The Tomato ‘Better Boy’ Plant
There are as many reasons that tomatoes are the most popular garden plant today as there are varieties of the vegetable.
This blog entry is dedicated to one of the most beloved tomatoes, the Better Boy. This hybrid tomato plant bears round, heavy fruit with deep red color, a dense and meaty texture, and enough flavor to make your taste buds dance.
Tomato plants fall into one of two categories: determinate and indeterminate. Determinate plants quit growing in height when they form a flower cluster at their terminal growing point and they produce their fruit all at once. (These are usually preferred by people who preserve tomatoes through canning or cooking and freezing, so they can do the preparation all at once.) Indeterminate plants keep growing throughout the season, and they produce fruit that matures throughout the season, as well. Indeterminate varieties are better for families who wish to enjoy fresh garden produce for as long a growing season as possible.
Better Boy tomato plants are indeterminate, and will bear medium-sized fruit that are generally free of cracking and other deformities and irregularities. Harvesting begins 72 days from planting. Better Boy is resistant to verticillium and fusarium wilt, diseases not uncommon to many varieties. Hybrid tomatoes are often bred to be superior in disease resistance. Hybrid tomatoes are also specialized for different food preparations. For instance, some paste tomatoes are dry and dense, to cook into the best thick tomato paste and sauce, where others are preferred for slicing and eating raw or in salads. Better Boy plants are known for producing large, juicy tomatoes.
Tomato plants do best in full sun locations and they like heat. For the healthiest plants, keep the soil uniformly moist, and use a good organic compost and mulch to amend your garden soil. Better Boy tomato plants aren’t finicky and should produce an abundant harvest with minimal attention. Several tomato cage and stake products are available to help keep your plant upright (and not weighted down by the mature fruit) and to provide good air circulation to keep your foliage healthy. Since Better Boy tomatoes will continue growing taller through the season, make sure you provide some form of support!
In the kitchen, Better Boy tomatoes are multi-purpose and very popular. Fresh off the vine, this variety is ideal for slicing and eating raw on salads and sandwiches, or stuffed with bread crumbs and seafood and broiled. They can be sautéed, grilled, stewed or served on toast points with melted fresh mozzarella and basil. Don’t forget the salt and pepper!
Better Boys weigh up to 12-ounces and make delectable slicing tomatoes. Better Boy tomato plants produce fruit with health benefits common to all tomatoes, including their high lycopene content (an antioxidant and cancer preventive), as well as vitamin C, potassium, fiber and beta carotene—which converts in the body to vitamin A.
Never store fresh tomatoes in the refrigerator. It will destroy the flavor and juicy texture. At the end of the season, green tomatoes can be picked before the first frost and left in a brown kraft bag to ripen in a cool area.
