Selecting Tomato Plants for Your Garden

Besides the obvious variation in size, shape, color and intended use of tomatoes, the plants that produce them vary in life cycle, growth habit, time to maturity, disease resistance and special characteristics such as tolerance to heat or cold. And every category of tomato includes those differences.

Indeterminate tomatoes continue to grow, flower and set fruit through the entire growing season, extending the harvest over many weeks or months. Their stems may reach to 15 feet or more (though they're usually more like 6 to 8 feet) and get heavy, so they need a very sturdy cage, trellis or teepee (above). The majority of tomato varieties fall into this category. A few examples: 'Big Beef', 'Husky Gold', 'Razzle Dazzle'.

Determinate varieties grow until they reach a certain height (typically about 3 feet), then produce flowers at the shoot tips and stop growing. The fruits all set around the same time and ripen over a period of a few weeks, which is great if you want a lot of tomatoes at one time for preserving. Examples: 'Legend', 'Marglobe', 'Taxi'.

Vining or climbing types produce relatively slender vines reaching 3 feet or more. You could let them sprawl, but harvesting is much easier (and the fruit stays cleaner) if you give them support, such as a sturdy stake, cage or trellis. Most tomatoes are vining types. Examples: 'Beefsteak', 'Brandywine', 'Climbing Triple Crop'. By contrast, bush tomatoes have shorter stems (to about 3 feet), so you can use a light stake or trellis to prop them up or leave them unsupported. Examples: 'Bush Champion', 'Super Bush', 'White Bush'.