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:

Cherry tomatoes Cordon Semi-
bush
Bush Green-
house
Outdoor Container Basket Blight
resistant
Salad Sauce Roast
Organic Tomato 'Koralik'
Tomato 'Apero' F1 Hybrid'
Tomato 'Balconi Red'
Tomato 'Bite Size'
Tomato 'Celano' F1 hybrid
Tomato 'Cherrola' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Consuelo' (Crimson Cherry)
Tomato 'Crimson Cherry' (Grafted)
Tomato 'Crokini' F1
Tomato 'Divinity' F1 hybrid
Tomato 'Gardener's Delight'
Tomato 'Garnet'
Tomato 'Gartenperle'
Tomato 'Goldkrone'
Tomato 'Green Envy'
Tomato 'Heartbreakers Vita' F1
Tomato 'Honeycomb' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Ildi'
Tomato 'Indigo Cherry Drops'
Tomato 'Losetto'
Tomato 'Merrygold' F1
Tomato 'Midnight Snack'
Tomato 'Primabella'
Tomato 'Rainbow Drops Mix' F1
Tomato 'Rapunzel'
Tomato 'Red Alert'
Tomato 'Red Profusion'
Tomato 'Romello' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Rosella'
Tomato 'Rubylicious'
Tomato 'Ruby Falls'
Tomato 'Santonio' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Suncherry Premium'
F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Sungold' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Sweet Aperitif'
Tomato 'Sweet Aperitif' (plug plant)
Tomato 'Sweet Baby'
Tomato 'Sweet Million' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Sweet Success'
Tomato 'Sweetest Tomato Duo'
Tomato 'Tumbling Tom Red'
Tomato 'Veranda'

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.


Sue Sanderson T&M horticulturalist

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.

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