BEYOND BIG RED

TOMATOES COME IN ALL SHAPES, SIZES AND COLOURS, SO NOW’S THE TIME TO EXPLORE THEIR INFINITE VARIETY

- Jennifer Stackhouse

Tomato label

Common name: Tomato

Botanical name: Lycoper sicon lycopersicum

Family: Sola naceae

Aspect & soil: Sun; moist soil

Best climate: All

Habit: Annual vine; fruits summer to autumn (year-round in warm zones)

Propagation: Seed, seedling or grafted plants

Difficulty: Moderate

TOMATOES ARE TALL, VINE-LIKE PLANTS THAT NEED TO BE STAKED OR TRAINED ON A TRELLIS OR TRIPOD.

Tomatoes are the stars of summer vegetable gardens everywhere. In midsummer, these tall, pungent vines are laden with fruit. Even as you harvest what’s ready to eat, there’s still time to plant a late crop now so you’ll have fresh, sun-ripened tomatoes well into autumn.

When considering what to plant, why not dare to be different? There’s more to the tomato than the popular large, round, red fruit so many favour.

Tomatoes come in an array of shapes, sizes and ffavours. There are purple, yellow, pink and even green tomatoes that are bumpy, oval and even pear shaped as well as round. All taste wonderful, though different.

To start your journey into the world of odd tomatoes, grow ‘Tigerella’, one of the most bountiful of all tomato varieties. This variety has smallish round fruit that ripens with striped tones of red and yellow.