Tomato: Sweet Treats
(Solanum lycopersicum (syn. Lycopersicon esculentum))

The tomato is one of the most common garden vegetables worldwide. It is a solanaceous plant that produces fruit of various shapes, sizes and colors. Growth of tomato plants is described as either determinate or indeterminate. Determinate varieties produce compact plants that stop growing when fruit sets on the top bud; fruits mature at about the same time with no additional setting of fruit. Indeterminate varieties result in vining plants that produce fruit over a long period of time and do not ripen all at once. Indeterminate varieties require more support, using cages or trellises, than determinate varieties.