Actually, it is a fruit. It contains seeds. Tomato, Solanum lycopersicum, is one of the most popular vegetables in American gardens. Most are red. Some are yellow or orange. A few weird varieties are pink, green, dark purple, brownish or creamy white. The largest tomatoes can get more than four inches wide. Tiny clustered ‘grape’ tomatoes are less than a quarter inch wide. There are literally thousands of varieties!
Most garden varieties are ‘indeterminate’, which means that they are productive throughout the season until frost. ‘Determinate’ agricultural varieties produce all their fruit within a limited season to facilitate harvest. This also works nicely for home canning. (Determinate varieties seem to be more productive only because all the fruit ripens at once.) Although technically perennial, plants are grown as annuals. They get about three to six feet tall. Most garden varieties need support.
Tony Tomeo 
Did you know that it was a US Supreme Court case that ruled that the tomato is a vegetable? They said that they were doing so for purposes of commerce.
Karla
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A British Court ruled that rhubarb is a fruit, also for commerce. I doubt that tomatoes or rhubarb care.
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Tomatoes are in the same botanical family as the nightshades that are poisonous. As a result, for quite a while European settlers in the New World wouldn’t eat tomatoes.
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That would have left more for those who like them.
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Here, heat can bring an end to the tomato crop, too. Sometimes it only pauses, and sometimes it comes to a screeching halt. When days hit 85°F to 90°F and nights hover above 75°F, gardening friends tell me the flowers begin to drop, and no pollination means no fruit.
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Wow, that does not seem too terribly hot for them. It must be in conjunction with humidity, which is something we lack.
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I’ll bet it is, since we joke about 90/90 weather: 90 degrees, and 90% humidity.
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GADS! That is nothing to joke about!
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One of my favorite things to grow in the garden. And freeze, and use in recipes all winter.
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They are very easily canned as well.
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They are, and I used to, but gave up canning years ago. Freezing is easier when you’re old(er.) 🙂
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Canning is easier for those of us who lack freezer space.
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And it’s all easier to keep on shelves for longer, anything you can.
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Well, I don’t want to keep it too long. Otherwise, it starts to taste like the lid. Freezing is best but not so practical where there is no electricity. I have minimal freezer space in town.
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Here in the UK, mine are shivering after the weather switched this week from spring back to winter 😖
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That is why I prefer to plant them as small plants rather than from seed. If they slow down from cool weather, they are more likely to get eaten by slugs. It happens here too. In fact, it is quite cool and drizzly right now.
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Love starting various tomatoes from seed in our little greenhouse and moving to the garden. I buy a few also every year. The ones I plant start off smaller, but within a month or two grow bigger than the ones bought. I still have a few bags left from last summer in the freezer. Time to make tomato soup.
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For some reason, our ‘Roma’ tomato plants stay quite small and compact, and barely lean on their cages for support. Varieties that make big tomatoes for eating fresh are big and sloppy. Every variety has its distinct personality.
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