Have you noticed how store brought tomatoes are tasteless. There are a number of simple reasons for this. Commercial growing and development over the past fifty years has all been designed to produce a tomato that looks good, stays firms, will not bruise, and has a nice red sheen. Although the finished product looks dazzling, this development has not helped produce commercially grown tasty tomatoes. Some even argue that taste and flavor were sacrificed during the makeover of the modern tomato.

Small time growers and tomato enthusiasts know that the only way to get a tasteful tomato is to grow it themselves. True fans of the tomatoes will use store brought tomatoes just to make a food dish look good, not to actually eat. To grow tomatoes though you first need to buy the right tomato seeds, of which there are hundreds of different types.

Tomatoes can be big or small; vary in color from red to yellow, and purple to orange. Different shapes can also be achieved from the perfect sphere, to flat or egg shaped tomatoes.

It is also important to know that tomato seeds can be either hybrid tomatoes or heirloom varieties.

What are Hybrid Tomatoes

These tomatoes are used by the commercial grower. Created as a result of the crossing of two different tomato varieties, they can be produced to be resistant to disease, perfectly spherical in shape, and resistant to bruising. All attributes needed for store display, where the consumer expects a big red tomato for sale even the middle of winter. Little work has been done in the development of hybrid tomato that is full of flavor.

It should be noted that a hybrid tomato will only last for one growing season. If the seeds from the hybrid are planted, the tomato grown will not be the same as the parent plant.

For the gardener heirloom tomatoes are the best option, the same high yields are possible with much better taste than the hybrid types.

What are Heirloom Tomatoes

The small time growers' favorite tomato, the varieties of tasty tomatoes available are boundless. The heirloom tomatoes are where the grower can expect the colorful varieties, each type formed by development over long periods of time, often by individual growers.

As each Heirloom tomato has its own characteristics, it means that each variety requires differing conditions in which to grow. It is therefore beneficial to choose your Heirloom variety based on where it will be grown. Heirlooms also tend to need more care and attention, as they have not been developed to be non-bruise or disease resistant. Take the care though and the results will be well worth it, a tomato can be grown that is full of flavor and is a color and size to please anyone.

One benefit of heirloom tomatoes is that planting seeds from the plant will result in the same plant being grown the following year, unlike hybrid varieties. This give heirloom tomatoes the appealing quality of being able to save seeds from year to year and not having to rebuy tomato seeds for each new growing season. Indeed, many popular heirloom tomato varieties have been passed down for generations.