As an ever-popular variety of vegetable seeds to grow, tomatoes are really versatile for many different recipes. For your cooking, there are so many different varieties of tomato seeds that you can choose from, with differences in flavour, texture and appearance that are all suited to different purposes.
If you need a little guidance on choosing from all the different types of tomatoes, this guide is for you. Below, we explain the difference between determinate and indeterminate tomatoes, and go through the best tomato types to grow in Australia that you can get from our range at Mr Fothergill’s.
If you’d like to know how to grow tomatoes, our detailed guide has all the information you need for success in your growing.
The Different Types of Tomatoes: Determinate and Indeterminate
Tomatoes are often split out into two different types: determinate and indeterminate. These each have their own characteristics and different ways of growing:
Indeterminate (staking): Indeterminate tomatoes are tomato plants that grow vertically. These will need a good amount of space and will need support to help them grow. These need a little more maintenance than other types, with regular feeding and watering being essential. They’re a great choice if you want a lot of tomatoes, as they’ll keep producing fruit continuously until the end of the growing season.
Determinate (bush): Determinate tomatoes grow more compactly and are smaller than indeterminate varieties. These are ideal if you plan to grow your tomatoes in pots or hanging baskets. These will stop producing fruit once the plant reaches a certain size.
Semi-determinate: These plants are a halfway point between indeterminate and determinate tomatoes. They will grow taller than determinate plants, though they will not grow as continuously as an indeterminate plant would.
The differences between these tomato types mean that one’s qualities may be better suited depending on. If you’re looking for a smaller, low-maintenance plant, determinate varieties are your best bet. If you want a continued harvest and are willing to regularly prune and care for your plant, indeterminate varieties are the ones for you. Or for the best of both worlds, a semi-determinate plant may be most preferable.
The Best Varieties of Tomatoes
Within the ways tomatoes can be distinguished by their growth habits as described above, there are also many classes that tomatoes can fall under, which often refer to their size. For instance, cherry tomatoes are the smallest, making them ideal for salads and snacking. Alternatively, beefsteak tomatoes are the largest, being suited to slicing for sandwiches and burgers.
Then you can go even deeper into their cultivars, or varieties, which are the specific types that you can choose from to grow that have been especially bred for distinctive qualities. Below, we’ve picked out the best tomato types to grow in Australia that we fully recommend growing within your garden for great flavour and performance!:
- Red Cherry
- Tiny Tom
- Black Cherry
- Crimson Crush
- Mortgage Lifter
- Oxheart
- Sungold F1
Red Cherry
They’re a classic for a reason. Red Cherry tomatoes are the perfect choice for all gardeners, as they’re so versatile. Pop them in a pasta dish, a salsa, a quiche, or even just snack on them by themselves!
At Mr Fothergill’s, we have plenty of useful gardening kits to help you get started with growing this variety. Our Cherry Tomato seeds starter kit comes with a pot, soil, and approximately 10 seeds, containing everything you need to get growing!
We also have a Red Cherry Tomato windowsill greenhouse kit, which makes the germination stage of growing nice and easy. Containing peat pellets that make for easy transplanting and a reusable greenhouse kit to keep your seeds at the ideal temperature, growing your tomato seeds couldn’t be simpler than with our kit!
Tiny Tom
Tiny Tom tomato seeds are excellent for those limited on space, as their name is well earned! These tomatoes only grow 40cm (16”) high and produce a great amount of small and juicy cherry tomatoes with great flavour.
Black Cherry
If you’re looking for a unique variety to look particularly distinctive within your garden, be sure to try growing some Black Cherry tomato seeds. As you may have thought with their name, they do in fact resemble black cherries, having a deep mahogany colour that makes them an especially eye-catching variety. As well as their look, their flavour is fantastic too, having a sweet and rich flavour that’s ideal for salads.
Crimson Crush
If you’ve had some trouble growing tomato seeds before, or you’re just wanting as smooth of a growing experience as possible, Crimson Crush tomato seeds are the ones for you. These are the first completely blight-resistant tomato variety, making them a dependable choice. These produce large, round fruits with a superb, rich tomato flavour.
Mortgage Lifter
In all of the different types of tomatoes within our choices, Mortgage Lifter tomato seeds are the ones to pick if you’re after larger fruits. This beefsteak variety produces very meaty fruits with plenty of flavour. These plants produce yields of up to an impressive 16kg, and their flavour and texture make them perfect for everything from using in sandwiches to sauces.
Oxheart
As an all-rounder, Oxheart tomato seeds are ideal for growing if you’d like to get the most out of your homegrown tomatoes in your cooking. Whether you add them to sandwiches, salads, or even enjoy them just by themselves, Oxheart tomatoes’ rich and sweet taste and meaty, ribbed texture are a winner every time.
Sungold F1
Last but not least on our list of best tomato types are Sungold F1 tomato seeds. For those looking for an extra sweet and tasty variety, these are ideal. As an F1 variety, these are known for their uniformity, vigorous growth and resistance to diseases. With their wonderful golden orange colour and exceptionally high sugar content, they’re a brilliant addition to many dishes!
