- What is the best tasting tomato to grow
- The best tomatoes for making sauce
- Which tomato variety has the highest yield?
- 5 varieties of very productive tomatoes
- 4 unusual tomato varieties to impress
- Disease-resistant tomato varieties
- What type of tomato grows the biggest
- The earliest ripening tomato varieties
Each year, garden centres offer more and more tomato varieties. If you find it difficult to choose, wait until you see all of the seeds available online!
There are more than 10,000 varieties of Solanum lycopersicum throughout the world. The great favourite of the vegetable garden comes in different sizes and every shade of red, pink, yellow, orange, blue, black, green… unless it is variegated.
Here’s help to make the best choices!
What is the best tasting tomato to grow
Rose de Berne tomato
The Rose de Berne tomato seems to be the consensus, and not only in North America. Nicknamed “the Rolls Royce of tomatoes”, this Switzerland native is renowned for the density of its fragrant and sweet flesh, barely acidulous. Its large fruit with raspberry highlights can reach 400 g. They contain few seeds and have a thin skin that resists cracking.
Sungold tomato
A very sweet and surprisingly productive golden orange cherry tomato. Highly appreciated for the taste of its fruit, it is considered one of the best cherry tomatoes.
Crimean Black tomato
It stands out for its ribbed shape and the colouring of its skin and flesh which are a beautiful dark red. Its large fruit has a sweet, well-balanced flavour and no acidity.
Mexican Honey cocktail tomato
This is a juicy and sweet tomato with a sought-after flavour, appreciated as much in salads as in preserves or jams. Its compact plant, resistant to disease and drought, bears a very large number of fruit with the shape and size of a plum.
Black Pineapple tomato
Original, both because of its tropical and smoky taste and because of its colour. Discovered in the late 1990s in a field in Belgium, this Beefsteak tomato is one of a kind. Its skin has a unique colouring with olive green shoulders and a soft yellow to red-black body. Its flesh is just as impressive with its shades ranging from dark pink to mauve, streaked with green.
Perfect in salads, it can also be used to make a sauce with a rich flavour.
The best tomatoes for making sauce
Generous in the mouth and tasty, the Italian San Marzano tomato has large fleshy fruit on a vigorous plant. Essential for preparing sauces, soups and preserves, it is one of the rare Italian tomatoes that can also be enjoyed fresh in salads.
Which tomato variety has the highest yield?
To be considered productive, a tomato variety must offer a high yield of tasty and quality fruit. It must also be resistant to diseases and withstand difficult environmental conditions.
This productivity is generally measured according to the number of kilos that a plant produces. However, the productivity will always be influenced by the growing conditions. Here are the factors that affect the yield of a plant and the quality of its fruit.
- Soil - our Organic Vegetable and Herb Mix has been specially developed to provide your plants with everything they need!
- Water - regular watering, effective drainage and adequate water retention are essential
- Exposure – tomatoes need 6 to 8 hours of sunlight per day
- Temperature
- Spacing - the spacing between plants must be respected
- Control of diseases and pests
- Beneficial growing practices - companion planting, crop rotation, etc.
- To obtain a high yield even in the smallest vegetable gardens, read our article: How to make a small, high-yielding vegetable garden
5 varieties of very productive tomatoes
Better Boy heirloom tomato
It holds the world record for the most productive tomato variety. Nothing less!
Big Beef tomato
In optimal conditions, each plant can produce 10 to 15 kg of fruit.
Supersteak tomato
Its huge, fleshy fruit can weigh up to 900 g and each plant yields 8 to 10 kg each season.
Ailsa Craig tomato
For a medium-sized variety, it yields an impressive 7 kg of tomatoes per plant.
Supersweet 100 cocktail tomato
Cherry and cocktail tomatoes are generally very high yielders. Among the most productive varieties, the Supersweet 100 bears a profusion of clusters
of around twenty fruits each.
5 original tomatoes with amazing colours
Green Zebra tomato
This robust and vigorous variety is green with gold stripes and emerald flesh. Perfectly balanced, both sweet and tangy, this variety as pretty as it is delicious was developed from 4 heirloom varieties.
Osu Blue tomato
A high level of anthocyanins gives blue tomatoes their unique colouring. These are the same pigments that are responsible for the bluish or purplish colouring of blueberries or blackcurrants. The cocktail-type fruit of the Osu Blue tomato, initially green, takes on a magnificent purple colouring, then partially red.
Indigo Rose
The Pink Indigo tomato owes its colour to a natural pigment that is also found in eggplants: anthocyanin. Small in size, it can replace cocktail tomatoes as an appetizer. Deliciously fruity, it will surprise your guests in more than one way!
Jack White tomato
This enormous tomato native to the United States is both sweet and sour. Its size is equal to that of the Cœur de boeuf Beefsteak tomato. While its size is surprising, it is nothing compared to its colour, which is… creamy white!
Blue Canary tomato
Remarkable with its bright yellow belly and dark blue - almost black - shoulders, the Blue Canary tomato is a jewel in the garden. As unique to the eye as it is to the palate, it produces fruit in abundance throughout the season.
4 unusual tomato varieties to impress
Cornue des Andes tomato… a tomato that looks like a hot pepper
Originally from Peru, this red and elongated tomato is early, productive and hardy. Its flesh is firm and its flavour is sweet. With no acidity and containing only a few seeds, it is ideal for coulis and sauces. The Andean horn tomato looks more like a hot pepper than a tomato… unless it’s a little devil’s horn!
Elberta Peach tomato… a tomato with peach skin
Small in size, this tomato is distinguished by its skin covered in a light fuzz reminiscent of a peach. Perfect as an appetizer, its firm flesh is sweet and slightly tangy.
Voyage tomato… a totally new kind of cluster tomato
Unique in its kind, this tomato seems to be formed of a tight cluster of cherry tomatoes. More reminiscent of a bouquet of miniature balloons, each fruit is unique. Sweet and juicy, this tomato will cause a sensation!
Ramillette tomato… the garden tomato that ripens for Christmas
This is the only tomato grown outdoors in the Nordic region that can be enjoyed fresh at Christmas! The last fruits removed from the plant ripen very slowly and can be stored for months, so it is possible to enjoy the produce of your garden during winter. Will tomato sandwiches replace turkey at Christmas dinners?
Disease-resistant tomato varieties
Despite their undeniable qualities, heirloom tomatoes are more fragile and more susceptible to disease than their hybrid cousins, which are the result of crossing carefully selected parents.
To learn more about the characteristics of heirloom, hybrid and organic vegetables, read: Indoor sowing: how to make an organic vegetable garden
To limit the spread of diseases in the vegetable garden, experts recommend planting both heirloom varieties and F1 hybrids. Also think about rotating crops by avoiding planting the same species or family of plants in the same place two years in a row.
Some safe bets…
Marmalade tomato
A very vigorous variety that resists diseases and pests well and produces large, sweet fruit in quantity.
Celebrity tomato
Easily found in seed form or as plants already in bloom at your local garden centre, Celebrity is one of the most widely grown classic red tomatoes, and possibly THE most widely grown. The harvest is abundant, and the large fruit can be enjoyed in many ways (fresh, in a salsa or a sauce, in preserves, etc.).
Legend tomato
Its round, slightly flattened red fruit is divinely sweet with a slight touch of acidity. It is also a variety that produces earlier in the season!
Carolina Gold tomato
A wonderfully golden Beefsteak-type tomato, very large and very smooth, both firm and fleshy, and containing few seeds.
Roma tomato
Known for its resistance to diseases, the Roma tomato performs in different environments, making it a must-have in the garden. It is mainly grown for its dense flesh and low water content which make it the perfect tomato for sauces.
TIPS: Resistance to mildew is crucial when it comes to obtaining optimal productivity since the disease can quickly destroy a harvest. Here are some varieties to plant when you have had mildew problems in the past: Legend, Defiant, Fantastico, Mountain Magic, Lemon Drop, Juliet, Golden Currant, Pruden’s Purple, Matt’s Wild Cherry, Jasper, Iron Lady, Mt. Spring, Mt. Fresh.
What type of tomato grows the biggest
Some tomato varieties have the genetic potential to produce larger fruit than others. While we already know (and love!) Beefsteak tomatoes, there are even bigger ones!
The Gigantomo is the largest tomato in the world. Each plant can produce 10 to 12 ribbed fruits that can weigh up to 3 pounds. Make sure your stakes are well anchored!
Among the other varieties that make one-slice sandwiches, Brandywine and Mémé de Beauce tomatoes produce enormous fruit, sometimes weighing up to 1 kg, supported by robust plants reaching up to 2 metres.
Other large tomatoes: Delicious, Big Beef, Big Rainbow, Dinner Plate, Giant Belgium, Big Pink, German Johnson, T & T Monster and Braggart.
The earliest ripening tomato varieties
The Montfavet tomato variety is known as the earliest. Medium to large size, its bright red fruit is sweet and fragrant, perfect for salads, sauces and cooked dishes.
10 early season tomatoes
Harvest 50 to 70 days after transplanting in the garden.
- Belle de Lorraine (40 to 55 days)
- Reine des hâtives (45 to 55 days)
- Gold Dust (60 days)
- Délice d’Or (55 to 70 days)
- Double Rich (60 to 70 days)
- Grégori Altaï (65 to 70 days)
- Marmande (50 to 70 days)
- Cœur d’Albenga (50 to 70 days)
- Black Zebra Cherry (50 to 70 days)
- Cœur de boeuf Reif Red (65 to 70 days)
5 very early season cherry tomatoes
- Andrina (dwarf variety 15 to 20 cm high, slightly acidic red fruit)
- Gold Nugget (orange fruit with a sweet flavour)
- Matt's Wild Cherry (sweet-tasting red fruit)
- Red Robin (dwarf variety, 20 to 30 cm tall, sweet-tasting red fruit)
- Washington Cherry (dark red fruit with firm flesh)
4 early season tomatoes for northern regions
- When growing in cold climates, opt for short to mid-season tomatoes that ripen 55 to 75 days after being transplanted in the garden.
- 42-day tomato (42 to 60 days)
- Subarctic tomato (45 to 60 days)
- Glacier tomato (55 days)
- Moskovitch tomato (65 days)
Also read: 10 tomatoes to grow on your balcony
