If you're trying to choose a variety of tomato plants, you'll be faced with many choices

There are many varieties of tomato plants and tomato seeds. They come in smaller varieties like cherry tomatoes and jelly bean tomatoes or in larger ones like gurney girl and beefsteak. You can also get tomato plants and tomato seeds in either of two types – heirloom or hybrid.

Hybrid tomatoes are created by crossing two varieties of tomatoes in order to create a new variety with particular characteristics. These tomato plants can be more resistant to tomato disease and their fruit can have a longer shelf life once picked. In many cases the seeds from a hybrid plant will revert back to one of the varieties used in the combination, so keeping tomato seeds from your own plants won't always product the results you might like.

Heirloom tomato plants and tomato seeds are the more traditional varieties, and many people prefer them.

Heirloom tomatoes are varieties that have existed for a long time, in some cases hundreds of years. Many people feel that these tomato plants are more flavorful and offer a larger choice of varieties. You can even get heirloom tomato seeds that will produce unusual colors of tomatoes like orange or yellow.

If you are growing heirloom tomato plants, it is easier to keep your own seeds to plant the following season. Because they are not a cross between other varieties, heirloom tomato seeds will produce the same variety that they came from. This makes it a little easier when planning your garden.

With either type – heirloom or hybrid – you can buy them as tomato plants that are ready to transplant or as tomato seeds which you start yourself then transplant when they are ready.

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