Tomato Growing Guides: 61 Articles by Variety and Task

Tomatoes

Growing good tomatoes is mostly about matching variety to purpose and then not picking the fruit too early or too late. Paste types grown for sauce behave differently from slicers, and our guide to growing plum tomatoes for sauce explains why paste varieties are more prone to blossom end rot and how a determinate plant ripens most of its fruit in one flush. Timing near the end of the season matters just as much as the growing months before it.As first frost approaches, plants left to their own devices waste energy on fruit that will never ripen in time, which is why pinching and topping tomato plants before first frost redirects that energy to the fruit already on the vine. Container growers face a different set of tradeoffs, since not every “dwarf” tomato is actually determinate or suited to a small pot. The guides below cover 61 tomato varieties and growing tasks, from container picks to the exact stage to pick each fruit.

Tomatoes

Septoria Leaf Spot on Tomatoes: Gray-Centered Spots, Bottom-Up Spread — How to Tell It From Early Blight and Stop It

Marzena Rewers (Horticulturist)

June 8, 2026

9 mins read

Septoria leaf spot creates tiny gray-centered spots that climb from your tomato’s bottom leaves up — here’s how to tell them from early blight, and the fungicide schedule that actually stops the spread.

Tomatoes

Best Tomato Cages: Why Most Are Too Small (and How to Pick the Right Size and Style)

How to Grow Plum Tomatoes for Sauce: Why Paste Types Get Blossom End Rot First, the Determinate Flush That Ripens 80% at Once, and Roma vs Amish Paste

Two Weeks Before First Frost: How to Pinch and Top Tomato Plants So the Fruit Ripens on the Vine

8 Patio Tomato Varieties for 5-Gallon Containers (And Why ‘Dwarf’ Isn’t the Same as ‘Determinate’)

When to Pick Tomatoes: The Breaker Stage Gives Better Flavor, Fewer Cracks, and No Pest Damage

BadaBing Cherry Tomato: The 2026 AAS Winner That Resists 4 Major Diseases So You Spray Less

Don’t Mistake Tomato Leaf Mold for Early Blight: Yellow Patches on Top, Olive Fuzz Below — and the 85% Humidity Trigger

Bacterial Spot Thrives Above 75°F, Speck Below It: Use Temperature to Diagnose Your Tomatoes Before You Spray

Why Your Tomatoes Keep Getting Blossom-End Rot — And the Watering Fix That Works When Calcium Sprays Don’t

Septoria Leaf Spot on Tomatoes: Gray-Centered Spots, Bottom-Up Spread — How to Tell It From Early Blight and Stop It

Tomato Early Blight: The Target-Ring Diagnostic Table, 75°F Infection Window, and Spray Schedule That Stops Canopy Loss

Growing Tomatoes in Zone 10: Two Planting Windows, the 85°F Pollen Threshold, and 8 Heat-Proof Varieties

Zone 4 Tomatoes: Which Varieties Beat the Short Season (and When to Plant Them)

Two Tomato Seasons Per Year: A Zone 9 Planting Calendar for Spring and Fall Success

Zone 3 Tomatoes: Which Short-Season Varieties Ripen Before Frost and When to Start Them Indoors

How to Grow Alpine Strawberries: Runnerless Varieties, 1-Gram Berries, and a 5x Yield Gap Between Cultivars

How to Grow Butterhead (Bibb) Lettuce: 60–70 Days to a Loose Head, and Why Leaves Touching Wet Soil Rot First

Rosa Rugosa Survives -40°F and Salt Spray, Then Spreads: The Beach Rose’s Hips, Suckering Roots, and Maine’s Warning-Label Rule

Sakura Trees: Yoshino and Kwanzan Peak About 15 Days Apart, So Plant Both for a Three-Week Show, With the Root Flare Showing