Popular Tomato Varieties for Marin County
Whether you live in the heat of Fairfax or the cool-summer days of Sausalito, there's a tomato for you. These delicious varieties have stood the taste test of time – in Marin and beyond.
Tomatoes for warm summer weather
These popular selections take the heat, which makes them good choices for Marin's inland locations such as Novato, San Anselmo, and San Geronimo.
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Phoenix
This heat resistant, determinant slicer performs well in containers. Produces many tasty 8 to 12-ounce bright red fruits all summer long. Hybrid, 70 to 75 days to maturity.
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Chef's Choice Orange
Beautiful bright orange beefsteak tomato produces many 8 to 11-ounce fruits that are low in acid and high in flavor and texture. Strong resistance to tobacco mosaic virus. Hybrid, indeterminate, 75 days to maturity. Winner of a 2014 All-America Selection award. |
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Aunt Ruby's German Green
Indeterminate heirloom with great taste. The slightly flattened, 1-pound tomatoes ripen to a pale yellow-green tone, with a slight pink blush that extends to the inside. Superb, sweet, and slightly spicy taste. 80 to 95 days to maturity.
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Brandywine
This indeterminate was introduced in 1885 and is an heirloom tomato standard. It has superb flavor and a luscious shade of red-pink. The large, beefsteak-shaped fruits grow on unusually upright, potato-leaved plants. The fruits set one or two per cluster and ripen late. 82 days to maturity. |
Marvel Striped
The Marvel Striped has large, pleated yellow fruits that have red striping from the blossom end. The fruit is sweet and juicy with few seeds. Marvel Striped is heat and drought tolerant and has vines that need a long summer to mature. It is originally from southern Mexico. Heirloom, indeterminate, 85 days to maturity. |
Oaxacan Jewel
The Oaxacan Jewel is a pre-Columbian Mexican heirloom tomato. It produces 1 to 2-pound yellow beefsteak tomatoes with red streaks throughout the fruit and brilliant red marbling inside the flesh. This indeterminate tomato is juicy, rich, and sweet. 85 days to maturity. |
Green Zebra
This green, indeterminate, heirloom tomato has a sweet sprightly flavor. Beautiful chartreuse fruit has dark green stripes and is a modest 1¾ to 2 inches in size. Chefs love this tomato because of its delicious taste and because it looks unusual and ornamental on a plate. Excellent yield. 78 days to maturity. |
Cherokee Purple
Hailing from Tennessee, this attractive heirloom tomato is comparable to Brandywine for flavor. It bears rich, large, dark purple tomatoes that consistently rank high in taste tests. Matures in 80 to 90 days. |
Tomatoes for cooler climates
You don't have to live in sweltering heat to grow tomatoes. In fact, heat spells can actually impede a tomato crop. If you live where summers are on the cool side, these varieties are for you.
Sun Gold
Sun Gold is a reliable, prolific producer, a sweet-flavored cherry that ripens into long clusters of 10 to 15 tomatoes. Pick fruits at their deepest hue for a richly sweet, fruity flavor. Sun Gold bears fruit well into fall. Plants need staking or tall cages as they can grow 10 feet tall. Sun Golds are hybrid, indeterminate, mature in 60 days, and are suitable for cooler climates. |
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Jetsetter
Jetsetter is a reliable, early producer with large, 8-ounce fruits that are smooth, juicy, and shaped like flattened globes. This is a very productive tomato for coastal and cool microclimates. Hybrid, indeterminate, 64 days to maturity.
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Black Krim
Indeterminate from the Isle of Krim on the Black Sea. Black Krim bears 3 to 4-inch slightly flattened mahogany beefsteak tomatoes with deep green shoulders and green gel around the seeds. Fantastic, intense, slightly salty taste. Heirloom, 70 to 90 days to maturity. |
Carmello
This heirloom is a beautiful French variety with 10 to12-ounce red slicing tomatoes. It is a popular tomato in Europe. Carmello is indeterminate, tasty, and productive; 75 days to maturity. |
Black Cherry
Indeterminate heirloom with great taste and productive yield. Just 65 days to maturity, so suitable for cool, coastal settings. Plentiful clusters of 1-inch cherry tomatoes have a deep red-blackish hue. Flavor is complex, rich, juicy, and sweet. |
Jaune Flamme
A very popular tomato from France. Jaune Flamme (or Yellow Flame in French) is an early producer, with clusters of 6 to 8 apricot-colored 3 to 4-ounce fruits. Excellent for fresh salads and as a drying tomato. Indeterminate, heirloom, 75 days to maturity. |
Paul Robeson
The Paul Robeson tomato is named after the famous African American opera singer and equal rights advocate. The maroon 6 to 12-ounce fruits with dark green shoulders have a distinctive sweet smoky taste. This heirloom is indeterminate, with 65 to 75 days to maturity. |
Early Girl
This popular hybrid bears heavy crops of early, continuous tomatoes, each weighing about 5 ounces. Plants are vigorous and the tomatoes are slightly flattened, bright red, meaty, and flavorful. It is well-known as one of the earliest tomatoes, maturing in just 59 days. |
Learn more about growing tomatoes, frequently-asked tomato questions, and solving tomato-growing problems.
