Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
🍅 Quick take: Maglia Rosa is a celebrated semi-determinate artisan cherry tomato bred by Fred Hempel of Artisan Seeds in California. Plants form tidy, well-behaved bushes ranging from 2 to 4 ft (0.6 to 1.2 m) that require minimal to no suckering. It yields prolific trusses of elongated, pink-and-yellow marbled “bullets” weighing up to 0.9 … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Guernsey Island Pink Blush is an indeterminate, pink cherry/cocktail tomato. Originally discovered as a mutation of the Guernsey Island variety, it produces firm, oval-shaped fruits weighing around 1-1.2 oz. Growers love its wispy but vigorous vines, extreme weather resilience, and very sweet, all-purpose fruits that hold up beautifully in canning jars. Full … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Gnoccia di Limone (Lemon Gnocchi) is an early, indeterminate cherry tomato originating from France. The commercial description promises apricot-pink fruits with explosive sweetness, but growers report that the variety might not be fully stabilized yet, with plants producing both peach-colored and bright red fruits, and exhibiting varying leaf types. Despite the genetic … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Emalia is an eye-catching, elongated cherry tomato born from a cross between Lucky Tiger and Orange Walk. It produces 1 oz (30 g) caramel-green fruits with a distinct curved beak. Plant height is highly variable: it can stay as a compact 2.5 ft (0.8 m) bush outdoors or shoot up to 6 … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Evil Olive is an intriguing, highly productive cocktail/cherry tomato with a unique color profile. These indeterminate vines produce large, complex trusses of round fruits that ripen to a greenish-ochre outside with a dark red interior—literally resembling olives. Averaging 0.7-1.2 oz (20-35 g), the tomatoes have a memorable sweet-tart punch, a crunchy texture, … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Mickey Mouse Red is an ultra-compact, early-season micro-dwarf cherry tomato that is absolutely perfect for indoor container gardening. Topping out at just 1.5 ft (0.5 m) tall, it produces heavy yields of firm, glossy 1 oz (30 g) red cherries. Growers love it for winter windowsill projects, noting its classic tangy tomato … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Basket on the Window (Lukoshko na Okoshke) is an ultra-early super-determinate (micro-dwarf) tomato bred specifically for containers, balconies, and small garden spaces. The original red variety produces round 0.7-1 oz (20-30 g) cherries on tiny 16-inch (40 cm) bushes that theoretically require no pruning or staking. However, growers note they do need … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Detskaya Radost F1 (Children’s Joy F1) 🌍 Origin: A commercial Russian F1 Hybrid variety. The name translates beautifully to “Children’s Joy”, hinting at its target audience. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. An insanely vigorous, aggressive climber that shoots up like bamboo. Even outdoors, it can easily surpass 8 feet (2.5 m) in … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Datterini Nero 🌍 Origin: An Italian-style grape/cherry tomato. The name “Datterini” translates from Italian as “Little Dates,” while “Nero” means black. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. Produces beautiful, long, organized trusses of fruit. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Dark brown/mahogany, elongated grape-type cherries with subtle striping and a cute little “beak” or nipple at … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Balkonnoe Chudo (Balcony Miracle) 🌍 The Great Seed Mystery: “Balkonnoe Chudo” translates to “Balcony Miracle.” It is arguably the most counterfeited/mislabelled tomato variety in Russia. Because the name is so marketable for apartment growers, seed companies slap this label on almost anything. 🌿 What it SHOULD be: A true micro-dwarf (about … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Cafe Bule 🌍 Origin: An American heirloom variety known for producing masses of dark, pear-shaped cherry tomatoes. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. Growers describe it as “well-behaved” and not overly aggressive in its growth. The foliage is relatively light-colored, taking on a purplish-blue hue in strong sunlight. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Small, beautiful … Read more
Quick Summary of Blue Keyes 🌍 Origin & Type: A striking novelty anthocyanin cherry/pear tomato. It is part of a series (along with Amber Keyes, Black Keyes, etc.). 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. The bush tends to be tall, thin, and rather lanky/leggy with regular foliage. Several growers report that it is quite sensitive to extreme … Read more