Choose toms for taste

Discover the best and easiest varieties to grow, says Peter

- Peter Seabrook

TOMATOES are tops in people’s choice – they are easy to cultivate, heavy yielding and one of our most popular, healthy foods. Choosing which one to grow with so many different cultivars to choose from is difficult.

There are four main types. The standard kind that we tie to stakes and grow tall on a single stem as cordons is called ‘indeterminate’. There are bush kinds called ‘determinate’ that we do not side-shoot and just leave to their own devices, forming multi-stemmed rounded plants.

Third are tumbling tomatoes, a more pendula bush type for hanging baskets, the edges of window boxes and containers. Fourth are the compact and upright growing cultivars to grow in windowsill pots and small patio containers.