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It would be simple enough for me to buy tomato plants locally. They are generally tried and true varieties that gardeners have had success with for decades. Best Boy, Better Boy and whatever else is in stock will produce tomatoes, but some people have more luck than others. In the past, my garden center tomatoes have sometimes struggled to produce and then quit altogether when the weather turned hot.
There are a great number of varieties available as seeds, especially from online and mail-order catalogs. I had good success growing tomato plants from seed last year, and had two dozen plants for what four plants would have cost.
Tomatoes come in two growth habits. Determinate tomatoes are bush-type and only grow to a few feet tall. They are well-suited to field growing. Determinate plants have been developed to bring on and ripen all of their fruit at the same time. They will still produce some tomatoes after their main crop, but only a few here and there.
Indeterminate tomatoes grow very tall and vine-like. They will continue to grow and produce for as long as nutrients and suitable weather last.
I want to grow four fruit types: snacking tomatoes, slicing tomatoes, sauce tomatoes and canning tomatoes.
Cherry tomatoes are great for snacks, salads and veggie trays. I was quite happy with the two cherries I grew last year: Small cherry and Fat cherry. These were both heirloom tomatoes available from several sources I checked online.
This year I also plan to try a few Belosnezhka white cherry tomatoes. I got the seeds as a gift from one of the small seed savers I do business with on eBay.
I have two varieties of slicers.
Beefsteak tomatoes are the king of slicing tomatoes. They may well be the most popular homegrown slicing tomato in the world and were always my dad's favorite.
Creole is one I've never tried before. I chose it because it is described as very heat tolerant, a trait I specifically looked for in the catalogs. Both Beefsteak and Creole are indeterminate and likely to grow too tall and heavy for a standard tomato cage.
For canning, I've got Bradley tomatoes and Homesteads. Bradleys are indeterminate and said to be great for canning and freezing. They are also described as being tolerant of hot, dry or humid climates. This will be my first time growing them.
Homesteads are determinate and well-suited to hot climates. Last year's plants were loaded with large tomatoes of uniform size, before the raccoons decided to raid the patch, so I'm anxious to try them again this year.
I've decided to try Romas again this year. They are one of the most popular sauce tomatoes and a staple in salsas. They are determinate and well-suited to containers. I plan to devote a fair amount of space to these this year, as well as a fair amount of care and attention. If they don't earn their keep, I will be looking for a new sauce tomato next year.
Right now, I only grow open-pollinated heirloom plants. Simply put, these are tomatoes from non-hybrid seeds. Open-pollinated means you can save seeds from plants of the same variety year after year with near-identical results.
Hybrid plants are a cross between two different cultivars in order to combine desirable traits. Seeds from hybrid plants will not grow true and will be inconsistent with, if not inferior to the parent. The hybrid seeds available from dealers must be produced every year by crossing open-pollinated parents.
Heirloom means a variety has been grown to the same standard for 50-100 years, minimum, depending on who you ask.
There are plenty of great hybrids available that feature traits such as disease resistance, quick growth or whatever, but I choose open-pollinated heirlooms in order to support the preservation of genetic diversity by seed growers and seed savers.
Eight different varieties will give me as many plants as I have room for. I will put some cherry tomato plants in containers and I'm preparing space for 28 tomato plants in the garden. Once I get my potatoes and onions planted, it will be time to start tomato seeds in the greenhouse. I'm already stressing about staying on schedule. Thank goodness gardening isn't an exact science.
Stephen
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