Days to Maturity: 69 from transplant

Determinate

The name says it all on this one, but you won't really believe the deliciousness of Big Yummy until you pull one off the plant in your own garden and take a bite. Selected for flavor, flavor, and flavor, this nearly seedless variety manages to offer both sugary sweetness and a high acid content, giving you that rich tomato tang that so many modern varieties lack. You're going to absolutely love it.

Big Yummy produces deep red, smooth fruits weighing in at 8 to 10 ounces on average. This is a great all-purpose size, ideal for slicing, canning, freezing, and saucing. The plant habit is determinate, meaning that it sets its entire crop within just a few weeks, instead of bearing small amounts continuously all season. This is ideal if you like to can or freeze your crop, because you can do it all at once. (Of course, you can also create a longer season of fruiting by staggering the times at which you sow your Big Yummy seed and transplant the seedlings into the garden. Try it every 2 weeks for a really long season of production.)

This fruit is smooth, unblemished, with no green shoulders and a combination of sweet, succulent, sharp, and acidic flavors throughout. It is meaty yet juicy, with a good balance of solids and gels. Once you've tasted this tomato, you may be spoiled—it's hard to go back to those bland, rock-hard supermarket types after Big Yummy enters the scene.

Big Yummy is a hybrid with superb disease resistance, making it a great choice for first-time gardeners as well as those who have had problems growing tomatoes in the past. This superlative tomato is resistant to alternaria stem canker, Fusarium wilt 1, gray leaf spot, tomato spotted wilt, and tomato yellow leaf curl.

Start seeds indoors 5 to 6 weeks before the last frost date. Plant outdoors when danger of frost is past and night temperatures consistently remain above 55 degrees Fahrenheit. If an unexpected late frost is forecasted, protect young plants with plastic sheeting or other cover. Set plants 2 to 2½ feet apart.

The variety of tomato you decide to grow depends on where you live. If your growing season is short, as it is in the far north, you will want to choose an early variety to ensure yourself the best harvest. Early season Tomatoes ripen quickly, typically being ready to pick within 4 months of sowing the seeds.

Choosing a Variety of Tomato

If you live in the deep south or another warm-climate area with humid summer nights, you'll want to grow varieties that are heat tolerant and resistant to blossom drop. Whatever your location, you'll need to grow your plants where they can receive at least 6 hours of full sunlight a day.

You will also need to consider when you want to harvest -- all at once or gradually over the season. If you enjoy canning the fruit, a determinate variety is your best choice. These plants grow as a 3- to 4-foot-tall bush and set all their fruit within a few weeks. If you want to enjoy your Tomatoes throughout the season, choose an indeterminate variety, which grows as a vine and needs staking. And for a little of both, consider the new semi-determinate varieties such as Sweet 'n' Neat Scarlet Improved and Orange Paruche. These plants stay small enough to grow in containers, yet keep bearing all season long!

When to Start Tomato Seeds

Tomatoes are best started indoors. This needs to be done 5 to 7 weeks before the last anticipated frost date. The seedlings can then be transplanted into your garden anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks after the last actual frost date. Call your County Extension Office to get frost information for your area.

How to Start Tomato Seeds

Park's Bio Dome seed starter is a great way to sow Tomato seeds, because each Bio Sponge has a pre-drilled hole you just drop one seed into -- no need to thin seedlings, no wasting of seeds! You can use either the original 60-cell Bio Dome, or our 18-cell Jumbo Bio Dome, which grows big, stocky seedlings ready to transplant right into your garden.

Place your Bio Dome in a 70- to 75-degree room, or just use a seedling heat mat to raise the temperature in the dome. You should see the first sprouts in 3 to 8 days. As soon as your sprouts are up, place the seedlings under strong light.

If you're using a potting mix, sow at a depth of 4 times the size of the seed. You can also use our convenient Jiffy Pots and Strips -- Jiffy Pots are constructed entirely of lightweight, sturdy peat moss, so as the roots develop, they eventually grow right through the Jiffy Pot wall and into the garden soil!

Fluorescent light for around 14 to 16 hours a day is ideal for fastest growth. Keep your seedlings just a few inches below the light so they don't "stretch" and get "leggy." If you don't have strong artificial light, a sunny window will work, too -- just keep the clear dome on your Bio Dome to protect your seedlings from those chilly drafts!

Transplanting Tomato Plants

About 2 weeks before your transplant date work the garden soil thoroughly, adding generous amounts of compost and about 4 pounds of fertilizer (5-10-10 is ideal) for every 100 square feet. Then cover the soil with a tarp or plastic mulch to keep the weeds from sprouting until you're ready to plant.

Ten days before transplanting, you'll need to start "hardening off" your young plants by setting them outdoors in a lightly shaded area for an hour or two. The next day, give them a longer visit outside until they remain outdoors overnight, still in their pots. Naturally, if a cold spell hits, bring them indoors again to wait for the temperature to rise.

When planting, bury the stem almost up to the lowest set of leaves, even if this means covering up several extra inches. If your plants have a long, tall, spindly stem with leaves widely spaced, you can plant them horizontally in the ground right up to the first set of leaves -- the plant will root all along its stem. Just dig a long trench a few inches below the soil, lay the plant carefully into it as if you're burying it, and then gently angle the stem upwards, so that the only part showing is the very top, with at least 4 to 6 leaves aboveground. Strip the underground leaves off the plant and cover up the entire length of "leggy" stem. Be careful not to bend the stem so sharply that it breaks -- bank it with soil and pat the earth down firmly around it.

As soon as your Tomatoes are in the ground, mulch heavily around the plants to keep weeds down and moisture in the soil. If you're growing the plants in straight rows, plastic mulch is far easier and effective than loose mulch (such as straw or pine bark).

The amount of space you need to keep between Tomato plants depends on the type you're growing:

• Determinate and compact indeterminate -- 2 feet apart
• Indeterminate grown on stakes -- 18 inches apart
• Indeterminate grown in cages -- 3 feet apart
• Container varieties -- 2-gallon pot

Special Considerations

If you can keep from doing so, don't plant your Tomatoes where peppers, eggplants, or Tomatoes were planted the previous year. These veggies all belong to the same plant family and therefore have similar nutritional needs and are susceptible to similar diseases. Their presence one year can deplete soil of important nutrients and possibly leave remnants of diseases in leaf litter.

Do not over-fertilize your Tomatoes, as this can make the plants less likely to flower. Your best bet is to use a formulation created specifically for Tomatoes like Tomato AlgoFlash.

Use Kozy Coats to protect your plants from frost -- they use water and sunlight to keep the air around your plants a few degrees higher.

Growing Tips for Tomatoes

• Prepare your soil in the fall. Lay in a foot or more of bio-degradable mulch -- chopped-up leaves, grass clippings, pine bark, decayed vegetable compost, humus, and even newspaper all break down into the soil over time. This feeds the soil just what it likes so that when you approach it with a tiller or shovel in spring, it just needs to be turned over and mixed up a bit. Then top off the whole rich pile with a piece of plastic to keep the mulch "cooking" as long as possible into winter and to prevent all the good nutrients from running off in hard rains.
  
• If frost still threatens after you plant your Tomatoes, or if you live in a short-season climate where late frosts are just part of spring, there are ways to keep your Tomatoes going. One way is to place a tarp over the plants, weighing it down at the edges to keep it from blowing away. Be careful, however, not to lay the tarp or plastic directly on the plants. You will need to use blocks, sticks, or whatever you have available to form a tent over your tender young Tomatoes. You can uncover it during the day and re-cover it at night, or leave it in place for several days and nights without damage to the plants.
  
• Once the fruit sets, be sure to keep the plants evenly watered until they're nearly ripe. The rule of thumb is an inch and a half a week, but if you begin the season watering more heavily, keep up the same rate. Just before the fruit ripens, taper off a bit. This will make the flavor meatier and less watery.
  
• Pick your Tomatoes when they are full, red, and firm. Eat them fresh off the vine or store them at about 60 degrees F. If you find yourself frantically picking the last several dozen while they're still green (to avoid an early autumn frost, for example), wrap them loosely in newspaper or a brown paper bag and store them in a cool, dark, dry place. Or count your blessings and fry them up at once!

Pests and Problems to Watch For When Growing Tomatoes

Nematodes live in the soil and destroy Tomato plants from the roots. You can use chemicals to control these pests, but the easiest and most beautiful way to kill them is to plant Marigold Golden Guardian along with your Tomatoes. This lovely annual naturally eliminates these destructive parasites.

Cutworms are caterpillars that chew through the stems of Tomato plants. They can be conquered by putting a Cutworm Shield around each plant at transplant time, or you can make your own from coffee cans, plastic drink bottles with both ends cut out, or cardboard paper towel and toilet paper rolls. Sink the shield at least an inch beneath the soil as well as several inches above it.

Pests or diseases can cause holes or spots on your leaves. The most likely pest culprit is the hornworm, which you can hand pick off your plants and dispose of as you see fit.

Blossom drop occurs when you have lots of flowers but no fruit. Anything from high humidity to unseasonable cold could cause this to happen. The plants must be pollinated to set fruit -- you can help get the pollen up and moving by shaking the plant to loosen it up a bit.

If your tomatoes have a mark or dark scar at one end, that's Blossom-end Rot, and it's probably caused by a calcium deficiency or a sudden change in temperature during fruit set. All you need to do is cut off the affected part and enjoy the rest of the tomato. If it's marked all over, that's called cat-facing, and it's probably a result of transplanting too early, insufficient water, or unusually high temperatures. Again, just cut away the scarred area.

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Tomato Germination Information

• Best sown indoors, 5-7 weeks before last frost, at alternating temperatures of 68 to 86°
• Sow at a depth of 4X the size of the seed
• Expect germination in 7-14 days
• Seeds can also be sown outdoors after all danger of frost is past in the spring and in a warm soil
• Outdoors, sow at the same depth as indoors

Grown for its red, orange, or yellow, rounded, oblong, or pear-shaped fruits that come in a variety of sizes. The plant is a frost-tender perennial that is grown as an annual. The determinate types are compact and bushier, from 12-24 inches tall. They stop growing and producing fruit when they reach their inherent size. The indeterminate types are vines that will keep growing and producing fruit until they are killed by frost. The fruit is best picked when red and juicy, however, they may be picked green and allowed to ripen indoors. Harvest regularly to keep the vine producing fruit

Superior Germination Through Superior Science

First of all, we have humidity- and temperature-controlled storage, and we never treat any of our seeds with chemicals or pesticides. Nor do we ever sell GMO's (genetically modified seeds), so you always know the products you're buying from us are natural as well as safe for you and the environment.

Superior Standards - University Inspected

Hand Packed By Experienced Technicians

When packing our seeds, the majority are actually done by hand (with extreme care!), and we often over-pack them, so you're receiving more than the stated quantity.

The Park Seed Gold Standard

Heirloom Seeds are open-pollinated -- they are not hybrids. You can gather and save heirloom seed from year to year and they will grow true to type every year, so they can be passed down through generations. To be considered an heirloom, a variety would have to be at least from the 1940's and 3 generations old (many varieties are much older -- some 100 years or more!).

Hybrid seed are the product of cross-pollination between 2 different parent plants, resulting in a new plant/seed that is different from the parents. Unlike Heirloom seed, hybrid seed need to be re-purchased new every year (and not saved). They usually will not grow true to type if you save them, but will revert to one of the parents they were crossed with and most likely look/taste different in some way.

Superfoods

A superfood is one that is exceptionally nutritious, with low caloric content and high amounts of fiber, protein, or vital nutrients.  A balanced diet containing many (or all) can have miraculous health benefits, preventing and even reversing almost every negative condition associated with age.

Take a look at this rundown of what exactly makes these plants so great, and start planning your life-changing garden today!

The average Apple contains only 47 calories, but it is packed with vitamin C, Potassium, Fiber, and antioxidants (polyphenols and flavonoids) that fight the negative effects of aging. So, it’s true what they say about an apple a day, but that isn’t the only food that should be a staple of a healthy diet!

Avocado is the richest fruit in terms of folate, potassium, vitamin E, and magnesium. They are also a great source of the “good fat”: oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat,  so enjoy that wonderful flavor with relish!

Beans, especially lentils, are a great alternative to meat, adding just as much protein without all that saturated fat.

Blueberries are one of the richest sources of phytonturients (antioxidants), which can help improve health and, most importantly, prevent cancer! 1 to 2 cups of blueberries a day will provide a good daily dose of these miraculous phytonutrients.

Broccoli is notorious for its health benefits, and for good reason! Extremely low in calories and extremely high in a wide variety of vitamins (plus antioxidants), Broccoli is truly a fool-proof food.  Eating it has a myriad of health benefits, from boosting the immune system to improving heart health.

Cinnamon is not just a delicious spice to please your palate, it has also been found to have unexpected health benefits: it is a naturally antibacterial that can stop the growth of bacteria like E. Coli in food, and it is also a great glucose moderator, helping people with type II diabetes decrease their glucose levels, triglycerides, and LDLs.

Garlic contains many nutrients and amino acids, but is best known for the sulfur compound allicin, an amino acid that serves as a general health promoter, fighting everything from viruses to old age, arthritis, stroke, and cancer. This is why Garlic has been used medicinally since at least 2600 BC.

Kiwi is extremely rich in Vitamin C (more than oranges), which can boost immune function, fight free radicals, and improve heart health.  Kiwi has even been shown to reduce the formation of blood clots, and it is a rare low-calorie source of Vitamin E (most sources are high in fat).

Onions have recently been found to produce a powerful compound when cut: thiopropanal sulfoxide. It is this substance that gives onions their disease-fighting and antioxidant properties, and it is also the reason for their pungent aroma and eye-watering effects. For the greatest health benefits, let your onions sit for a few minutes between cutting and cooking so that this compound has enough time to form.

Oranges are well known as an important source of Vitamin C, and they also contain a flavonoid called hesperidin, which has powerful antioxidant and antimutagenic properties on its own, and also amplifies those properties of Vitamin C, creating a very powerful synergy for preventing many types of cancers, as well as promoting general health.

Pomegranate juice has the highest polyphenol concentration of any fruit juice, making it a fantastic antioxidant. It is also rich in Potassium, Vitamin C, and Vitamin B6.

Pumpkin is the healthiest of all the gourds, being extremely high in fiber but low in calories, and having a uniquely potent combination of carotenoids.  The carotenoids in pumpkins—most notably alpha- and beta-carotene—promote skin health and eye health, and also help prevent cancer, most notably breast and lung cancers.

Soy is an amazingly affordable and abundant source of protein. Not only is it the most concentrated plant protein available, it also provides small doses of minerals, phytontrients, omega 3 fatty acids, and all nine essential amino acids. Soy really does have everything!

Spinach is a great source of iron and also contains a truly impressive array of all types of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.  Popeye’s favorite veggie is reputed to prevent everything from cardiovascular disease to colon cancer to cataracts.

Tomatoes are so delicious that, let’s be honest, most of us would eat them no matter how bad for us they were. Luckily, tomatoes are good for you, helping to prevent cancer and heart disease, due largely to the rare antioxidant Lycopene, which gives tomatoes their red color.

Park Seed is the best source for all these foods—our seeds are a great value because of their low price and high germination rate, while our plants are well-established and guaranteed true to type, providing  you surefire bumper crops of these Super edibles!

And growing your own superfoods doesn’t just save you money—it also has added health benefits compared to the food you would get at the supermarket.  First of all, you can carefully control any chemicals used in your own garden, so you know your family isn’t going to be adversely affected by the pesticides, preservatives, hormones, and artificial coloring that gets into supermarket food.
Secondly, fresh foods right from the garden actually serve up much more nutrition to your body than store-bought foods. 

Scientists have found that  vegetables and fruits begin to lose nutritional value once they are picked, and that key nutrients degrade when cooked. So, it turns out that even some super foods aren’t that great for you once they spend several days getting to your kitchen and then you have to cook them.

This just confirms what wise gardeners have been saying forever—the healthiest foods are the ones that you eat fresh right from your garden!  Invest in a season’s worth of superfoods for you and your family—it’s just as good for you as getting a gym membership, but so much more affordable!