Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Gigantskaya Roza (Giant Rose) 🌍 Origin: A commercial variety from the Russian seed market. The name translates to “Giant Rose”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Determinate, stout “tree-type” bush. It has thick, strong main stems and grows to about 3-3.3 ft (90-100 cm) tall. Highly vigorous and disease-resistant. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Stunningly beautiful! … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Grushka Polosataya (Striped Pear) 🌍 Origin: A very popular Russian commercial variety. The name translates directly to “Striped Pear”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Determinate (bush). It stays relatively short, reaching about 2.3-2.6 ft (70-80 cm) tall, but it has a very sprawling, bushy growth habit. Growers highly recommend giving it plenty of … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Gulliver – Myazina vs. Siberian Garden 🌍 Origin: Russia. Important Note: There are actually two completely different Russian varieties sold under the name “Gulliver”. One is an early commercial-style plum tomato by breeder L. Myazina. The other is a massive oxheart variety by Siberian Garden (SibSad). 🌿 Plant Habit: Determinate … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Gandolf 🌍 Origin: An American variety bred by Dean Slater. It is highly prized by collectors for its stunning foliage and beautiful fruits. 🌿 Plant Habit: Semi-determinate / Bush. It grows very compactly, usually staying around 3 ft (0.8–1 m) tall. Standout feature: It has Potato Leaf (PL) foliage that is … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Gaspacho 🌍 Origin: A very popular and reliable Russian variety named after the famous Spanish cold tomato soup. 🌿 Plant Habit: Determinate (bush). It stays relatively compact but produces heavily. Bonus: It has built-in genetic resistance to Verticillium and Fusarium wilt (VF resistance), making it a bulletproof choice for problem soils. … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Vasya-Vasilek 🌍 Origin: A commercial variety from the Russian seed company “Siberian Garden” (SibSad). The name is an affectionate double-diminutive of the name Vasily and the cornflower (Vasilek). 🌿 Plant Habit: Determinate. A sturdy, compact bush that grows to about 32 inches (80 cm) tall out in the open dirt. 🍅 … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Washington 🌿 Plant Habit: Determinate and early-ripening. It stays very compact, reaching only about 20 inches (50 cm) out in the open ground. The bush naturally looks a bit wispy and weak, producing very few leaves and suckers. Zero pruning is required. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Small, round-to-oval red tomatoes. Average weight … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Viola-1 Cherry 🌍 Origin: A rare cherry variety circulating in Eastern Europe. In this thread, seeds were sourced from Tamara Yashchenko, a highly respected Russian tomato collector from the Altai region. 🌿 Plant Habit: Determinate (short bush). Out in the open ground, it stays very compact, reaching only about 32 inches … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Vilma 🌍 Origin: A widely popular commercial micro-dwarf variety, beloved in Europe and Russia for balcony and container gardening. 🌿 Plant Habit: True micro-dwarf (determinate). The seed packet states 12-16 inches (30-40 cm), but growers often find it stays even shorter, topping out around 8 inches (20 cm) in pots. It … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Volgogradskiy 5/95 🌍 Origin: A legendary old-school Soviet commercial variety. Note: There are two famous “Volgogradskiy” strains. “323” is the early bush variety, while “5/95” is the vigorous, late-season strain bred for the warm, long summers of southern Russia. 🌿 Plant Habit: Vigorous with a very thick, sturdy main stem. Because … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Vazhnaya Persona F1 (VIP) 🌍 Origin: A Russian commercial F1 hybrid bred by the well-known breeder L.A. Myazina. The name translates to “Important Person” or “VIP”. 🌿 Plant Habit (The Height Mystery): Determinate. There is a funny discrepancy discussed in this thread: the seed packet claims it’s a micro-dwarf staying under … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Vernaya Lyubov (True Love) 🌍 Origin: A rare Russian heirloom/commercial variety. The name translates beautifully to “True Love”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Determinate. It is a sturdy tree-type (rugose) dwarf that stays compact, reaching only about 24 inches (60 cm) tall. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Stunning golden-yellow rounded hearts with a very distinct, … Read more