Looking for Early Tomato Varieties? We have lots of early tomato seeds to grow in your garden. For gardeners with short season climates with early cold weather wiping out the summer garden in early autumn, rather than growing tomatoes that have a long growing season, it's best to grow short season tomatoes. Tomatoes are very tender plants that are easily damaged by frosts, so growing early tomato seeds and starting the indoors to give them a head-start is the best way to get red tomatoes before the cold sets in.
THE BEST SHORT SEASON TOMATOES:
Glacier Tomato
This is the earliest tomato variety we carry! With outstanding flavor and higher-than-average yields, these early tomatoes harvest in just 56-63 days! This early tomato is also more cold-tolerant than other varieties so it can withstand late spring cold spells and early cold spells come autumn.
Another one of our earliest tomatoes, the Isis Candy Tomato, is a tasty cherry tomato starts to treat you with delicious garden morsels in just 67 days! This tomato is one of our all-time favorites in the garden! Often, the tomatoes don't make it into the house as we eat them right off the vine.
Another early tomato variety is the heirloom Berkeley Tie-Dye Tomato. Surprisingly with it's large size, these larger heirloom tomatoes start ripening in just 65-75 days (compared to other heirloom beefsteak tomatoes which usually range around 80-90 days for harvest.)
The early Black Prince Tomato is another great short-season tomato to grow in your garden, ripening in 70 days. It has amazing rich, fruity flavor and is also packed with nutrition! This early tomato is a true northern variety and is well-suited for cooler climates and short growing seasons. This is also a great tomato to grow in containers!
Chocolate Cherry Tomato
Another extra-early tomato that ripens in just 65 days! This early tomato variety has beautiful smooth red 3" plum shaped fruits, and it produces well the entire season. It is tart and juicy making it a fantastic salad tomato. A sweet & delicious black cherry tomato that picks easily from the stem.
Another early tomato variety is the hybrid Bush Early Girl Tomato that harvests in just 59 days! These space-saving plants are compact and productive, and they are very popular with home gardeners in short seasons because they're extra-early and dependable.
Chef’s Choice F1 Orange Tomato
This early tomato variety is a hybrid derived from the popular heirloom Amana Orange which matures late in the season – this tomato starts to ripens at around 75 days. Great flavor and disease resistance!
Garden Peach Heirloom Tomatoes
An unusual early tomato variety, these delicious tomatoes with their fuzzy peach-like skin ripen starting at 71 days. Quite a garden novelty!
Pineapple Heirloom Tomato
These are early tomatoes as well, despite that they say 85 days on this tomato but we seem to get them earlier. The Pineapple tomato vines set fruit fairly early, and also ripen quickly. In mid-summer, they seemed to stop blooming, then they put on another flush of production in late summer/early fall (if the weather holds!). The fruit has gorgeous color when sliced, very tropical! Beautiful in salads – think Caprese salad!
This early tomato variety has beautifully round red 8oz tomatoes on semi-determinate vines that grow to 3-4’ This early tomato is very dependable and produces tasty red tomatoes early in the season in 65 days. Great disease resistance and resists cracking.
For Faster Harvests, Start Early Tomato Seeds Indoors!
If you live in a season where you only have warm weather in the summer months, it's best to start tomato seeds indoors early in March/April to get them growing before transplanting outdoors. Transplanting them up into larger pots as they grow can really help speed up their growth – plants of the same age can be widely different in size if one is kept in smaller pot and one is in a larger pot. This is because the more legroom that tomatoes have to grow roots, the more quickly the plants will grow. Each time you transplant them, bury them as deep as possible so they get a great root system.
Get a lot of green tomatoes in the fall?
Grow these early tomato varieties and you'll have more red tomatoes before the frost or early snowstorm! Check out our favorite fastest growing peppers »
Even if you grow early tomato varieties, you will likely still have some green tomatoes at the end of the season, so if you do, make Green Tomato Sauce!
