Heirloom Tomato Plants
Eight Favorites to Grow in Your Own Garden This Year
From candy sweet cherry tomatoes to meaty beefsteaks to the rich-flavored classics, the variety of heirloom tomato plants available to home gardeners is astounding.
There's a very good reason why legions of gardeners choose to include heirloom tomato plants in their gardens year after year. Simply put, heirloom tomatoes are in a flavor league of their own.
While there's really no such thing as a bad tasting homegrown heirloom tomato, each variety's flavor is unique.
Many heirloom tomato plants also produce uncommonly beautiful fruit with variegated flesh or bright streaks throughout. Here are eight great-tasting heirloom tomato plants to try this year.
Red Heirloom Tomatoes
"Champion" is a delectable sandwich tomato that should be in every backyard patch. This outstanding red heirloom tomato plant produces high yields of large fruit that's meaty, solid and sweet—the perfect slicer! Indeterminate; 70 days.
"Goliath" is an aptly named heirloom tomato, bearing enormous fruit on a very big plant. The dark pink beefsteak tomatoes are tangy and sweet, and weigh from one to two pounds, sometimes even three pounds. Indeterminate; 85 days.
"Earl's Faux" is a vigorous heirloom tomato plant that bears deep pink beefsteak tomatoes with a deliciously sweet taste but complex flavor. Indeterminate; 80 days.
Black Heirloom Tomatoes
"Black Plum" produces a large crop of small, teardrop-shaped tomatoes in a deep mahogany color. These fruity bite-sized morsels are perfect for snacking on right in the garden, or adding to salads. One of the best tasting black heirloom tomatoes, and worth the wait. Indeterminate; 82 days.
"Black Krim" is very richly flavored, sweet and tangy, with just a hint of salt. This prolific producer of dark maroon beefsteak tomatoes is another worthy contender for best taste in the black heirloom tomato plant category. Indeterminate; 75 to 90 days.
Purple Heirloom Tomato
"Cherokee Purple" bears copious amounts of medium sized reddish purple fruit with the prettiest brick red interiors. The taste of this wonderfully prolific (and very popular) heirloom tomato is pleasantly sweet and rich. Indeterminate; 80 days.
Orange Heirloom Tomato
"Sun Gold" is an old-time cherry tomato that's always popular with home gardeners. Sun Gold bears big clusters of bright orange cherry tomatoes that are sugary sweet and fruity—almost like eating candy! Indeterminate; 57 days.
White Heirloom Tomato
"Coyote" bears heaps of cute little cherry tomatoes that are a creamy ivory color with a hint of yellow. The taste is extraordinary—sweet like other cherry tomato varieties, but with a complex fruitiness. Indeterminate; 65 days.
No matter which heirloom tomato plants you choose to grow in your garden, you'll be rewarded with intense, tangy flavor that is unforgettable. And if that doesn't convince you that tomato gardening is well worth your time and trouble, it's likely that nothing will!
