every year with our peak selection between the last week of April through mid to late May. We will still carry tomatoes into June, but the selection decreases. Here is a quick guide for sorting through the varieties:

Hybrid Tomatoes

Tomatoes that are the result of crossing several plants to obtain certain desirable traits such as flavor, cold resistance, disease resistance, higher yields, etc. Please do not confuse this with GMOs. This is not an issue at your local garden center because there are currently no genetically modified seeds or plants available to the general public. Heirlooms are open-pollinated varieties developed over time and passed from generation to generation. Usually, if such a plant is over 50 years old it is considered an heirloom.

Determinate and indeterminate

Determinate and indeterminate have to do with the growth habit and when tomatoes come ripe. Determinate tomatoes grow to a compact height and ripen most of their fruit about the same time (a good thing if you are canning). Indeterminate tomatoes continue to grow, flower and fruit throughout the growing season. This information is usually on the tag along with how many days to harvest.

Grafted Tomatoes

Grafted tomatoes are the new plant on the block in garden centers. They are tomatoes grafted to a rootstock chosen for higher disease resistance, vigor and increased harvest. They also can come with 2 different types of tomatoes grafted together. It is important to pay attention to where the graft is because, unlike regular tomatoes, you should not plant them deep and bury the graft. You should also snip off any growth coming from below the graft. This year you will also be able to multi task in the garden with a tomato grafted to a potato plant called Ketchup ‘n’ Fries* – check early for this one as it may be in limited supplies its first

Some of our favorites:

• Kellog’s Breakfast – an heirloom with deep orange, large, beefsteak type fruit.
• Goliath – perfect sandwich size slicing tomato with great flavor.
• Amish Paste – another heirloom great for cooking.
• Sungold – a sweet yellow-orange cherry tomato, probably the most popular.

We attempt to keep the classics like Beefsteak, Early Girl, Brandywine, Roma, San Marzano, Sun Gold, Sweet 100 and Sweet Million on our shelves. Plus there are a number of Heirlooms that we regularly carry. More unusual varieties, we may only get in once.

If you have one certain variety in mind, it may pay to have a backup choice when you come into the store. We are bound to have some exciting substitute that you may just come to love. Another strategy, that many of our customers use, is to visit us several times during tomato season until their collection is complete. Usually all of our weekly tomato orders are here by Thursday or Friday. Use our buyer’s lists to pick out a few varieties you think would be best in your garden.