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!
Its 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.

For more information read our How to Grow Tomatoes guide.


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 click here. 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.

See below for our full list of 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 'Bajaja'
Tomato 'Balconi Red'
Tomato 'Balconi Yellow'
Tomato 'Balconi' Collection
Tomato 'Berry' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Celano' F1 hybrid
Tomato 'Black Cherry'
Tomato 'Cherrola' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Cherrola' F1 Hybrid
(plug plant)
Tomato 'Cherry Cascade'
Tomato 'Cherry Kisses' - Kew Collection Seeds
Tomato (Cherry) 'Black Opal'
Tomato 'Crimson Cherry' (Grafted)
Tomato 'Divinity' F1 hybrid
Tomato 'Falcorosso' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Gardener's Delight'
Tomato 'Garnet'
Tomato 'Gartenperle'
Tomato 'Goldkrone'
Tomato 'Golden Cherry' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Green Envy'
Tomato 'Ildi'
Tomato 'Indigo Cherry Drops'
Tomato 'Losetto'
Tomato 'Losetto' (plug plant)
Tomato 'Maskotka'
Tomato 'Midnight Snack'
Tomato 'Piccolino' Grafted
Tomato 'Primabella'
Tomato 'Red Alert'
Tomato 'Red Profusion'
Tomato 'Romello' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Rosada' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Rosella'
Tomato 'Rubylicious'
Tomato 'Ruby Falls'
Tomato 'Santonio' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Solena Chocolate' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Solena Red' F1 Hybrid (Grafted)
Tomato 'Suncherry Premium'
F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Suncherry Premium'
F1 Hybrid

(plug plant)
Tomato 'Sungold' (plug plant)
Tomato 'Sungold' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Sungrape' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Supersweet'
Tomato 'Sweet 'n' Neat Cherry Red'
Tomato 'Sweet Aperitif' (plug plant)
Tomato 'Sweet Baby'
Tomato 'Sweet Million' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Sweet Success'
Tomato 'Sweetest Tomato Duo'
Tomato 'Terenzo' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Totem' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Tumbling Junior' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Tumbling Tom Red'
Tomato 'Tumbling Tom Yellow'
Tomato 'Tumbling Tom' Collection
Tomato 'Venus'
Tomato 'Veranda'
Tomato 'Vilma'

See below for our full list of Salad tomato varieties:

Salad tomatoes Cordon Semi-
bush
Bush Green-
house
Outdoor Container Basket Blight
resistant
Salad Sauce Roast
Tomato 'Ailsa Craig'
Tomato 'Akron' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Alicante'
Tomato 'Black Russian' - Heritage
Tomato 'Cossack' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Craigella' - Heritage
Tomato 'Crimson Crush' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Cristal' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Ferline' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Ferline' F1 Hybrid
(plug plant)
Tomato 'Glacier'
Tomato 'Golden Sunrise'
Tomato 'Green Zebra'
Tomato 'Moneymaker'
Tomato 'Mountain Magic' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Nimbus' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Orkado' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Philona' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Pintyno' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Shirley' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Sportivo' (grafted)
Tomato 'Stupice'
Tomato 'Sungella'
Tomato 'Tamina'
Tomato 'The Amateur' - Heritage
Tomato 'Tigerella'
Tomato 'Zlatava'

See below for our full list of Beefsteak tomato varieties:

Beefsteak tomatoes Cordon Semi-
bush
Bush Greenhouse Outdoor Container Basket Blight
resistant
Salad Sauce Roast
Tomato 'Big Daddy' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Brandywine' -
Heritage
Tomato 'Brutus' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Costoluto Genovese'
Tomato 'Country Taste' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Crimson Blush' (Grafted)
Tomato 'Cuore di Bue'
Tomato 'Gigantomo'® F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Gourmandia' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Il Pantano Romanesco'
Tomato 'Kakao'
Tomato 'Legend'
Tomato 'Satyna' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Striped Stuffer' -
Heritage
Tomato 'Super Marmande'
Tomato 'Yellow Stuffer' -
Heritage

See below for our full list of Plum tomato varieties:

Plum tomatoes Cordon Semi-
bush
Bush Greenhouse Outdoor Container Basket Blight
resistant
Salad Sauce Roast
Tomato 'Crimson Plum' (Grafted)
Tomato 'Dasher' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Il San Marzano Lungo'
Tomato 'Limoncito' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Mirado Orange'
Tomato 'Orange Beauty' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Patia Rose' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Principe Borghese'
Tomato 'Rainbow Blend' F1 Hybrid
Tomato 'Rainbow Blend' F1 Hybrid
(plug plants)
Tomato 'Rio Grande'
Tomato 'Roma Nano'
Tomato 'Roma VF'

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 step by step guide on How to Grow Tomatoes

Also avilable to view are our...
How to Sow Tomato Seeds Video and
How to Grow Tomatoes from Plug Plants Video


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 more information on a nutritious, balanced diet, read our healthy eating guide.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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