Some tomato varieties are bred to work well for commercial growers. Usually these have an emphasis on long shelf life and ability to withstand shipping. But the tomato varieties for the home gardener are usually better tasting and more succulent. Let's examine the different tomato varieties.

Tomato Varieties

Your standard or slicing tomatoes are the common medium-sized round tomatoes. These will most often be used in soups or sliced for salads. You've seen these in six-pack trays at your local supermarket.

Beef Steak are big tomatoes, some up to 2 pounds. These are the ones that, when sliced, fit sandwiches and burgers very nicely. Beef Steak varieties are also great for stuffing and baking. They are rarely found in supermarkets because their size and tenderness makes them more trouble than they are worth for big retailers. However, they are a home garden dream, a big tasty return on the simple investment in a tiny packet of seeds. Some popular cultivars of this variety are 'Better Boy', 'Big Beef', and 'Park's Whopper'.

Cherry tomatoes are very small tomatoes, ranging from barely bigger than your finger tip to the size of a golf ball. They are often very sweet and perfect by themselves just as a snack. They are the sublime salad tomato because they add lots of flavor, and you don't have to slice them. The elongated smaller and sweeter grape tomatoes are also a tasty variation of the cherry tomato. Cherry tomato plants produce a large amount of fruit, so you don't have to plant many to get plenty of tomatoes.

Paste or plum tomatoes are, as the name suggests, often used for canning and sauces. They work well for this because they are less juicy than other varieties, they don't have a core, and they have far less seeds than other varieties. They are usually small and slightly elongated or "pear-shaped." They are often lumped together as "Roma" tomatoes, which is actually just one cultivar of this tomato variety.

Choose Your Tomato Wisely

Breeders have had fun with this popular garden plant. They come in all sizes and colors, from pink and striped to almost black. But, the best way to pick your tomato is to grow for your needs. If you want sandwich tomatoes, grow Beef Steaks. If you love tomatoes in your salad, try some different cherry varieties. If your garden is the source for most of your canned goods, you should probably try to grow a few paste tomatoes. Growing your own tomatoes will give you power over selection and power over growing methods. It is cheaper than than buying them at the supermarket, and it can be much more rewarding. Have a good time in your garden, and grow the tomato that's just right for you.

About the author: Thomas Andrews is a garden writer for Park Seed. In a span of three generations, Park Seed Co. has grown from a one page list of seeds handed out to neighbors and friends to the largest family-owned direct-marketing horticulture company in the U.S. Park Seed offers gardeners, through its catalogs and corresponding web sites, thousands of choice seeds, plants, bulbs, and gardening aids.