Now a days, if you want heirloom tomatoes to eat and cook with then you are going to have to grow them yourselves at home.

Did you know there are about 10,000 tomato varieties!? Yes, 10,000.

Grocery stores only hold about 5 different kinds, if we are lucky (with most being hydroponically grown to boot).

Heirloom tomatoes (garden tomatoes) have deep flavor, brilliant colors, and are extremely versatile in cooking and preserving; seeds are so easy to obtain and grow, there is no longer a need to limit ourselves to just the few the grocery stores choose for us.

But choosing your garden tomato seeds can be a bit overwhelming, given many seed companies hold a 100 or so tomato varieties to choose from.

SO, here I break down buying tomato seeds into three easy steps so you get tomatoes that will make your garden worth the trouble.

Let’s Dive In…

How to Shop for Tomato Seeds | Growing Heirloom Tomatoes

There are Three Major key points when thinking about buying tomatoes to grow at home:

Growing Habit (bush or tall ones; aka determinate or indeterminate)
Shape of the Fruit (cherry, beefsteak, etc)
Flavor (sweet, acidic, robust, etc)

*Indeterminate tomatoes, held up by a simple A-Frame like trellis and string and kept heavily pruned*.

*A-Frame for indeterminate tomatoes noticed to the right of the photo*

Growing Habits of Tomatoes: Determinate vs Indeterminate

There are two types of growing habits in tomatoes: Determinate and Indeterminate

Determinate. Determinate tomatoes grow to a determined height. Usually just a few feet up and usually become bushy.

Indeterminate. Indeterminant tomatoes plants do not have a determined height and will keep growing and growing until it the frost kills them. Some indeterminate tomato plants can reach 10 feet or more.

Understanding this is important because space and trellising needs to be accounted for.

Most heirloom tomatoes are indeterminate and grow best in the ground and up on strong trellises.

So, if you wish to grow determinate or smaller tomato plants because you have pots, be sure to specifically look for them.

Both sizes are prolific and offer a wide range of tomatoes to eat.

Different Shapes of Tomatoes: Cherry, Beefsteaks, Canning, Slicers

All sizes can be heirloom, but the cooking/fresh eating needs are different between each shape.

Cherry. Little round or pear-shaped fruit; since they are small you can get several hundred per plant. They come in several colors like red, yellow, orange, purple. Great for fresh eating, roasting, and some canning recipes.

Slicers. Medium to Large. More often medium in shape and round but some have ‘lobed’ appearances similar to pumpkins. These are extremely versatile for both canning and fresh eating and are sometimes referenced as canning tomatoes.

Canning. This is not so much a size issue but a ‘meat’ issue. Canning tomatoes have less juice in them and more ‘meat’ innards. Lends well to canning and sauce making.

Beefsteaks. Huge often heavy tomatoes. These are the ones that often come up as 2 pounds or more. They vary in shapes and sizes and colors: round, fluted, lobed, red, yellow, purple. Better for fresh eating or sandwiches rather than canning.

Flavor of Tomatoes

Once you pick your size (tall or bushy) and your shape (cherry or beefsteaks, etc) you now have a narrowed down list of tomato seeds that would be practical for your garden.

Now you can see what tomatoes fall under those categories and read their flavor profiles to make a final decision on what seeds to grow.

Some of the most common flavor descriptions are acidic (or tangy), sweet, tropical, rich, juicy, meaty, fruity, and more.

You will find these descriptors under than names of each tomato in their description boxes or on the back of seed packets.

This decision will be completely personal to the buyer.

But once it’s decided you will find the tomatoes you can actually buy!

Shopping for Seeds

When shopping you will see names like Mortgage Lifter, Viginia Sweets, German Johnson, Principe Borghese, Caspian Pink, Pineapple Hawaiian, Amish Paste, Chadwick Cherry and so many more (all depending on the answers you have for the three talking points above).

Under each name should give a picture of the tomato, and briefly go over these three talking points so there should be no surprise in what you are purchasing.

When you have narrowed it down to the names, then add to cart and enjoy.

When shopping be sure to…

Be honest with trellising and space. Indeterminate tomatoes can simply take over a garden if left untouched.

Pruning your indeterminate plants will give the best production and fight against pest.

Determinate varieties do not need any pruning!

Most people start their tomato plants early indoors, so preparing yourself for indoor seed starting needs to be taken into consideration.

That’s it!

Heirloom Tomatoes are extremely versatile in the kitchen, and it’s your only chance to explore the delicious flavors that simply don’t exist in grocery stores or even farmer’s markets (yes even farmer’s markets limit themselves to about 3-5 tomatoes…sad)

Plus, some are simply pretty to grow! Yellow and orange ones are extremely fun to harvest.

Enjoy!

-Chelsea, The Cottage Vegetable

The Cottage Vegetable website is an AI FREE zone! Everything is written and photographed by myself, Chelsea.