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!
There are four main types of tomatoes, each with their own culinary uses as explained below:
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.
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.
Salad tomatoes | Cordon | Semi- bush |
Bush | Green- house |
Outdoor | Container | Basket | Blight resistant |
Salad | Sauce | Roast |
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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' |
Beefsteak tomatoes | Cordon | Semi- bush |
Bush | Greenhouse | Outdoor | Container | Basket | Blight resistant |
Salad | Sauce | Roast |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tomato 'Big Daddy' F1 Hybrid | |||||||||||
Tomato 'Brandywine' - Heritage |
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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 |
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Tomato 'Super Marmande' | |||||||||||
Tomato 'Yellow Stuffer' - Heritage |
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) |
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Tomato 'Rio Grande' | |||||||||||
Tomato 'Roma Nano' | |||||||||||
Tomato 'Roma VF' |
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 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.