The tomato is the most popular vegetable in today’s home gardens, but it was not always so popular. Native to South America, the tomato was introduced by early explorers to Europe, where it became known as the “Apple of Love’’ in France and Italy. Thomas Jefferson raised tomatoes for his guests in 1781. However, it was not generally cultivated in the United States until 1835 because, until then, it was widely believed to be poisonous.

Tomatoes are nutritious and low in calories. One mediumsized tomato provides 57% of the recommended daily allotment (RDA) of vitamin C, 25% RDA vitamin A, and 8% RDA iron, yet it has only 35 calories. Besides being eaten fresh, the versatile tomato can be baked, stewed, fried, juiced, or pickled and can be used in soups, salads, and sauces. Tomatoes are available in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. While red tomatoes are the most common, yellow, orange, and pink tomatoes are sometimes grown. Tomatoes may be round, slightly flattened, or pear-like in shape. Sizes range from the bite-size cherry types to the giant beefsteak tomatoes. New cultivars appear on the market each year, expanding selection and improving disease resistance. The choice for your garden depends on how you will use the fruit. Most tomatoes can be used for fresh eating and cooking. However, the paste or Roma type tomatoes are best suited for cooking down into sauces and ketchup due to their lower water content. Some gardeners strive to produce the largest tomato on the block. Cultivars such as Beefsteak, Beefmaster, Ponderosa, and Oxheart are noted for their large fruit. However, these larger fruited types often are more susceptible to diseases and skin cracking.

Others choose early-maturing cultivars to try to produce the first tomato of the season. Cultivars such as Early Girl, Early Boy, Fantastic, and Jetstar may be slightly less flavorful but will produce fruit 2-3 weeks earlier than midor late-season cultivars.

Tomato cultivars can be classified according to their growth habit. Determinate tomatoes are plants that grow to a height determined by their genetic makeup. When they reach their pre-determined height, they produce a cluster of flowers at the growing tip. The flowers along the stem of the plant tend to both open and set fruit within a couple of weeks time. Thus, determinate tomatoes are good choices for canning and sauce-making.

Indeterminate tomatoes increase in height throughout the growing season because the terminal of the stem continues to produce foliar growth rather than set flowers. The flowers and thus fruits on these plants are produced continually through the season along the side shoots of the plant. Indeterminate tomatoes are the choice if you want to spread out the harvest over a longer period of time.

Choose disease-resistant cultivars whenever possible. Many modern cultivars have resistance to Verticillium wilt, Fusarium wilt, and root knot nematodes. Cultivars with such resistance are denoted as such by the letters V, F, and N following the cultivar name. Consult your county office of the Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service for current cultivar recommendations.