# @ahs_gardening on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DaDq3ogmV-9
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/67147837-ahs-gardening-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/41a24eb93c.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-06-26T17:23:19.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** American Horticultural Society | American Gardener Magazine (@ahs_gardening) — https://gondola.cc/ahs_gardening

## Caption

*GARDEN TIP OF THE WEEK*⁠
How Does Your Tomato Grow?⁠
⁠
When you’re choosing tomatoes for your garden, flavor is obviously important, but it’s also useful to know that tomatoes come in two broad types based on their growing habits—determinate and indeterminate. The distinction may help you select varieties based on the space you have, your reason for growing the tomatoes, and the amount of maintenance you’re able to provide.⁠
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When you buy tomato seeds or young plants from a catalog or nursery, they will be generally labeled as one or the other. Most gardeners grow both types.⁠
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Determinates⁠
These tomatoes have a genetically short period of growth and tend to stay relatively bushy and compact, growing to 4 feet tall, making them suited to small spaces and containers. They produce all their fruits over several weeks, then die. In order to have a long season of harvest, plant seeds every few weeks throughout midsummer or set out transplants through late summer.⁠
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Some popular determinates:⁠
‘Rutgers’⁠
‘Celebrity’⁠
‘Early Girl’⁠
‘Roma’⁠
‘Tiny Tim’⁠
⁠
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Indeterminates⁠
These tomatoes are vining types that grow and produce fruit all season, but fruiting isn’t as plentiful as for determinates. The vines need to be staked or trellised, or they will sprawl 10 feet or more. If vines start getting out of control, you can cut off the tops to maintain a manageable size. Regular harvesting keeps plants in production mode until frost.⁠
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Some popular indeterminates:⁠
‘Better Boy’⁠
‘Brandywine’⁠
‘Cherokee Purple’⁠
‘Mortgage Lifter’⁠
‘Sun Gold’⁠
‘Yellow Pear’⁠
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DID YOU KNOW⁠
Some tomatoes—called semi-determinates—share traits of both determinate and indeterminate types. They may grow bushlike but bear fruit over several months rather than several weeks. ⁠
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#tomatoes⁠
#summervegetables⁠

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## Tags

summervegetables, tomatoes

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