Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) are especially delicious when allowed to ripen fully on the plant. Among the best ways to enjoy these wonderfully delicious fruits is to grow them on your home garden. Tomato plants can be found in a number of varieties that reach different heights. Selecting the ideal type for your situation is a significant initial step in starting your tomato garden.
Determinate Plants
Some tomato plants are called determinate because they’re programmed to achieve a particular height. When a determinate plant creates a final cluster of flowers at its terminal growing point, a signal is sent to the plant that slows and eventually stops its growth. These ranges reach heights between 3 feet and 5 feet at maturity. Determinate tomatoes are normally bushy plants that ripen fruit over a relatively short period, so starting several plants in series, spacing them apart by a couple weeks, can help lengthen your harvest. Fantastic varieties of the type comprise “Brandywine” and “Brandywine Pink,” both heirloom varieties, “Roma” and “San Marzano,” both paste-tomato manufacturers, “Mountain Belle,” which creates cherry tomatoes, along with “Mountain Gold,” with yellow tomatoes.
Indeterminate Plants
Tomato plants that continue to grow and become poorer throughout the growing season have been classified as indeterminate. These are older varieties that resemble the first, wild plant, putting flowers just on lateral branches and never to the terminal growing point. When grown on supports, the following plants need pruning late in the season to control their growth and also force plant energy into fruit production. If left unpruned, they could achieve heights of well above 7 or 8 feet. Indeterminate plants have a tendency to ripen their fruit later in the season and also produce more ample foliage than determinate types. Varieties include “Ancient Girl,” that an early-ripening red tomato, “Better Boy” and “Supersonic,” strong, disease-resistant plants, and “Beefmaster” and “Supersteak,” which produce extra large tomatoes that are exceptional sliced for new eating.
Patio Tomatoes
Dwarf tomato varieties are especially suited to growing in containers, for example on a sunny porch or terrace. These plants typically reach heights of 1 to 2 feet at maturity. Some especially dwarfed varieties do well in hanging baskets or other smaller containers. In addition to supplying a gardener with delicious, edible fruit, the following plants also provide ornamental value. Good varieties include “Tiny Tim,” with crimson cherry-type tomatoes approximately 1 inch in diameter, “Red Robin,” which creates mild-flavored tomatoes, “Patio Hybrid,” with especially large tomatoes to get a dwarf kind, and “Small Fry,” adaptable to hanging baskets.
Tree-Form Tomato
The tree tomato (Cyphomandra betacea) is part of a different genus than the commonly grown tomato plant, nevertheless creates true tomatoes. Originally from high-altitude regions of South America, it does best in temperatures above 50 degrees Fahrenheit and can achieve a height of 10 feet or more. A partially woody plant, the tree tomato creates egg-shaped fruit pointed at both ends, with skin of various colors, from orange or yellow to crimson and also reddish-purple, and delicious, sweet, low-acid flesh.