My Tomato Picks for 2024, Part 2

Don't humiliate yourself by growing uncool tomatoes

Growing tomatoes is one of the great joys of gardening. But growing the wrong tomatoes—the boring kinds found at big box stores and garden centers—is a waste of precious garden space and effort. Why not grow the best genetics available? I’ll tell you why: you haven’t read this newsletter yet. Once you have, you’ll be one of the cool tomato kids, growing only spectacular tomatoes with the finest pedigrees.

If you missed Part 1, you can find it here.

Purple Zebra

A new hybrid that is rumored to be a cross between Black Krim and Green Zebra, two legendary heirloom flavor champions. Obviously the aesthetics are part of the selling point here, but the flavor is said to be excellent, leaning heavily on the "smoky" quality of black tomatoes, which I tend to prefer. You can get seeds here.

Malachite Box

A green tomato that is consistently mentioned as among the best tasting of the green types. Green (when ripe) tomatoes have two major advantages: they are less prone to attack from creatures that identify ripeness by color, such as birds and mice, and the chlorophyl in the tomato is photosynthetic—just like a leaf—allowing it to contribute to the sugar production of the plant. Paradoxically, this means that green tomatoes can actually be sweeter than red tomatoes. The name is a translation from the Russian "Malakhitovaya Shkatulka." You can get seeds here.

Santa Maria

It may not look like much, but Santa Maria gets a ton of hype. An heirloom paste tomato with a murky origin story, Santa Maria is widely lauded as one of the best all-around tomatoes: outstanding both fresh and in sauce, the plant can reach 12 feet tall and yields profusely. Aside from being constantly recommended by tomato freaks, its big claim to fame is that it was voted best in show at the Tomato Fest held by Michigan Heirlooms in 2017. You can get seeds here.