5 Tomato Types: Choosing the Right Variety for Your Garden

These tomatoes are treasured varieties passed down for generations. Open-pollinated and wonderfully diverse, they produce fruits in unique colors, shapes, and flavors, though they often grow slower than modern hybrids.

Try: ‘Brandywine’, ‘Cherokee Purple’, and ‘Mortgage Lifter’

Note: If fast-growing heirloom flavor is what you’re after, look to Petitti-grown grafted tomatoes in 12in. pots with built-in cages for the best of both worlds — flavorful heirloom tomato varieties joined to the exceptionally vigorous rootstock. The technique, long used with fruit trees, improves plant strength, productivity, and overall performance.

If you love thick slices on a sandwich, beefsteak tomatoes are hard to beat. These large fruits are juicy, flavorful, and packed with substance. A single slice can often fill an entire piece of bread! Their impressive size and classic tomato taste make them a highlight of the summer harvest.

Try: ‘Better Boy’, ‘Big Beef’, and ‘Big Boy’

Globe varieties are the classic, all-purpose tomatoes. Medium-sized fruits in shades of red, orange, and yellow are prized for their balanced tangy flavor. They’re exccellent for slicing, salads, canning, sauces, and salsa. With a range of varieties maturing early, mid-season, or late, globe tomatoes are a versatile garden staple.

Try: ‘Celebrity Plus’, ‘Early Girl’, and ‘Lemon Boy’

Often associated with traditional Italian cooking, paste tomatoes have elongated fruits with dense flesh and fewer seeds. Their meaty texture and rich flavor make them ideal for processing into sauces, pastes, and cooking. Many gardeners also enjoy them fresh, making them a dependable, multi-purpose chose for the kitchen.

Try: ‘La Roma Red III’,’San Marzano’, and ‘Viva Italia’

These small, bite-sized tomatoes pack big flavor. Often the sweetest type, with some of the highest natural sugar levels, they’re perfect for snacking straight off the vine, tossing into salads, or roasting. Their heavy yields and quick ripening make them one of the easiest and most rewarding tomatoes to grow.

Try: Cherry ‘Sweet Million’, ‘Husky Cherry Red’, and ‘Sungold’, and Grape ‘Juliet’ and ‘Napa Grape’