11 Easiest Tomatoes to Grow From Seed: When I started gardening, each catalog had thousands of seed varieties, which overwhelmed me. I wanted juicy tomatoes for snacks and burgers quickly. I knew I wanted to start fresh. I discovered the easiest tomatoes to grow from seed in any climate after six years of gardening and commercial organic farming.
11 Easiest Tomatoes to Grow From Seed
Easy gardening involves sowing seeds, watering them, and harvesting delicious food with little effort. These tomato varieties are ideal for low-maintenance production. These seeds will grow quickly with consistent moisture, warm temperatures, and full sunlight!
1. ‘Gardener’s Delight’ Cherry Tomato
‘Gardener’s Delight’ offers the perfect summer sweets to pop in your mouth. This is the ideal fast-maturing cherry tomato for flavor and garden ease. Despite weathering in American gardens, 1950s German heirloom ‘Gardener’s Delight’ has survived. Though not as disease-resistant as hybrids, it grows and yields quickly enough for beginners.
2. ‘Supersweet 100’ F1 Cherry Tomato
This classic cherry tomato produces massive clusters of mini fruits all summer. Easy to grow, prolific plants almost grow themselves! Its F1 hybrid status makes ‘Supersweet 100’ extra vigorous and resistant to Fusarium and Verticillium wilt. Indeterminate vines need stakes, cages, or A-frame trellises. The seeds germinate quickly in 85°F soils and prefer a heating mat indoors.
3. ‘Red Pride’ Bush Tomato
Though compact, this award-winning tomato produces a bumper crop of 10-ounce 3″ slicer tomatoes. ‘Red Pride’ seeds resist Alternaria stem canker, Fusarium wilt, and gray leaf spot. This determinate bush tomato grows easily with a tomato cage, regular watering, and plenty of sunlight.
Plant the seeds indoors 4–6 weeks before transplanting, 1–2 weeks after your last spring frost. Plant ¼” deep and water regularly until emergence in 5-10 days. Provide a heating mat for faster, more even germination.
4. ‘Sun Gold’ Pole Cherry Tomato
The ‘Sun Gold’ cherry is the sweetest and orangest tomato in the garden. My favorite and most successful plant from my early gardening years was this. ‘Sun Gold’ plants self-grow and yield in 57 days after transplanting. First autumn frosts allow you to harvest golden summer drops from vines.
The disease-resistant variety produces low-acid fruits for fresh eating. Seeds germinate quickly in warm, moist, bright light. I started them indoors in 4″ pots on a south-facing windowsill with success.
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5. ‘Italian Roma’ Bush Tomato
If you like canning or pasta sauce, don’t miss this easy-to-grow Italian classic. The hybrid-like heirloom ‘Italian Roma’ determinate sauce tomato is beginner-friendly. The compact vines produce enormous amounts of 3″ oblong fruits that ripen simultaneously.
I love ‘Italian Roma’ because it’s low-maintenance. If tomato pruning overwhelms you, you’ll love how these plants care for themselves in a cage. If you have time, removing some suckers will improve airflow and direct plant energy to its fruits.
6. ‘Mountain Merit’ Bush Tomato
Patio and container gardeners, listen! I recommend this as one of the few beefsteak tomatoes for beginners. The compact, vigorous plants of ‘Mountain Merit’ produce classic-flavored slicer tomatoes. The All-American Selections Heartland winner has excellent disease resistance and production. Even late blight and root-knot nematodes don’t bother it!
The determinate ‘Mountain Merit’ is ideal for containers and small gardens. It grows neatly in a simple tomato cage with little pruning. Great for summer barbeques, freezing, and preserving, 8-10 ounce slicing tomatoes ripen at the same time.
7. ‘Moneymaker’ Pole Tomato
In humid, scorching summers, southern growers love ‘Moneymaker’ for its high yields. Its name comes from its 1960s popularity among commercial growers. Heavy medium-sized fruit yields appear 75-80 days after planting and last all summer. One of the easiest to grow from seed, this indeterminate pole tomato needs a supportive trellis and light pruning to direct energy toward its globe-shaped fruits.
Small seeds can be planted directly 1–2 weeks after your average frost date. Plant ⅛” deep in rows 36” apart, leaving 24-36” between plants. Loamy, compost-rich soil and consistent moisture promote fast growth. Nighttime temperatures between 55° and 75°F are best for fruit sets.
8. ‘Patio Choice’ Yellow Bush Cherry Tomato
‘Patio Choice,’ a unique yellow cherry tomato, thrives in pots. It grows quickly—you can harvest fruits 45 days after planting! Compact, bushy plants produce many sweet half-ounce cherry tomatoes in a small space. Salads and salsas look stunning in yellow.
All American Selections winner ‘Patio Choice’ resists disease, including the tobacco mosaic virus! Southern growers will be pleased that this plant thrives in high heat and humidity. Their space requirements are 18-24” or a 5 gal+ container with a tomato cage.
9. ‘Cherry Falls’ Bush Cherry Tomato
This easygoing bush cherry is attractive and functional. Grow ‘Cherry Falls’ in pots or hanging baskets. Drooping vines with bright red tomatoes add ornamental value. That doesn’t mean this variety lacks flavor. Though harder than ‘Sun Gold,’ the fruits produce a rainbow when mixed with orange and ‘Patio Yellow’ cherries.
Cherry Falls matures 55-65 days after planting and thrives with a simple trellis or cage. However, determinate vines remain bushy at 18 inches. A well-drained soil blend with even moisture and full sunlight germinates seeds quickly.
10. ‘Early Girl’ F1 Tomato
The iconic hybrid ‘Early Girl’ is often the first slicer tomato to ripen in late spring or early summer. This variety is drought-tolerant, blossom end-rot-resistant, and wilt-resistant. ‘Early Girl’ vines thrive in low moisture, making them ideal for beginner gardeners who forget to water. In 60 days, the plants produce meaty, balanced fruits.
11. ‘Glacier’ Bush Tomato
Cold-weather gardeners need ‘Glacier’ tomato seeds every year. These compact plants produce some of the first and last ripe tomatoes in summer and fall. The 30” vines set fruit in cooler temperatures and tolerate more cold than other varieties. However, ‘Glacier’ needs 60 frost-free days to set fruit.
Sow seeds at 1/4” depth for 4 to 6 weeks before transplanting. Warm soil mix sprouts fastest, 5-7 days. When weather settles, transplant to containers or outdoor beds two weeks after last frost. Semi-determinate plants like tomato cages.