Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Zheltye Slivki ot Borisovny (Borisovna’s Yellow Plums) 🌍 Origin: A highly treasured family heirloom passed down by Natalya Borisovna, a famous tomato grower and forum member from Kazakhstan. The name literally translates to “Yellow Plums from Borisovna.” 🌿 Plant Habit: Classified as a determinate, but it grows incredibly vigorously (more like … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Zheltyi Shar (Yellow Globe) 🌍 Origin: A commercial variety. The name translates exactly to “Yellow Globe”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), easily exceeding 6.5 ft (2 m). Performs great outdoors (requires heavy staking) and in greenhouses. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Bright yellow, perfectly round globes weighing around 5.3 oz (150 g). 👅 … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Yellow Cherry Potato Leaf 🌍 Origin: A highly sought-after heirloom/collector’s variety circulating among Eastern European growers. Not typically available in commercial seed catalogs. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall). Features distinctive, large potato-leaf (PL) foliage. A very vigorous and resilient plant that produces right up until the first heavy frosts. 🍅 Fruit … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Dary Volkhvov (Gifts of the Magi) 🌍 Origin: A Russian heirloom variety. The name beautifully translates to “Gifts of the Magi” (referencing the Biblical Wise Men). 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. Grows to about 5 feet (1.5 m) tall. Performs well in greenhouses. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Red, elongated oval (plum/paste) tomatoes. They … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Jalpa 🌍 Origin: A beautiful striped paste tomato popular among Eastern European collectors. 🌿 Plant Habit: Determinate. Grows as a very sturdy, compact tree-type bush (shtamb), typically reaching about 24 inches (60 cm) tall outdoors. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Elongated, red paste tomatoes with striking yellow stripes. Length is about 4-4.7 inches … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Jade Pink Round 🌍 Origin: A very rare heirloom variety. It is extremely hard to find information or grower reviews about it online. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. A great choice for growers looking for a reliable, tall plant that produces uniformly sized salad tomatoes. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Perfectly round, pink tomatoes … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Garetski Rozovyi (Greek Pink) 🌍 Origin: A fantastic commercial/heirloom variety from Bulgaria. The name translates directly from Bulgarian as “Greek Pink” (sometimes spelled Gretski Rozovyi). 🌿 Plant Habit: Determinate (bush). Despite being a determinate, it is quite vigorous and tall for a bush-type, reaching about 4 ft (1.2 m) in open … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Gelfrut Zolotoy (Golden Gelfrut) 🌍 Origin: A highly productive commercial/heirloom variety from Ukraine, popularized by famous seed collectors like A. Kulik and V. Redko. 🌿 Plant Habit: Determinate (bush). Compact and manageable, usually growing to about 3.3 ft (1 m) tall. Performs beautifully outdoors in open ground even in shorter, cooler … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Gosudar F1 (Sovereign) 🌍 Origin: A commercial Russian F1 hybrid. (Note: Because it is a true F1 hybrid, seeds saved from this tomato will not grow true to type next year). 🌿 Plant Habit: Determinate (bush). Seed packets rate it at 2.3-2.6 ft (70-80 cm), but grown under cover in a … 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): 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
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Vovchik 🌍 Origin: A commercial variety from Russia/Ukraine. The name is an affectionate diminutive for Vladimir (Little Vova). 💡 Editor’s Note (The Famous Mix-Up): This thread is a classic example of a happy accident. The official commercial seed packets describe Vovchik as a regular round/oblate tomato. However, a massive batch of … Read more