Size Shape Color: Tomato Selection

24 July 2015 Prev Next

The last week of August to the first week of September is the peak of the tomato-growing season in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to Cynthia Sandberg, who owns Love Apple Farms in Santa Cruz. Depending on the weather, these warmth-lovers are best planted between April 15 and May 1, she said. Cool nights in March and early April will stunt their growth if you plant much earlier. By the time August rolls around, she said, the ones planted at the proper time will be “healthier and happier” than the ones planted in cooler weather. In a presentation on tomato growing earlier this year, Sandberg talked about how to select which varieties to grow. One of the most important factors for gardeners who don't have an open spot with full-day sun is determining what varieties will be successful in your microclimate. In the following list, “sun hours” means the minimum number of hours of direct sun falling on the leaves of the plant that are required to produce any tomatoes. Of course, the more sun hours you have at your location, the better your chances of getting a good crop.

Cherry tomatoes (1/2 oz.): 3 sun hours minimum
Small tomatoes (1-3 oz.): 4-5 sun hours minimum
Medium tomatoes (4-8 oz.): 5-6 sun hours minimum
Large to XL tomatoes (over 9 oz.): 7-8 sun hours minimum

If you don't have much sun, Sandberg said, you can still grow herbs, greens, and root vegetables. She also recommended thinking about how you will use the harvest before choosing varieties to plant. Beefsteak tomatoes are juicy and seedy, so are used mostly raw in salads and sliced in sandwiches. They're “not great for canning, salsa, and sauces,” she said, because they contain a lot of liquid and take longer to cook down than varieties that are not as juicy. Oxheart tomatoes, on the other hand, have little juice and very thin skin. She uses them raw or cooked, for salsa, slicing, or canning. Added to a sandwich packed for lunch, they won't make the bread soggy a couple hours later, she said. They're also the top choice for people who don't like to eat tomato seeds. Plum, pear, and roma tomatoes have an elongated shape and thick walls, and are also used for salsa and canning. Ruffled tomatoes that are dry and a bit hollow inside are best used for stuffing, Sandberg said.

Of course, you will find as many opinions about how to grow and use tomatoes as there are tomato growers. Some aficionados will simply use their best-tasting tomatoes for sauce or salsa, or slice cherry tomatoes for sandwiches, or make a sauce with all yellow varieties. Another dimension of choice is color. Red tomatoes tend to have an old-fashioned flavor that “bites you back,” robust and not sweet, Sandberg said. Pink tomatoes are sweet. Orange and yellow tomatoes tend to be sweet and mild. Black or purple varieties often have a smoky flavor. Green-when-ripe tomatoes have a “complex and interesting” flavor with hints of pineapple and an excellent acid/sweet balance. White varieties can be “some of the sweetest,” with “hints of guava and honey.” Finally, bicolor tomatoes take on the flavor of their coloring. Bicolors can be striped or swirled, with two or more different colors inside and out, and “every individual tomato looks different.” Her two favorite tomatoes, Ananas Noire and Orange Russian 117, are in this category.

Tanya Kucak is growing about 50 varieties this year, and is already making a list of new varieties to try next year.

Ananas Noire, on the right, is a beautiful and tasty bicolor (or tricolor) tomato. Also in this photo are Purple Calabash, on the left, and Carmello, in the middle.

Heart-shaped tomatoes, like this Belize Pink Heart, are wider than plum or roma tomatoes, especially on the top half, and often come to a point at the bottom. Also called oxhearts, they are solid, with thin skin and few seeds, so can be used as slicers or canners, salsa or salad tomatoes.

Gazpacho is a great way to use a bounty of juicier tomatoes, along with cucumbers and peppers from the garden. This version also uses tofu cubes.