Growing seedless tomatoes – Types of seedless tomatoes for the garden
Tomatoes are the most popular vegetable in American gardens and, once ripe, their fruit can be processed into dozens of different dishes. The tomato can be considered an almost perfect garden vegetable, except for the slippery seeds. If you have often wished for a seedless tomato, you are in luck. Tomato growers have developed a number of seedless tomato varieties for the home garden, including cherry, pasta and sliced varieties. Growing seedless tomatoes is just like growing any other tomato; the secret is in the seeds.
Types of seedless tomatoes for the garden
Many seedless tomatoes are almost completely seedless, but some do not achieve this goal. The Oregon Cherry and Golden Nugget varieties are cherry tomatoes, and both claim to be mostly seedless. You’ll find that about a quarter of the tomatoes are seeded, and the rest are seedless.
The Oregon Star is a true pasta type, or tomato roma, and is perfect for making your own marinara or tomato paste without having to crush the seeds. Oregon 11 and Siletz are classic seedless tomato plants of various sizes, and they all boast that most of their tomatoes will be seedless.
However, perhaps the best example of a seedless tomato is the new Sweet Seedless, a classic garden tomato whose sweet, red fruits weigh about half a pound each.
Where can I buy seedless tomatoes?
Special seeds for seedless tomato plants are rarely available at your local garden center. The best thing to do is to consult seed catalogs, by mail and online, to find the variety you are looking for.
Burpee proposes the variety Sweet Seedless, as well as Urban Farmer and some independent sellers on Amazon. Oregon Cherry and others are available at different seed sites and will be shipped nationwide.