Growing tomatoes in cool climate is a challenging and fun thing to do. We grow mainly heirloom tomatoes. Every year we try some new varieties and choose from those that have proven to be great for our garden. And there are so many to choose from.
Not all tomatoes are the same. Some ripen faster and tolerate cool weather better than others. Generally, determinate or dwarf tomatoes are earlier and better suited for outdoor growing in cold climate. Caseys heirloom tomatoes catalog has a guide to the best (non-cherry) tomatoes to grow outdoors in Calgary (zone 3a) and also a guide to the best tomatoes to grow in pots. You might find your favourite variety on that list.
Varieties matter, and they matter a lot. It actually might be the most important small thing that determines if you will have success or failure.
Look for and get varieties that are suited for your climate. For us in a cool climate we get early varieties that will set fruit even in cool weather conditions. For our greenhouse we can get some classics, but even in there we do not grow any variety that needs a long growing season. It simply would not work.
Heirloom Tomato Varieties We Grow In a Northern Garden
This is an incomplete list of tomatoes we have grown over the years. Some of these are our favourites that we continue to grow every year, while others, even though good too, we have dropped because we can’t possible grow all of them. Some have never even made the list because we are very picky on varieties we grow.
For a tomato variety to become our favourite it has to perform great. Our growing conditions in cold climate are very challenging, to deal with even more challenges because of the variety is not what we want. Still, some of those that have not made the list of our favourites might become a favourite for you. There are so many great tomatoes to choose from and try.
Bush or Vine Type Tomatoes
Tomato varieties are roughly divided into bush and vine type plants. All determinate, semi determinate, and dwarf plants make a bush, and all indeterminate tomatoes are vine. Normally your seed package will tell you what you got. If in doubt, just google your variety and you can usually find lots of information on what type of tomato it is.
Both bush and vine type tomatoes can have fruit in all sizes. But bush type tomatoes are mostly earlier and easier to grow in a cold climate.
Heirloom Bush Type Tomato Varieties We Grow In a Northern Garden:
Latah
Latah was a gift seed package from Heritage Harvest Seeds. It was developed at Latah County at the University of Idaho. It often is the earliest tomato in our garden. The fruit is bright red and averages about 2 inches across. The flavour is good (very sweet) and better than many of the super early varieties. Latah will grow to be a vine bush. Some call it determinate and others indeterminate, with regular leaf foliage. Matures 50 days from transplant. Because of its earliness we keep growing it.
Mano
A Hungarian dwarf tomato that will grow only about 40 cm tall. However, if planted in good soil, we have found that it will grow a bit taller and will be loaded with fruit.
Very flavorful and early tomato – very sweet with a nice tomato finish. The globe shaped fruits usually weigh 50-60g. Grows well in containers and even better in the ground. Can be outside the greenhouse. A favourite!
Native Sun
Native Sun is the earliest yellow determinate tomato. Yum-yum, lots of delicious tomatoes. It’s supposed to be a poor keeper. I could not tell since we eat it so fast, often directly from the vine. Native Sun also looks and tastes great in a salad with dark greens like kale. Even though we like it so much, I often only grow one plant because it is so productive that we do not need more. Native Sun also grows well outside the greenhouse. A favourite!
Early Annie
Early Annie was a first for us this year and it immediately became a favourite. A short determinate heirloom variety that produce high yields of 4 oz., round, meaty fruits with few seeds. Particularly good for canning. Fruit sets all at once. Early Annie is an exceptional tomato combining earliness, productiveness, and beautiful, medium sized, blemish free orange red fruit. Determinate, regular leaf foliage. Matures within 65-70 days. A favourite!
Manitoba
This bush type variety was developed for the prairies of Canada. It is a hearty, northern tomato that thrives in cool season. It produces well and early in the season and has a tangy taste that is great for canning and preserving. Matures 6o days from transplant. Manitoba was close to becoming a favourite, but then we tasted Early Annie, a very similar tomato that suits us even better.
Tiny Tim
Tiny Tim Heirloom miniature cherry tomato variety was introduced by the University of New Hampshire in 1945. This small, tidy, determinate plant with deep green leaves typically grows to 20 – 40 cm (8-16″) tall and 17 cm (6 1/2″) in diameter if planted in full sun. Tiny Tim will thrive in less sunlight than other varieties, however fruit yields will be less and growth larger and less tidy.
Determinate (bush type). Matures in 60 days.
Heirloom Vine Type Tomato Varieties We Grow In a Northern Garden
Cuor di Bue or Bull’s Heart
Bull’s Heart is a tomato I grew up with; I was thrilled to find it here. It also is a favourite among Calgary’s elderly Italian immigrant community. Many grow only one tomato and this is it – Bull’s Heart. It will produce up to 900 g (2 lbs.) of pink fruit. A great sandwich tomato, and equally as great for making salsa. It is meaty and tasty. And did I mention its huge fruits? 😉
Cuor di Bue or Bull’s Heart surprised us with a 2 lb 4 oz tomato! That is lots of tomato in one fruit, and it was all good and yummy! A favourite!
Summer 2018 – we have a new winner: 3lb 8.10oz Bull’s Heart tomato.
Anna Russian
Anna Russian – I ordered the seeds just because I could not resist the name ;). A wonderful heirloom from Brenda Hillenius of Oregon, whose grandfather had obtained seeds from a Russian immigrant. The heart shaped fruit are pinkish red. The flesh is sweet and juicy. Very high yields and also very early. Indeterminate, regular leaf foliage. Matures 65 days from transplant.
We grow Anna Russian indoors to have very early tomatoes. A favourite!
Red Brandywine
Red Brandywine is an extremely reliable producer of large – 8-12 oz (225-340 g) – perfect red globe fruit. The taste is deep and rich. It is a beautiful, sturdy indeterminate plant. A favourite!
Matina (aka Tamina)
This tomato is a German OP commercial variety that has been around for 40 years. Huge plant, full of tasty little tomatoes. Definitely an early variety! I think in mid July the first ones were ripe in a greenhouse. Certainly worth it to grow. If you are into fermenting tomatoes, this one works very well because of the more firm skin.
JD’s Special
JD of Conroe, Texas, stabilized a cross between Brandywine and an unknown black tomato. A red/black early and tasty tomato. I have been successfully growing this one outside the greenhouse, in a south facing sheltered location.
Kimberley
John de Rocque from Kimberley BC crossed Tiny Tim with Siberia and stabilized it to this short, potato leaf plant with smooth tasting red tomatoes. This tomato will produce early and keep going all season long.
Ludmilla’s Red Plum
Ludmilla’s Red Plum comes from a Kazakh family who immigrated to Germany. The family had been growing out this variety for over 50 years. It will produce an incredible amount (7 per truss) of smooth tasting fruit that weigh up to 9 oz. (255g). This tomato is not a paste variety. We have grown it for years, but it still has not become a real favourite.
Maya & Sion’s Airdrie Classic
A cross of a late large pink beefsteak – Brandywine, and an early red- Stupice, this tomato has the best combination of earliness and flavour. It is named after Caseys heirloom tomatoes’ son and daughter. 170g-400g, red oblate fruits with ribbing are produced on trusses of 4 to 8.
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Beautiful tomatoes! I miss them already! I am always looking for new varieties, I would buy the entire seed catalog if I could!
Well, it looks like I am already growing at least half of a seed catalog ;). But more and more we select which ones we actually really like and are worth growing. And we still have lots and lots in the basement after ripening, so I think we will eat homegrown tomatoes for another month.
I love heirloom tomatoes. Nothing Nothing tastes better. You have listed varieties I’ve not tasted. My mouth is watering!!
My goodness, I want a tomato sandwich now! Beautiful pictures of your tomatoes. We have not had good success with growing tomatoes the last few years. They just don’t get any size to them at all!
Thanks for this article, I have bookmarked it. I love heirloom tomatoes and will look into some of the varieties you mentioned. Your pictures are beautiful!
I have had pretty good luck with Carbon tomatoes, and this year will experiment with Snow White Cherry tomatoes (from Heritage Harvest Seed) and Cole tomatoes (from Annapolis Seed, where the description reads “My earliest tomato. This is one that really impressed me last summer. It’s been grown and selected for at least 40 years by a Mennonite family in Saskatchewan, it came to me from a friend in northern Alberta where it is one of only a few varieties that can reliably mature. The short, somewhat scruffy looking plants seem to be more fruit than foliage!”)
There is nothing like a home grown tomato! My family always had a massive garden when I was growing up and I was always looking forward to eating that first tomato. Thanks for sharing all the different varieties. Now I’m craving a tomato sandwich!
I have to tell you how very appreciative I am of this list. I have a mild allergy to raw tomatoes but absolutely love cooking with them, and homemade tomato soup, rather high up on my favorite things list.
I like my pizza and spaghetti sauce bases to be rather sweet (mostly because I tend to put lots of spicy things with it) but because I can’t taste the raw tomato for sweetness I’m often just shooting in the dark. Now, thanks to you I have a much better Idea of what I should be looking for.
Thank you thank you thank you.
You’re welcome Ricki. One of my Bull’s Heart would be enough for 2 jars of pizza sauce for sure ;).
These are absolutely gorgeous!! I never liked tomatoes until I tried my very first heirloom a year ago. They are usually a watery, seedy mess but these are hearty and flavorful! ~Renee
Beautiful! We had our first frost a couple of days ago, so mine are done:( Brandywines are my favorite for eating raw! Do you have a favorite meaty variety for canning?
Bull’s Heart is a great tomato for making salsa. If you think of canning whole and eat whole, I like Matina. Anna Russian would make a great meaty canned tomato. Hope this helps.
Those are some beautiful tomatoes! You know how much I know about tomatoes? I planted what I thought were those big gorgeous steak tomatoes. I was planning on making salads out of them with fresh mozzarella cheese and balsamic vinaigrette…YUM. When they started growing, guess what they were? Cherry tomatoes. Dang it. My hubby loved snacking on them. I was so disappointed.
by any chnnce would you share a few of those seeds because like you I only plant a few of each and it would get expenzive to try
Seeds store well for many years. Just have them dry, dark and cool. So you can grow 5 Plants 3 years in a row from each 15 seeds package. Does that help?
what see companies can you recommend for heirloom seeds in Canada?
Hi Jenny, I have a post for this: Getting seeds for the new growing season Hope this helps.
I started ordering from Heritage Harvest Seeds about 3 years ago and it’s an excellent company. I must admit though, I skip the tomato section… it’s just too daunting! However, since you’ve written up excellent reviews of these tomato types, I might be tempted to try them 🙂
I am glad to encourage you! Some of the heirloom tomatoes are really tasty.
I find it so hard to only plant a few varieties of tomatoes! Every year I tell my husband I will plant less, and then I just choose my favourites, but it still ends up being about a dozen different kinds! And of course I have to try at least 1 or 2 (or 3!) new kinds 🙂 It is so much fun to grow! I love your list and saw many kinds I have never heard of. Now I have some more to consider for next year 🙂 One of my favourites for early tomatoes (I grow in zone 3) is Glacier and Sasha’s Altai (okay I guess that is two). They have reliably been the first tomatoes to ripen in my garden.
I have never heard of Glacier and Sasha’s. Now you added two to try to my list ;). This year we grow Manitoba for the first time. I know, it is a well known variety, but we haven’t tried them before. So far I like them.
Hi,
Thanks for showing your garden and the produces of different kinds of tomatoes.
I had cherries tomatoes red and yellow and are still ripening on the wine. I want the purple and black kind of tomatoes seeds
which I look in the store the coming season. I live in kitchen,canada our season was not good all over. My neighbours all had not great season because too much rain.
Thanks and have great weekend time to clean the garden now.
almas Nathoo
Hi Anna, Well, I grew a good cherry tomato plant this year and I didn’t do anything, except trim it back to keep it from taking over. It came up in last years compost. Couldn’t tell you what name it was, but it was absolutely divine. I had the weirdest garden this year, planted 3 zucchini that were so late producing, but seed-overs from previous years decided to pop up all over. Cucumbers, pumpkin, Swiss Chard, cilantro, tomato….I think I work to hard by trying to put all the pretty ladies in a row.