Choose the Right Tomato!
With 75 varieties of one-of-a-kind heirloom and hybrid tomatoes in our Great Tomato Plant Sale to choose from, how do you decide what to buy? We’re here to help! First, you need to determine which varieties will thrive where you live, so we’ve included two site-specific lists: tomatoes that grow well in the cooler climates of West County and those that need lots of heat, typically found in parts of Central County and throughout East County. Next, determine where your tomatoes will be grown. If you are planting in containers, we’ve highlighted some of the best choices for growing in pots. (Read more information on successful container gardening on this page.)
Now to the fun part: what do you want out of a tomato plant? Our curated list shares some of the best traditional tomato choices, as well as unusual varieties for the avant-garde grower.
Ready to choose your tomatoes? Our complete list of tomato varieties includes detailed descriptions and is also organized to make shopping easy. Choose from beefsteaks and slicers—perfect for sandwiches; paste tomatoes if your goal is homemade pasta sauce; and cherry tomatoes for a sweet snack or to toss in salads.
So many choices! For your convenience, we have downloadable Shopping Lists for you to bring to each of our three sales: Walnut Creek, Antioch and Richmond.
For our Cooler Climes Buyers:
- Big Beef—offers an unbeatable combination of big, tasty and early! This highly disease-resistant hybrid is adaptable to a variety of growing conditions, producing colossal (10-16 oz.), bright-red fruits even in cool, foggy West County.
- Legend—blight resistant, adapted to cooler climes, it will be the earliest-maturing full-sized tomato in your garden.
- Gold Nugget—developed at OSU – where else for cooler temperatures? These ¾” golden fruits will mature in only 56 (!) days, continue from early season ‘til frost and have a rich, sweet flavor. A guaranteed winner!
- Black Sea Man—a hardy Russian heirloom that grows particularly well in cooler climates.
- Stupice—a very cold-tolerant, disease-resistant and early tomato with delicious, 3-4 oz. fruits in clusters.
For Hot and Dry Climate Buyers, here are some varieties that need lots of heat
- Boxcar Willie—10-16 oz. tomatoes with a rich, sweet flavor and just a touch of acid for tanginess.
- Brandywine Red—one of the most popular and best-tasting of the heirloom tomatoes with a luscious, old-timey red tomato flavor; fruits can weigh between 16-24 oz.!
- Hawaiian Pineapple—the name says it all; these large, yellow, 1-pound tomatoes are sweet and fruity.
- San Marzano—a prolific, classic pasta tomato with a long season of enormous, meaty fruits.
For our Buyers who grow in containers.
- Dwarf Blazing Beauty—this is the first successful dwarf orange tomato. A vigorous plant produces 3-8 oz. fruits with a tangy tomato flavor.
- Dwarf Boronia—a beefsteak in a container? Yes! These dwarf varieties were developed specifically to give full-size tomatoes on smaller plants. (Think dwarf fruit trees.) It produces dark-pink fruits (4-16 oz.) with intense, delicious flavor.
- Lizzano—ideal for hanging baskets and containers, a cherry with a non-stop harvest of 1” fruits. Perfect for snacks and salads.
- Italian Roma Bush—the best small-space paste tomato around, producing enormous yields.
- Patio Choice Yellow—ideal for containers! This All-American Selections award-winning cherry will brighten your patio with neon yellow fruits on a high-producing plant.
For Traditional Buyers, some of our most trusted and much-loved classics
- Cherokee Purple—Pre-1890s’ heirloom with a delicious, classic flavor.
- Mortgage Lifter— the legendary, large (1-2 pounds!), tasty beefsteak on very productive, disease-resistant plants.
- Sioux— A 1944 heirloom worth planting today because of its incredible flavor and reliably large harvests, even in hot weather. Sweet yet tangy and full of those rich, complex flavors that make a delicious tomato memorable.
- Sungold—positively luscious, apricot-orange cherries borne on beautiful, 15”-long trusses. Eye-candy that you can actually eat in your garden!
For Avant-Garde Buyers, here are some of our unusual varieties
- Alice’s Dream—sweet, complex flavor in beautiful orange-black fruits with red veins that are meaty and juicy. Grows well in lower temps and is disease-resistant to boot!
- Chef’s Choice Black—New in 2025! If you love the Chef Choice tomatoes, try this All-American Selections Winner, with dark green-brown-black hues and flesh that is juicy and sweet.
- Dwarf Tasmanian Chocolate—the name alone is enough to drive you crazy! 3-4’ tall plants produce a big crop of dark chocolate-colored tomatoes with a sweet, delicious flavor.
- Italian Red Pear—an old Northern Italian stand-by, with huge (8-18 oz.), tasty fruits.
- Orange Parouche—a cherry with superb flavor, disease and crack-resistant and early to boot!
Growing Tomatoes in Containers:
If you have limited space, growing tomatoes in containers is a great alternative to planting in the ground. Make sure to choose a sunny spot that gets at least 6-8 hours of direct sun and follow these tips for a successful growing season.
1. Choose the right tomato variety.
Select either determinate, dwarf or cherry style tomatoes. Determinate tomatoes are smaller, bushier, and generally do better in containers than Indeterminate varieties. New to our sale this year are four varieties of dwarf tomatoes from the Dwarf Tomato Project that have been bred specifically both to give full-sized tomatoes on smaller plants and to grow well in containers. See more about dwarf tomatoes here. Depending on the variety you pick, they still might require some staking with a trellis or tomato cage. Container-friendly varieties are clearly marked in our GTPS Tomatoes lists with the blue “Small Space/Container Friendly” note.
2. Plant in as large a pot as possible.
Tomato varieties vary on how large of a container is required. Ideally, 18” to 24” pots provide enough container soil depth for deep-rooted tomatoes. But some will do fine in a container that holds as little as five gallons of soil, such as a 14” tall bucket from a home improvement store, while others will need more than twice as much soil and a deeper container to thrive. Don’t forget to add drainage holes in your plastic bucket! All containers need drainage holes. If you are recycling an old pot, you should disinfect it with a bleach solution of 9 parts water to 1 part bleach.
3. Choose a good quality “potting mix.”
Potting mixes are specifically formulated for containers and are a better choice than garden soil or even planting mix. They frequently contain coir to hold moisture and provide the good drainage necessary for healthy root growth.
4. Plant your tomatoes deeply in the pot.
Plant your tomatoes in your container as deep as possible to promote additional root growth along the tomato’s stem.
5. Amend with nutrients throughout the growing season.
Tomatoes are “heavy-feeders” and require fertilizer in order to produce a healthy crop of tomatoes. Some potting soils contain fertilizer pre-mixed into soil. Be sure to read the label and follow directions. If not, select a general organic liquid fertilizer and follow the directions on the bottle to give your tomato plants adequate nutrients.
6. Water regularly.
Unless your container is connected to a drip system or has a built-in reservoir, your tomato plants are dependent on you for water. In full sun, plants in containers can dry out quickly. Both clay pots and grow-bags also dry out more quickly than a plastic pot. Keep soil consistently moist and water regularly—as often as once a day. Mornings when it is cooler is ideal. On windy days or in the heat of mid-summer you may need to water a second time. You can also place a large saucer under your pot that will fill with excess water to be reabsorbed by the plant later. Make sure to water at the base of the plant to keep foliage dry and disease-free.
Still have questions? Master Gardeners will be on hand during the Great Tomato Plant Sale to help you choose the best tomatoes and other vegetables for your particular growing conditions.
