Growing a Tomato that Stores Well into Winter

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Do you dream of growing great winter storage tomato in your home garden?

If you’re anything like me, you pine for a good, garden-fresh, ripe tomato in the mid-winter months. Sure, hothouse tomatoes have come a long way in recent years. And, those grocery store “on-the-vine” winter tomatoes can provide the illusion of garden-fresh. But they just aren’t the same as homegrown tomatoes. That’s why growing our own tomatoes that store well into winter is so enticing!

What’s a great winter storage tomato to grow?

The best winter storage tomato we’ve grown is Long Keeper. But, if you’re going to grow this plant, it’s a good idea to know a bit more about it. That’s because this knowledge will help you plant at the right time and in the right place.

So, here are some helpful details:

• Long Keeper is an indeterminate, which means it can get big and lanky.
• Seed packets indicate it takes 82 days to ripen. But, we’ll discuss more on that a little later.

Timing when you seed late season tomatoes is part of your key to success…

• If you intend to store Long Keeper for winter, you may want to seed it later than other tomatoes. That’s because harvesting it later may extend how long it will store into winter.
• So, if you expect it to take 82 days to harvest, sowing seeds in late May or early June might be ideal. That’s because 82 days later would be sometime in mid-August.
• However, you might find the plants take longer than 82 days. In fact, when we seeded in late May one year, we ended up harvesting in October. And the winter storage tomatoes we harvested were only slightly blushed by the time we harvest them.
• But picking only slightly reddening tomatoes can be a good thing for storage tomatoes. That’s because they’ll continue ripening over time in storage.
• Still, harvesting before October rains & the blights they can inspire is more ideal. So, you may find that sowing Long Keeper tomatoes in March or April may be a better plan.

So, what’s the best way cellar & ripen winter storage tomatoes?

Empty canning jar boxes with jar separators are perfect for storing your winter storage tomatoes.

• Partially this is because the boxes are dry.
• Plus, the separators keep the tomatoes from touching. To clarify: Tomatoes that touch can spread rot fast.

Too, covering the box with a dry cloth helps keep out light. This is important, because too much light might ruin your winter storage tomato harvest.

Furthermore, place your storage crops in a cooler place like a dry basement cellar.

Don’t forget to monitor your storage tomatoes!

To keep an eye on your tomatoes in storage, try the following steps:

• Every few days, check your winter storage tomatoes for any spoilage. That’s because some will likely go bad. And, as the saying goes, “One rotten apple (or tomato) can spoil the lot.”
• However, more should color up (aka ripen) over time. This may happen more quickly to any storage tomatoes touching a lot of cardboard edges.
• As well, it’s important to handle the fruit as little as possible.
• Moreover, be sure to check all sides of the tomatoes. And rotate their positions periodically. That’s because sometimes one side will look unripe but the other side is actually ripe. And, when that happens, it’s time to eat your storage tomato!
• In fact, even the hard green ones we’ve stored have eventually ripened to become winter-fresh eating tomatoes.

What if you want to grow a plant that fruits all winter?

We have had success growing some tomatoes indoors in winter. And we’ve been fortunate to have them bear fruit as well. Plus, we haven’t had to much supplemental light to make this happen. But we have only grown specialty container cherry tomatoes like Lil Bites to make this happen with any amount of good success. And we’ve grown them in a very well-lit, south facing sunroom.

That being said, with enough light, space, and heat, it is possible to grow just about any kind of tomato indoors in winter!

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