Finding the best tomatoes to grow in Minnesota was not as easy as I thought. Some require extensive care, others are prone to pests, and lots are just not simple & quick enough to grow.
That’s why I created a list of the 10 Best Tomatoes to Grow in Minnesota!
This ultimate guide will give you the best tomatoes to grow, why you should grow them, and even how to grow them.
Read THIS Before Growing Tomatoes in Minnesota
Knowing what hardiness zone Minnesota is in is critical to understanding the best tomatoes that can be grown.
It can be the difference between your tomatoes thriving and providing a bountiful yield or producing nothing.
Minnesota is mostly considered Hardiness Zone 5, while some of the lower-level regions are Hardiness Zone 6.
10 Best Tomatoes to Grow in Minnesota
#1. Roma Tomatoes
Days to Maturity: 50 Days
Why Grow Roma Tomatoes in Minnesota?
Canning or Freezing:
- Roma tomatoes produce one large, late summer harvest making it perfect for canning, freezing, or even drying.
Perfect for Cooking:
- Because Roma tomatoes have little to no seeds, it makes it perfect for cooking, making sauce, and even making paste. This is an incredibly sweet and tasty tomato!
Perfect for ANY Garden:
- Romas are perfect for urban gardening and even gardeners with little space. It is great in gardening containers, raised garden beds, and even indoors.
Disease Resistant
- Roma tomatoes are the perfect type of tomato to grow if you have problems with diseases. They are especially immuned to wilt and nematode pests.
THESE Could Harm Your Roma Tomatoes
Pests:
- Deer, Rabbits, & Squirrels LOVE Roma Tomatoes. If left unprotected these pests will eat your romas before it can even grow.
Insects:
- You’ll most likely find insects on your roma tomatoes in spring or fall when the weather is cool or wet. If you plant it in the shade where the soil is damp you should expect insects too.
Extreme Wet:
- While rare in Minnesota, extreme periods of rain or wetness will hurt your tomatoes. It can cause fungus that will affect the number of tomatoes that will grow and even can hinder your plants’ growth.
Additional Resources
Learn How to Grow Tomatoes from Seed HERE
#2. Brandywine Tomatoes
Days to Maturity: 80 Days
Why Grow Brandywine Tomatoes in Minnesota?
Heirloom:
- The Brandywine tomato is a heirloom tomato, meaning it carries the best characteristics of tomatoes and have been grown for decades. Out of all the heirloom tomatoes it is the hardiest, tastiest, and easiest one to grow.
Thrives in Heat:
- Brandywine tomatoes love heat. The hotter and more humid the better your Brandywine tomatoes will do. You should even expect more tomatoes because Brandywines love Minnesota’s summer.
Perfect in Pots:
- If there is any tomato that can be grown in gardening pots in Minnesota, it’s Brandywine tomatoes. This is one of the most adaptive tomatoes, making it perfect for beginner gardeners in Minnesota.
THESE Could Harm Your Brandywine Tomatoes
Disease
- Diseases are one of the few things that can affect Brandywine tomatoes. Almost any type of insect can and will attack your Brandywine Tomatoes.
Cold Weather
- If you have cold and wet summers then Brandywine tomatoes will become stunted, diseased, and potentially will even die.
#3. Early Girl Tomatoes
Days to Maturity: 50 Days
Why Grow Early Girl Tomatoes in Minnesota?
Thrives in Cold:
- While some tomatoes are heat hardy, Early Girl Tomatoes are cold-hardy, Early Girl tomatoes thrive in Minnesota’s cold weather. If you want the tastiest early girl tomatoes you should grow them in mid to late spring.
Great for Vertical Gardening:
- Early Girl Tomatoes are one of the few vegetables that are perfect for vertical gardening. Vertical Gardening is popular in the cities of Minnesota and even in the suburbs where land for horizontal growing is scarce.
Perfect in Raised Garden Beds:
- Early Girl Tomatoes do not need much room. They also grow great among other vegetables and plants. This makes it perfect for raised garden beds, which is one of the most popular techniques of gardening in Minnesota.
THESE Could Harm Your Early Girl Tomatoes
Pests:
- Deer, Rabbits, & Squirrels LOVE start to come out and become hungry in spring. One of the first plants they eat is tomatoes. Whether protected or unprotected pests pose a risk to growing early girl tomatoes in Minnesota.
Wet & Rain:
- Too much rain and wetness can cause your Early Girl tomatoes to quickly become infected with fungus or other diseases that will cause the plant to die earlier than expected hindering the amount of tomatoes you’ll be able to harvest.
#4. Beefsteak Tomatoes
Days to Maturity: 80 Days
Why Grow Beefsteak Tomatoes in Minnesota?
Thrives in the heat:
- As the summers get warmer beefsteak tomatoes continue to get bigger and more plentiful. Look no further for a low-maintenance vegetable.
Great for Vertical Gardening:
- Beefsteak Tomatoes are considered a vine vegetable. Because of this, you can train them to grow vertically, which is perfect for gardeners who have little space.
Perfect in All Types of Garden:
- Some vegetables only do well in the ground. Not beefsteak tomatoes. You can grow them in containers, window boxes, raised garden beds, and even in poor soil.
THESE Could Harm Your Tomatoes
Insects:
- Beefsteak Tomatoes are one of the most insect prone vegetables. Aphids, fruit worms, and even stinkbugs love eating them. If you wait too long to harvest expect all of these insects to become a problem.,
Diseases:
- BeefsteakTomatoes are also one of the most disease-prone vegetables, especially heirloom variants. Expect blight, fungus, and buckeye rot to affect your plant in the later summer months (even if you properly care for them).
#5. Grape Tomatoes
Days to Maturity: 60 Days
Why Grow Grape Tomatoes in Minnesota?
Thrives in the heat:
- Grape Tomatoes is one of the most versatile types of tomatoes. Whether you live in Northern or Southern Minnesota, grape tomatoes handle heat, humidity, and dry weather better than almost every other type of tomato.
Provides All-Summer Harvest:
- Grape tomatoes is one of the few types of tomatoes that you will be able to harvest from as early as June to as late as November if planted right. This means you will be able to enjoy it almost all year long.
Disease Resistant:
- One of the biggest disadvantages of growing tomatoes is that they are prone to disease and insect attacks. Out of all the tomatoes, the grape tomato is one of the most disease resistant tomatoes you can grow throughout Minnesota.
THESE Could Harm Your Tomatoes
Birds, Squirrels, Rabbits, & Chipmunks:
- These pests will generally not harm your actual tomato plants. What they will do though is immediately eat tomato flowers if you do not protect them with netting or rodent spray. They will even sometimes eat your actual tomatoes.
Gardening Containers:
- Most tomatoes do not need much water and can be grow in gardening containers, raised garden beds, and traditional gardens. But cherry tomatoes need a lot of water. And if you grow them in gardening containers and not properly water your plant then your tomatoes can die within just a few short days.
#6. Celebrity Tomatoes
Days to Maturity: 70 days
Why Grow Celebrity Tomatoes in Minnesota?
Disease & Insect Resistant:
- Celebrity Tomatoes are another type of tomato that is incredibly resistant to diseases and insects, making it perfect for beginner gardeners who want to try growing tomatoes for the first time.
Lots & Lots of Harvest:
- Celebrity Tomatoes are one type of tomato that produces some of highest yield out of all tomatoes. Best of all is that it doesn this all summer long.late fall.
Perfect for Small Gardens:
- Celebrity Tomatoes are considered compact plants. This means they are smaller bush plants that are perfect for small gardens, raised garden beds, and even in areas next to your house.
THESE Could Harm Your Celebrity Tomatoes
Birds & Rodents:
- These pests will generally not harm your actual tomato plants. What they will do though is immediately eat tomato flowers if you do not protect them with netting or rodent spray.
Shade:
- Celebrity Tomatoes do not handle shade well. Like many tomatoes it needs heat and sunshine to thrive, but expect little to no crop if it does not have a consistent amount of sunlight throughout the day.
#7. Green Zebra Tomatoes
Days to Maturity: 80 days
Why Grow Green Zebra Tomatoes in Minnesota?
Easy to Grow:
- The Green Zebra tomato is a tart tomato that never loses it green color. Although it is a heirloom tomato, it has similar traits to hybrid tomatoes making it easy to grow throughout Minnesota.
Perfect for Pickling:
- If you want tomatoes to last all year you need to pickle them or can them. Green Zebras are one of the best tomatoes for pickling and frying making it a great choice for Minnesota Gardeners.
Fits in ALL Gardens:
- Regardless of whether you live in northern or southern Minnesota green zebra tomatoes grow great in all types of gardens. I especially love growing them in raised garden beds and garden containers.
THESE Could Harm Your Peppers
Diseases
- Green Zebra Tomatoes can be prone to diseases in late summer. Expect blight, fungus, and rot to affect your plant later in the season near the time you will harvest your tomatoes.
#8. Cherry Tomatoes
Days to Maturity: 60 Days
Why Grow Cherry Tomatoes in Minnesota?
Thrives in Droughts:
- Unlike other vegetables, Cherry Tomatoes do not require a lot of water to grow, flower, and bloom into a crop that can be harvested more than once. This is great for the unusual dry summers.
Great for Vertical Gardening:
- If you want a vegetable that grows straight up, but not wide then look no further than cherry tomatoes. This type of tomato was created specifically for vertical gardening.
THESE Could Harm Your Cherry Tomatoes
Insects & Garden Pests:
- Like grape tomatoes, cherry tomatoes are vulnerable to many things. Garden Pests love eating tomato flowers, small tomatoes, and even the leaves of tomato plants. Not only this, but insects have been known to attack and eat the leaves of tomatoes.
Cold Weather:
- If the weather drops below 50 degrees Fahrenheit expect your cherry tomatoes to not grow, become stunted, and potentially even die. This means you should grow your tomato well after the last frost.
#9. Cherokee Purple Tomatoes
Days to Maturity: 80 Days
Why Grow Cherokee Tomatoes in Minnesota?
Heirloom:
- The Cherokee Purple tomato is a heirloom tomato, meaning it carries the best characteristics of tomatoes and have been grown for decades. Out of all the heirloom tomatoes it is the hardiest, tastiest, and easiest one to grow.
Thrives in Heat:
- Cherokee tomatoes love heat. The hotter and more humid the better your Cherokee tomatoes will do. You should even expect more tomatoes because Cherokees love Minnesota’s summer.
THESE Could Harm Your Tomatoes
Clay:
- Almost all of the tomatoes on this list can grow in any type of soil. The one exception is tomatoes. Tomatoes need loamy and small particle soil. If it is planted in clay soil it will not grow at all or take too long to grow.
#10. Sun Gold Tomatoes
Days to Maturity: 60 Days
Why Grow Sun Gold Tomatoes in Minnesota?
Loves heat:
- As you can tell there is a trend. Sun Gold Tomatoes are another type of tomato that does great in Minnesota’s summer heat. The hotter, the better. And if there is rain expect more and tastier sun gold tomatoes.
Tasty:
- Out of all the tomatoes on this list, the sun gold tomatoes are some of the tastiest tomatoes you can grow. They are perfect for salads, with steaks, as pasta sauce, and so much more.
THESE Could Harm Your Sun Gold
You:
This may seem strange, but the gardener is most prone to harm your sun gold tomatoes. Most gardeners will harvest too many sun gold tomatoes too early, will forget to water them, and not properly care for them.
Common Growing Factors of Minnesota’s Best Tomatoes
As a reminder, the below factors are common for the Best Tomatoes to Grow in Minnesota:
- Thrives in Heat & Drought
- Thrives in Cold
- Can Grow in Vertical Gardens
- Hardy against Pests & Insects
- Can be planted in ALL Types of Garden
- Have heavy harvests
