Tomato Selector Guide
If you're not sure what type of tomato you want to grow and are a bit overwhelmed with the huge range available then use our easy tomato selector guide to help you find your perfect tomato! It's as easy as 1, 2, 3!
Step 1: Select your tomato type
There are four main types of tomatoes, each with their own culinary uses as explained below:
Cherry tomatoes
- The smallest and often sweetest tomatoes, from grape size to 25g fruits
- Cherry tomatoes are ideal for adding to salads, pasta dishes or for roasting whole
Medium Tomatoes
- Also known as 'salad' tomatoes
- These are good all-round tomatoes in the kitchen
Beefsteak Tomatoes
- The biggest tomatoes, often weighing 200g or more!
- Beefsteak tomatoes have a meaty texture, ideal for grilling, stuffing and adding to sandwiches
Plum Tomatoes
- Available in 'cherry' size or larger, plum tomatoes have an oval shape
- They are very fleshy, generally having fewer seeds, making them ideal for sauces, soups or sun drying
Cordon and bush tomatoes explained
Cordon/Indeterminate tomatoes
These varieties of tomato plant are the most common and are grown as cordons (single stemmed plants with side shoots removed). They will grow very tall - sometimes taller than 2.5m in very warm conditions.
Bush/Determinate
These varieties stop growing sooner than indeterminate varieties with the stem ending in a fruit truss. They are referred to as 'bush' and 'dwarf' types (suitable as hanging basket tomatoes) and don't require any pruning.
Semi-determinate
These are similar to indeterminate varieties (grown as cordons) only they produce shorter plants.
Step 2: Select your tomato variety
Now you've chosen which type of tomato you'd like to grow you can narrow your choice down further by choosing whether it's suitable for indoor or outdoor cultivation, whether it can be grown in a container or hanging basket and whether it has blight resistance. For more information on tomato blight, read our dedicated guide.
All tomato plants can be grown in the ground, grow bags or in patio containers; however the shortest varieties are the most suitable for containers as they don't require staking. View our guides below to help you select the right tomato for you. You can either scroll down the page to browse or click on the tomato types above to view all varieties for that type; then simply click on the variety name for more information on that variety.
Other Articles you might like:
Quick Links:
Cherry Tomato Varieties:
Salad/medium tomato varieties:
| Salad tomatoes | Cordon | Semi- bush |
Bush | Green- house |
Outdoor | Container | Basket | Blight resistant |
Salad | Sauce | Roast |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato 'Ailsa Craig' | |||||||||||
| Tomato 'Alicante' | |||||||||||
| Tomato 'Craigella' - Heritage | |||||||||||
| Tomato 'Cristal' F1 Hybrid | |||||||||||
| Tomato 'Moneymaker' | |||||||||||
| Tomato 'Orkado' F1 Hybrid | |||||||||||
| Tomato 'Shirley' F1 Hybrid | |||||||||||
| Tomato 'Tigerella' |
Beefsteak Tomato Varieties:
| Beefsteak tomatoes | Cordon | Semi- bush |
Bush | Greenhouse | Outdoor | Container | Basket | Blight resistant |
Salad | Sauce | Roast |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato 'Ananas' | |||||||||||
| Tomato 'Buffalosteak' F1 Hybrid | |||||||||||
| Tomato 'Buffalosun' F1 | |||||||||||
| Tomato 'Burlesque' F1 Hybrid | |||||||||||
| Tomato 'Country Taste' F1 Hybrid | |||||||||||
| Tomato 'Crimson Blush' (Grafted) | |||||||||||
| Tomato 'Crimson Crush' F1 | |||||||||||
| Tomato 'Gigantomo'® F1 Hybrid | |||||||||||
| Tomato 'Lemonita' F1 | |||||||||||
| Tomato 'Gourmandia' F1 Hybrid | |||||||||||
| Tomato 'Super Marmande' | |||||||||||
| Tomato 'Supersteak' F1 |
Plum tomato varieties:
| Plum tomatoes | Cordon | Semi- bush |
Bush | Greenhouse | Outdoor | Container | Basket | Blight resistant |
Salad | Sauce | Roast |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato 'Artisan Mixed' (Mini Plum) | |||||||||||
| Tomato 'Crimson Plum' (Grafted) | |||||||||||
| Tomato 'Limoncito' F1 Hybrid | |||||||||||
| Tomato 'Nagina' F1 | |||||||||||
| Tomato 'Orange Beauty' F1 Hybrid | |||||||||||
| Tomato 'Principe Borghese' | |||||||||||
| Tomato 'Rainbow Blend' F1 Hybrid |
Step 3: Sow and grow your tomatoes
The next step is to sow your tomato seeds or pot on your tomato plug plants.
Read our ultimate step by step guide on growing tomatoes for guidance and advice. You can also view our helpful videos covering sowing tomato seeds, and growing tomatoes from plug plants.
Enjoy your delicious tomato crop
Enjoy your crop - there's nothing more delicious than home grown tomatoes picked at the peak of their ripeness!
Tomatoes are a very healthy fruit, high in the compound Lycopene which has antioxidant properties. Lycopene is more readily dissolved in fats than water so it is recommended to serve your tomatoes with a small amount of olive oil dressing.
For links to helpful growing and care articles and blog posts, visit our tomatoes hub page.
Written by: Sue Sanderson
Plants and gardens have always been a big part of my life. I can remember helping my Dad to prick out seedlings, even before I could see over the top of the potting bench. As an adult, I trained at Writtle College where I received my degree, BSc. (Hons) Horticulture. After working in a specialist plantsman's nursery, and later, as a consulting arboriculturalist, I joined Thompson & Morgan in 2008. Initially looking after the grounds and coordinating the plant trials, I now support the web team offering horticultural advice online.Sign Up For Exclusive Special Offers
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