Tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum) are members of the nightshade family and produce fruit that’s technically a berry. This fruit is considered to be a “culinary vegetable” since it is normally consumed with or in savory main meal dishes. Tomatoes are usually red in color, but this may not always be the case – particularly with heirloom varieties.
The plant originated in Central and South America. It was introduced to the Spanish after their conquest of the Aztecs in Mexico and then spread to Europe and to other European-influenced areas of the world in the 1500s.
Thousands of tomato cultivars are grown throughout the word in both heirloom and hybrid varieties, with some cultivated for canning and sauces, and others for fresh eating.
The plants typically grow to 3-10 feet (1-3 meters) in height. They have a weak centralized stem that typically requires support structures such as trellises, cages, or rope weaves to remain upright.
Tomatoes fall into two different categories. Determinate or “bush” tomatoes are annuals that grow to a certain point, produce all their crop at once, and then die. The indeterminate type are perennial in their native growing zones of Central America but are grown as annuals in temperate regions. These varieties continue to grow and will produce a crop throughout their lifespan.
Are you ready to add tomatoes to your home garden? Be sure to read all of our growing and harvesting guides down below. Happy gardening!
Growing your own tomatoes is fun and rewarding for both the novice and experienced gardener. Saving the pips from your harvest is a smart and easy way to economize and ensure you get the plants that perform best in your garden. Join us and learn about the four methods to save tomato seed. Read more now.
A scourge that can kill homegrown tomato plants in days, southern blight is caused by a fungus that multiplies in hot, humid weather. It can survive for years in garden soil. In our guide we cover preventive measures that include keeping the garden debris-free, properly spacing plants, and rotating crops. Read more now.
Catfacing of tomatoes is a physiological disorder that causes deformities in the developing fruit, caused by stressful cultural conditions. Steps you can take to prevent this condition include planting resistant varieties and ensuring your plants are not subjected to cold weather. Read on to learn more about catface.
Are you wondering what to do with your end-of-season surplus of green and ripe red tomatoes? Some can be kept in boxed storage to continue to ripen and enjoy fresh. But for a bumper harvest, long-term preservation is often needed. Find all the details on how to store your homegrown tomatoes right here. Read more now.
When you nail the growing process, you might be drowning in more tomatoes than you know what to do with. Learn how to dehydrate tomatoes in three different ways: in the oven, sun drying, and in a dehydrator. Then, learn how to use and store those delicious dried tomatoes so you can enjoy them for months to come.
Roma tomatoes are beloved for their thick-walled, meaty flesh and bold taste. They’re the go-to variety for rich tomato sauces, pastes, purees, and make a delicious, dripless bruschetta or salsa. And they’re easy to grow in containers or the garden. Find all our best tips for growing Roma tomatoes right here.
Ripening tomatoes sometimes develop a dark, sunken spot at the blossom end, known as blossom-end rot. But this damage to your crop is not a sign of disease – it’s due to a lack of calcium in the fruit. Read on to learn about the measures you can take to keep your tomatoes safe from this physiological disorder.
It’s so sad when tomatoes won’t ripen on the vine. Stay one step ahead of the coming frost with these tips to make homegrown tomatoes turn red. Temperature, cultivar selection, and stress all come into play. And sometimes you can bring green fruit inside to ripen. Our motto: No tomato left behind. Read more now.
When life gives you a bumper crop of tomatoes, you’re in luck if you have room in the freezer. But you need to be savvy. Make the most of a tomato glut without wasting time or energy, and try our tips for making sauce or concasse, freezer jam, and salsa, as well as freezing plain, unpeeled tomatoes. Read more now.
A bountiful harvest of tasty homegrown tomatoes is a treat that shouldn’t be missed. But sometimes plants need a helping hand. Don’t let bad weather or a lack of pollinators thwart your green thumb. Learn four easy ways to hand pollinate tomatoes and you’ll always enjoy an abundant crop. Read more now.
Tomato plants require consistent, deep watering in order to thrive. By irrigating plants correctly, you can avoid common problems while simultaneously improving the quality of your crop. Read more now to learn how to water tomatoes over the course of the growing season to maximize yields of juicy, flavorful fruits.
Tomato plants are commonly infected by a fungus that manifests as spots shaped like bull’s-eyes on the leaves and fruit. Your plants are likely to have early blight, caused by the fungus Alternaria. This disease is not usually fatal, but it can ruin your harvest. Read on to learn how to manage this ubiquitous disease.
You don’t have to prune your tomatoes, but if you do, you’ll be glad you did! Pruning improves your harvest in terms of both volume and quality of the fruit, and it also keeps plants healthier. But doing it wrong can do the total opposite. Read more now to learn how to prune tomatoes the right way.
The flavor of homegrown tomatoes is an experience no one should miss. Even if you don’t have the real estate for a vegetable patch, you can still enjoy their rich taste with fast growing and prolific container plants on your deck or patio. Learn how to grow tomatoes in containers and pots with this guide. Read more now.
One of the prettiest, most flavorful beefsteak heirloom tomatoes, ‘Hawaiian Pineapple’ has yellow and red flesh and a sweeter than average flavor. The vigorous vines reach seven feet tall and produce fruits weighing one to two pounds each! With our tips, you can grow your own supply for recipes and to preserve.
Solid orange slicing tomatoes, ‘Kellogg’s Breakfast’ grow on tall vines that need strong cages or stakes. The flavorful heirlooms produce one- to two-pound fruits in mid- to late summer. Our guide covers the traits that make this beefsteak a home cook and gardener’s favorite, and we share growing tips for top yields.
Tomatoes come in a huge range of colors and flavors, and the pigment influences how a tomato tastes. Black ones are complex and smoky, reds offer a balance of sweetness and acid, and yellows are mostly sweet. This guide explains how color impacts flavor so you’ll know what to expect when you pick up that striped fruit.
‘Costoluto Genovese’ offers intense flavor in an Italian canning tomato you can enjoy fresh in BLTs or caprese salad, too. This heirloom has a distinct lobed shape and bright red fruits with a high acid content. With our guide, you can harvest dozens of tasty tomatoes from each plant in your home garden.
Think tomatoes won’t thrive in clay soil? Here’s where we shatter that gardening myth. Even clay can’t stop a determined vegetable gardener from growing a bounty of tomatoes. The strategies for producing top yields and great flavor from tomatoes grown in heavy soil start with soil prep, and end at harvest. Read more.
Wondering what the difference is between determinate and indeterminate tomatoes – and what this means for your garden? From staking and pruning to harvesting, these two types of tomato plants grow differently – and understanding their differences will guide you to the best tomato harvests. To learn more, keep reading.
Tomato hornworms might look interesting with that curved horn, but you might feel more frustrated than intrigued when you notice they are munching all the leaves off your tomato plant. This guide covers everything you need to know about these large caterpillars, including several effective ways to control infestations.
If you are thinking of planting tomatoes in your vegetable garden, have you tried growing non-hybrid heirloom varieties? Capture the texture, taste, and colors of the past with these old-fashioned favorites. Learn about 21 of the best heirloom tomato varieties available and choose your favorites. Read more now.
Freshly picked cherry tomatoes are the perfect healthy snack, and they’re great in salads or roasted on the grill. Easily cultivated, the vigorous plants produce abundant clusters of fruit in containers on the patio or out in the garden. Don’t miss our guide to 17 of the best cherry tomatoes to plant in your garden.
Want to grow juicy, sweet tomatoes with the best flavor? Our guide tells you how to select the sweetest varieties and encourage sugary flavor with proper growing conditions. Rich soil, supplemental water, and vine pruning are all important. Grow the best tasting cherry, plum, and beefsteaks in your summer garden.
A vining heirloom tomato that grows tall and produces loads of tiny fruits, ‘Yellow Pear’ is a vintage favorite for the home garden. Our guide shares top tips for growing a bumper crop of these uniquely-shaped, mild-tasting yellow tomatoes. They’re ideal for eating straight from the vine, roasting, or sun-drying.
Grow a taste of Italy in your home garden with ‘San Marzano’ heirloom plum tomatoes. With thick, flavorful flesh, minimal seeds, and thin skins, they’re ideal for sauce, canning, or freezing, but you can enjoy them fresh, too. Read our guide to learn more about their volcanic history and gain some top growing tips.
Want to pick hundreds of cherry tomatoes from a single homegrown plant? Grow ‘Supersweet 100’ to harvest a bounty from midsummer to first frost. The hybrid plants are disease-resistant, and yield sweet fruits for fresh eating, cooking, and preserving. Our tips will help you grow a bumper crop of ‘Supersweet 100.’
Indeterminate ‘Mortgage Lifter’ tomatoes grow tall and produce glorious, meaty fruits over a long period. They got their name from a 1930s mechanic, Radiator Charlie, who paid off his mortgage with the proceeds. These heirlooms won’t pay the bills, but they’re a priceless way to enjoy real tomato taste all summer long.
Want to grow your own canning tomatoes for year-round deliciousness? Heirloom or hybrid, huge or snack-sized, each of our favorite varieties has its own unique taste and texture. Discover 15 of the best tomatoes to grow and preserve and to fill your pantry with sauces and salsas to see you through the rest of the year.
Companion planting with marigolds and tomatoes is a common gardening technique that’s been around for a long time. But is it really worth doing? Is there any evidence to back the practice up? We’ll take a look at whether marigolds and tomatoes grow better when planted together and what the science has to say about it.
The beefsteak tomato is a large mutant fruit that caught the eye of early Mesoamericans and has been beloved ever since. Growing the big brother of America’s favorite vegetable isn’t unlike cultivating other tomatoes, but there are a few things you should know. Learn how to care for this hefty tomato in this guide.
Wondering when it’s the right time to plant tomatoes? If you start too soon you risk harming or even killing the plants, but wait too long and they may not have enough time to fully mature and produce a harvest. Read on to learn how to determine the optimal time to start tomato seeds and plants in your climate.
Want to grow tomatoes from seed? It’s easy to start these delicious summer vegetables from the comfort of home, and then transplant them to your garden. We explain when to start and what you’ll need, with step by step instructions. Learn how to start your own seeds and harvest a bumper crop of juicy ripe tomatoes now.
Juicy, homegrown slicing tomatoes, fresh off the vine and the bigger the better? Yes, please! This list covers 23 of the best sandwich varieties you can grow in your garden. Get ready for BLTs, fresh salsa, and caprese salads galore once these heirloom and hybrid beefsteaks start producing fruit ripe for slicing.
Late blight can rapidly devastate entire tomato crops under favorable conditions. Experts advise checking plants at least twice a week to monitor for this infection, and you can consult local resources to find out if it is active in your area. Read more to learn what to look for and how to prevent late blight.
‘Cherokee Purple’ tomatoes produce delicious and bountiful fruit with a sweet yet smoky flavor, perfect for sandwiches, pizzas, and pastas. This indeterminate variety is emblematic of all heirlooms, and a story of seed exchanges, passed from one hand to another, mark this variety with character and history.
Often considered to be the perfect sandwich tomato, Brandywines produce large, sweet, beefsteak style fruits that can grow up to two pounds in size. It’s no wonder these are one of the most popular heirloom tomatoes to grow in the garden. Continue on to learn how to grow delicious and flavorful ‘Brandywine’ tomatoes.
If you live in a climate that tends to be hot and humid, Septoria leaf spot can be a devastating disease of tomatoes. This fungal infection can be very persistent, so you may need to use fungicides to keep it under control. Read on to learn how to prevent, identify, and control this disease in the garden.
Not sure what’s plaguing your tomatoes? Our roundup of common tomato plant diseases can help you to identify, treat, and prevent a variety of fungal, bacterial, and viral ailments, as well as other issues that may arise. From Alternaria stem canker to Verticillium wilt, we’ve got you covered. Read more now.
Three types of aggressive microbes can cause tomato blight. Early blight and Septoria blight are fungal diseases, while late blight is caused by a water mold. The symptoms of these diseases all differ slightly, and this guide will show you how to prevent, identify, and treat these insidious infections in your crop.
Excessively large green tomato buds that do not develop into flowers can be a sign that your plants are infected with tomato big bud phytoplasma. This disease is incurable, so your main focus should be on prevention. Read on to learn what to look for and how to prevent this disease from infecting your tomato plants.
Sclerotinia stem rot, or white mold of tomato lives up to its name causing brittle dead stalks filled with fluffy white clumps of fungus. This disease frequently kills tomato plants, and the fungi can live in the soil for up to a decade. Read on to learn how to recognize the symptoms and prevent it from spreading.
They’re colorful, juicy, and oh so tasty – we know an heirloom tomato when we see one. Heirloom tomatoes come in all shapes and sizes, have been grown in gardens for centuries, and often have charming histories attached to them. Want to know what makes these tomatoes worthy of handing down? To find out, keep reading.
Do you fancy the idea of picking tasty, tangy cherry tomatoes fresh from the vine? Easy to grow and vigorous, they produce an abundance of bite-sized fruit in an array of beautiful colors. Among the earliest to ripen, they deliver a long season as well. Get all the best tips for growing cherry tomatoes right here.
Picture a red tomato ripening on the vine, perfectly plump and juicy. One day, you notice a split down the side! Are all of your gardening efforts wasted? Take a look at what causes splitting, and most importantly, whether you can salvage your harvest and safely eat tomatoes that have split or cracked. Read more.
Whether or not to compost tomatoes is a controversial topic in the gardening world. Fears that composting tomatoes will encourage pathogens, create messes, and cause trouble the following season lead many gardeners to trash their plants. Read on to examine these concerns and learn how to safely compost tomato plants.
The fresh taste of juicy homegrown tomatoes is one of the joys of summer gardening. Whether you enjoy them tossed in a summer salad or cooked in a classic sauce, tomatoes are a must-have in the veggie garden. Learn how to plant and grow your own tasty tomatoes and enjoy the fresh taste of summer. Read more now.
Whether you like your tomatoes raw, stewed, juiced, pureed, or transformed into a sauce, we can all agree that they’re amazing veggies. Tasty to eat and enjoyable to grow, they also offer incredible health benefits and contain essential vitamins and minerals. Learn the top 10 reasons to love tomatoes – read more now.
From the teeniest, tiniest cherry all the way up to the biggest, beefiest tomato, hybrid tomatoes come in a range of shades, shapes, and sizes, meaning there’s a perfect option tickle everyone’s taste buds! Read on to find out which variety of hybrid tomato ‘pips’ your interest in our guide to the top tomato hybrids.
Looking for the best way to support your tomatoes? Using the Florida Weave, all of your plants can be supported with the same trellis. It’s easy to set up, requires very few materials, and can be used for both determinate and indeterminate varieties. Read more now on Gardener’s Path and learn how to make your own.