Well do you want to grow lots of tomatoes, but don't know what yo grow or how to grow it?
Well, last year I grew a tomato jungle right here in my backyard garden
in raised beds. And I had hundreds of pounds of tomato harvest to enjoy.
The secret to growing tomatoes successfully is variety selection,
and that's what I'm going to talk all about today.
My favorite tomato varieties.
But before we get started,
don't forget to hit the subscribe button and the notification bell
so you don't miss another great gardening video from Kellogg Garden again.
So let's go!
My name is Resh Gala, founder of Hundred Tomatoes,
no surprises there, right?
And I'm a kitchen gardener from New Jersey, growing zone 6b.
I'm gonna start with some of my favorite tomatoes
and I'm going to break down this video into the classic heirloom tomatoes, or the indeterminate tomatoes that I recommend.
Followed by the determinate tomato varieties,
and lastly, the cherry tomato varieties.
Now, before I talk about my favorite tomato varieties,
I want to talk about the two different main varieties of tomatoes
which are indeterminate tomatoes and determinate tomatoes.
Lots of people ask me the question about that,
and are quite confused about which variety should they go for.
And it's quite simple, really.
Indeterminate tomatoes are the ones that produce
from your last frost date, which could be in late April or early May
if you're in the North East,
all the way up until you're firs frost date
which could be October/November.
So they produce little fruit at a time
until they die off when the hard frost hits the tomatoes, and they don't produce after that.
So, that is your indeterminate tomato varieties.
Now, most tomato varieties are generally, indeterminate.
And so, they grow really tall and long, and could reach even,
7, 8 feet tall, perhaps.
A lot of your cherry tomatoes too, are the indeterminate tomato varieties.
Now, determinate tomato varieties are the ones that produce a determined amount of fruit
in a given period of time.
And usually, it would say on the plant 'DET.' if you go to your big box store or your nursery
and try to pick up your seedlings for your tomatoes. It will say 'DET,' which stands for determinate.
Now those are more busy varieties of tomatoes and don't grow as tall as the indeterminate ones.
And, they're technically supposed to survive
just for a short period of time, maybe a couple of months,
where they produce large amounts and large masses of tomatoes all at once.
So, you get and incredibly large harvest that you can, you know, maybe
freeze, you can turn it into soups, stews.
Or, anything else you'd want to store for a long period of time,
or share with your friends.
So, that is your determinate tomato variety.
'DET,' is what you're looking for when you're buying seedlings.
Now, my most favorite one,
is this one right here, which is 'Aunt Ruby's German Green Tomato.'
And this is my quintessential tomato that I will always grow in my garden every year.
It ripens to a beautiful green color and it stays green,
and it tastes amazing!
It has the most classic tomato flavor of all the tomatoes that I've ever tasted.
And trust me, I've tried a lot of them.
Now, the big thing about this is that it grows pretty large and meaty,
and it's very juicy and delicious.
I love to eat this tomato in just a regular tomato sandwich,
which is two slices of white bread smothered with some butter,
and a thick slice of this green tomato in between.
Now, the only disadvantage I can think of with growing this variety
is that it ripens to a green color and does not go red.
Sometimes it might be a challenge to figure out whether it's ready to pick or not.
But, I think, if you just touch it and give it a squeeze, as long as it's not too soft,
that means it's over-ripe, go for it, and enjoy it.
Now, the second variety that I want to talk about
is 'Dr. Wyche's Tomato.'
Now, you might have heard a lot of people rave about this.
And this doesn't have a very strong acidic flavor, in fact it's one of the
milder tomatoes that I have tried.
However, the color is stunning.
And you can find this one or the green variety very easily in your grocery store or farmer's market.
The best point about this is that again, like Aunt Ruby's,
it is a large, meaty heirloom tomato variety.
And the negative is that it doesn't produce as many tomatoes
as one would hope for.
But, the flavor is amazing
and it's similar to Kellogg's breakfast variety.
So if you can't get you're hands on these seeds, Dr. Wyche's,
then go for a Kellogg's Breakfast, the orange color.
The next tomato variety I'm going to talk about is 'Pantano Romanesco.'
Now, this one is a classic red tomato.
The classic one that you can use in cutting, in soups, stews, eating fresh, and sandwiches,
what have you. Now, I always grow this one,
and actually, when it does ripen and you pick them, it pretty much looks similar to this one in the picture.
It has a few cracks on top, but it doesn't crack easily anywhere else.
And it's you're classic, red tomato that you can grow.
It's an heirloom variety, so I highly recommend this one. 'Pantano Romanesco.'
Now, the next one I'm going to talk about is the 'Cherokee Purple Tomato.'
Now, this one has a cult following, I think.
And there are lots of people who swear by this tomato and pretty much grow it every year in their garden.
Even though it is prone to diseases and pest quite easily,
people swear by the flavor and grow it every year.
Now, this one ripens to a beautiful pink-purple color,
and it's just incredible to see.
And, it's a very sweet, smokey flavor as well.
I think this is an heirloom variety that was originated, probably in the 1800's.
In the late 1890's perhaps. And it's come down over the years. I highly recommend this one.
Now, after talking about my favorite heirloom varieties,
which are the big beefsteaks and the meaty varieties.
I want to also talk about my favorite indeterminate varieties of cherry tomatoes.
Starting of course, with the 'Sun Gold Cherry Tomato.'
Now, this I'm sure everybody's heard of it. It's one of the most popular
cherry tomatoes, I think, among tomato growers out there.
I always grow Sun Gold in my garden,
and in fact, last year, I think it pretty much grew maybe over 8 feet tall,
and had ever jumped off the fence and had gone over.
So, I highly suggest with tomatoes, have a strong trellis or a cage to support them,
so that they don't bend over and fall.
And 'Sun Gold Cherry Tomato' is my absolute favorite.
It is sweet, it is not too tart.
It's perfect in salads, or actually. To be honest, you can have it fresh, just pop it in your mouth.
And, it's an explosion of flavor, I love it.
And, it's a beautiful, gold, orangey, yellow color.
You just can't beat that. It looks amazing in salads.
Or in just, you know, anything else that you want to have.
So, Sun Gold is my number 1 favorite cherry tomato variety.
So, if you can grow just one tomato, make sure it's a Sun Gold.
Apart from the Sun Gold, I usually grow this 'Super Sweet 100 Cherry Tomato' variety as well.
And this is your classic red tomato, red cherry tomato variety.
Perfect in salads or even eaten fresh as well.
And one of the things is though, that you have to keep in mind that a lot of
these cherry tomatoes, their skin is very thin.
So they do tend to crack and split very easily if there's a heavy rainfall.
So, make sure you harvest your cherry tomatoes before it's about to rain heavily
so they don't split and crack.
You don't want the skin bursting and all the juices coming out.
Another cherry tomato, like I mentioned, the 'Super Sweet 100,' you're classic red.
Can't go wrong with it. Extremely sweet in flavor.
Unlike some of the other ones which could be a little bit tough skinned,
this one is thin skinned, but it tastes incredible. Completely worth it.
So, Sun Gold and Super Sweet cherry tomatoes, I always grow them every year.
Now, the last cherry tomato variety is this one right here,
which is the 'Black Cherry Tomato.'
And if you like an explosion of colors on your table or in your food plate, then I strongly suggest you grow;
an orange variety, which is the Sun Gold. A red variety which is the Super Sweet 100.
And this black variety, which is the Black Cherry.
Now this one actually, it turns a beautiful, dark red,
like a brick red color.
And it tastes different from the other tomatoes in the sense that it's got a smokey,
barbecue like flavor.
So, this is delicious and very different. So, I highly recommend you try this one as well.
Now, apart from my cherry tomatoes and the beefsteak heirloom tomato varieties,
some of the other varieties that I always, always grow,
are determinate tomatoes.
And, determinate tomato varieties are amazing because they're busy,
and they can be grown easily in containers as well. And that's what I do.
I generally grow my determinate tomato varieties in containers.
And, actually last year, I grew the 'Galahad Tomato,'
which just was an immense producer.
I think it out produced, both the Galahad and Celebrity tomatoes,
I think they both out produced my indeterminate heirloom tomatoes by like,
miles in bushels I would say.
So, I was very happy with it. It's sort of like a class tomato you can get at your grocery store.
Except it's super productive. You can grow it in containers. It's a bush variety,
so it doesn't need as much support as, say, another tomato variety.
Now the thing about determinate tomatoes you have to remember,
is that you don't prune them.
And by pruning or pinching, I mean that, you don't cut off the growth joint.
Usually you have the main stem and you have another stem growing,
and then you have a growth point in between the two, in the armpit so to speak.
And with indeterminate tomatoes, you tend to, you know, pinch those off.
However, with determinate tomatoes I just let them be. I don't prune them and I don't pinch them at all.
I just let them grow wild.
But, they're pretty contained because they're determinate variety, they don't cause me much trouble,
and I grow them in containers.
My favorite, absolute favorite one to recommend would be the 'Galahad Tomato,' for determinate.
And then the second one would be the 'Celebrity Tomato,' which is also determinate variety.
So, these two I always grow, and will continue to grow every year in containers in my garden.
Just a recap, favorite tomatoes to grow, of course.
Number 1, if I had to choose one heirloom tomato, it would be my 'Aunt Ruby's Green Tomato,'
is what I would grow. If I had to choose one cherry tomato to grow, it would be my 'Sun Gold' variety.
And, if I had to choose one determinate tomato to grow, it would be the 'Galahad.'
So, these are my favorites.
Do please mention down below, what are yours.
I would love to learn and would love to try any new tomato varieties as well if any of you could recommend.
So, I hope you found this helpful.
So do comment down below with any tomato questions you might have, and any tips you might want to learn,
and I'll be sure to do another follow up video for you.
And before I end, just a reminder, I would love for you to please subscribe to the Kellogg Garden Channel,
and not miss another great video from us again.
Thank you. Bye, and have a great day!