Tomato Types and Growing Habits

Tomato Types and Growing Habits

I have been growing tomatoes for a very long time and it just amazes me how each year so many new varieties come onto the market for the gardener to grow. I am afraid that for taste and disease resistance I still favour the heritage heirloom varieties. Sadly these are getting harder and harder to source for seed these days as more people are walking away from gardening in exchange for the ease of just buying their tomatoes at the local supermarkets.

As gardeners we really need to keep growing these old varieties and saving the seed so that we do not loose an extremely valuable crop and yet another heirloom varieties.

There are 5 basic categories of tomatoes

• Grape or Cherry (small)
• Paste (generally elongated or pear shaped)
• Slicing (generally round to flattish and larger in size, some varieties can reach as much as 500 – 700 grams in weight)
• Acid (excellent for  making tomato soup, pasta sauces, ketchups and general canning)
• Non Acid (excellent for people with delicate stomachs and intolerance to tomato acids and also for making tomato paste)

There are two growing forms for tomato plants

• Determinate – These plants grow to a certain height and the stop but will bush out. Also known as “Bush” varieties (excellent for container growing)
• Indeterminate – These will continue growing in height and sending out long branches. Also known as “Standard” Varieties (These tomato varieties need to be staked)