VegetableTomato
Giant Garden Paste Tomato
Giant Garden Paste Tomato is an F1 hybrid paste tomato bred for gardeners who want substantial yields of meaty fruit without sacrificing flavor. Each plant produces 8 to 10 ounce boat-shaped tomatoes with bright red ruffled skin and a wonderfully sweet-tart balance that makes them exceptional for sauces and preserves. Growing 36 to 96 inches tall on indeterminate vines, this variety reaches harvest maturity in 90 to 99 days from transplant and thrives in hardiness zones 2 through 11, making it accessible to gardeners across nearly the entire continent.
Photo © True Leaf Market
Growing Conditions
USDA Zone
2-11
Sunlight
Full Sun
Water
Moderate
Soil
Well-drained, Fertile Loam With Organic Matter
Growth Stats
96 in
Height
TypeIndeterminate
Spacing
24
Plant Profile
Sunlight
Full Sun
Water
Moderate
Zones
2-11
Size
96in H x ?in W
Growth
—
Care
High
Hover over chart points for details
Highlights
The fruit weighs a substantial 8 to 10 ounces each, with a distinctive boat-shaped form and deeply ruffled bright red skin that catches the eye in any garden. That sweet-acidic flavor balance means you're not just growing tomatoes for processing; you're growing tomatoes that taste genuinely good. The indeterminate growth habit ensures a continuous harvest throughout the season, and the plant's robust disease resistances to Fusarium Wilt, Verticillium Wilt, Late Blight, Bacterial Canker, Tobacco Mosaic Virus, and Powdery Mildew mean you can focus on harvesting rather than troubleshooting.
Common Uses
Giant Garden Paste Tomato excels at what its name promises: sauce-making and preserving. The meaty texture and balanced sweet-acidic profile make it ideal for canning, pureeing into tomato sauce, or slow-roasting to concentrate flavors for paste. The substantial fruit size means fewer tomatoes needed to fill a pot, and the concentrated flavor pays dividends whether you're making rustic marinara, thick pizza sauce, or bottled tomato paste.
Growing Timeline
No timeline data available yet for this variety.
Care Instructions
Start Indoors
Start seeds indoors about two months before your estimated final spring frost date in a well-draining potting or germinating mix. Keep soil warm (68 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit) and consistently moist until seedlings emerge, then provide bright light to prevent legginess.
Transplant Outdoors
Harden off seedlings over 7 to 10 days by gradually exposing them to outdoor conditions. Transplant outdoors after the final frost date when soil has warmed to at least 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Space plants 24 inches apart in rows 36 inches apart. Bury seedlings slightly deeper than they grew in containers to encourage a stronger root system.
Harvesting
Harvest when fruits reach full bright red color and yield slightly to gentle pressure. At 8 to 10 ounces, the boat-shaped fruits will feel substantial in your hand. Pick in the morning after dew dries to minimize disease transmission. Indeterminate plants flower and fruit continuously until frost, so you'll enjoy harvests from mid-summer through fall. Ripe fruit detaches cleanly with a gentle twist; if it resists, wait another day or two.
Pruning
As an indeterminate variety, Giant Garden Paste Tomato benefits from selective pruning to manage vigor and improve air circulation. Remove suckers (shoots that form in the crotch between the main stem and branches) on lower sections of the plant once it reaches about 12 inches tall. Prune the lowest leaves once flowering begins to reduce disease pressure and direct energy toward fruit production. These cuts improve airflow around the base where fungal diseases often start.
Growing Calendar
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Companion Planting
Pests & Diseases
Ecology & Traits
Edible
Scientific Classification
Solanum lycopersicum
Family
Solanaceae
Genus
Solanum
Growth Habit
Indeterminate
Native Status
L48 (I)AK (I)HI (I)PR (I)VI (I)CAN (W)