Here is some general tomato info worth repeating. We suggest that those who want to have tomatoes all warm season long select a mix of early, mid and late season varieties.

Here is some general tomato info worth repeating. We suggest that those who want to have tomatoes all warm season long select a mix of early, mid and late season varieties.

Days to maturity is the average time it takes from transplanting a seedling to fruit production. Do not take these numbers literally as weather, soil conditions, etc. can affect this. Rather, use these numbers to compare one variety to another in terms of when you can expect to begin harvesting.

Early season — Varieties with short days to maturity and cold tolerance. These are good to plant early in the spring and also late in the season to ensure a crop if the cold fall weather arrives early.

Mid-season — These still have pretty short days to maturity so will produce well in almost all of the Bay Area’s micro climates. For really foggy and cooler areas, cherry varieties are a pretty sure bet as they don’t need the heat a full size tomato does to ripen.

Late season — These varieties have long days to maturity and need some heat to ripen. We have had good luck with the ones we offer here in Oakland and Berkeley where we can continue to harvest way into the fall.

Determinate Also known as ‘bush’ varieties, these plants are better for container growing or small gardens. They reach a certain predetermined height and then stop growing. Most of the fruit is borne over a 4 to 6 week period. Many paste varieties fall into this category.

Indeterminate Truly a vine, these plants continue to grow and produce fruit until the cold weather kills them. Generally they need some kind of support. We have grown them in large containers but they really prefer to be in the ground.

Dwarf tomatoes Bred by the Dwarf Tomato Project, these are very stocky and lush compact plants that do fine in a large container. We grow them in 15 gallon pots.