Is it too late to start tomatoes?
Definitely not. You can plant tomato seeds anytime in the spring. Many people around here don’t sow them until April or May, as they are fast germinators and fast growers. We find they often do even better when they are planted in the ground when they're younger (after it warms up and all chance of frost has passed, of course).
We are in the West, so we typically start our Tomato seeds in late in April or early May. How early you start them depends on how much room you have to grow them indoors with good lighting until the weather has warmed up enough to plant them outside. Some people start them in January/February and pot them up as they have plenty of room indoors under lights or in a greenhouse. But if you don't have a lot of room, just start them closer to planting time such as in April or May so they don't outgrow limited indoor space.
Of course, depending on where you live, and where you can grow, you could potentially start tomatoes anytime throughout the year! If you are lucky enough to have a heated greenhouse, for example, you could grow tomatoes year-round. Or, if you're in Florida and other warmer southern areas, you could start tomatoes in February and even plant outside after any chance of frost has passed. Or in the Phoenix, Arizona, tomato gardeners have two growing seasons: mid-February until the end of May and September until mid-November. So starting tomato seeds can really happen throughout the year, it just depends on where you live.
Start Tomato Seeds Indoors
If you have a shorter growing season (like in the West, where spring frosts last late into May/June, and fall frosts come early in September/October, then it's good to start tomatoes indoors early in March/April to get them growing before transplanting outdoors.
FASTEST GROWING TOMATOES:
Here are our top-rated-looking short-season tomatoes below. Our standout picks include sweet cherries, reliable early slicers, and a few compact, high-yield options that fit cooler or shorter growing seasons well.
Sweet cherry types
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Sun Gold Cherry Tomato is one of the most appealing choices if you want very sweet cherry tomatoes, and it’s a classic favorite for snacking.
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Super Sweet 100 Cherry Tomato is another high-yield cherry option, with strong taste and disease resistance.
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Chocolate Cherry and Isis Candy also stand out for flavor and color, making them good picks if you want something a little more unusual.
Early and reliable slicers
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Black Prince Tomato is a rich-flavored heirloom that’s often valued for its deeper, fruity taste.
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New Yorker Tomato is a strong choice for cool, short seasons because it’s positioned as an early slicer.
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Jet Star and Better Boy Tomatoes are dependable selections for gardeners who want vigor, yield, and easier growing.
Compact and productive
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Bush Early Girl is a good fit if you want a compact plant with solid yields and heat tolerance.
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Glacier Tomato is especially attractive for short seasons because it’s described as fast-yielding and flavor-forward, and more cold-tolerant for cooler spring and autumn conditions.
- Martino’s Roma and Rutgers VF are practical options for sauce, canning, and disease resistance.
The most versatile choices are Sun Gold F1, Black Prince, Glacier, New Yorker, and Super Sweet 100. That set gives you sweetness, early harvest potential, and a mix of cherry and slicing tomatoes. Read more about some of our favorite short season tomatoes below:
Grow the Fastest Growing Tomatoes!
To speed your tomato harvest up, you can also grow shorter season tomatoes such as the Glacier Tomato, above, which is ready to harvest in 56-63 days!
Our Isis Candy Tomato is also a heirloom that is ready to harvest in 67 days.
The Berkeley Tie-Dye Tomato is an Open-pollinated heirloom that is ready for harvest in 65-75 days. With great flavor, this fast growing tomato matures mid-season before other beefsteaks and has great heirloom flavor.
The Black Prince Tomato is another open-pollinated heirloom tomato that is ready for harvest in 70 days, and it's one of our most popular early and sought after black heirloom tomatoes. It is full of juice and incredibly rich fruity flavor with considerable health benefits. Great for patio gardens! This fast growing tomato is regarded as a true northern variety and has excellent growing qualities suited for cooler climates.
A modern hybrid classic, the Bush Early Girl Tomato is one of the earliest tomatoes, with tomato harvests starting in just 59 days! These compact, space-saving tomato plants produce good early yields of excellent flavor for an early tomato. Good disease resistance and easy to grow. Heat tolerant. Very popular with home gardeners because of early fruit ripening and they are always dependable, producing huge yields on small bushy plants.
