Best Home Garden Tomato: Royal Hillbilly

Royal Hillbilly 85 days. Lycopersicon esculentum

"Determinate" tomato varieties are a good container choice. These vines are typically smaller and shorter. Determinate tomatoes set all their fruit more or less at once. If you are planning to preserve large batches of salsa, sauce or canned tomatoes, getting most of your ripe tomatoes at one time is a good thing.

Introduced by Darrell Merrell, in the 1990s, when he selected this type from a patch of Hillbilly tomatoes. This has become a cult favorite. Large fruit are rich and sweet but tart with tender pink/purple skin. Expect several juicy one pounders that will produce burger-sized slices.

I had great success growing a Royal Hillbilly tomato plant in a 5 gallon bucket. Plants will need to be staked or supported because the heavy fruit may break the vines. Remember, container grown tomato plants are dependant on you for all food and water. I recommend Royal Hillbilly and would grow it again. The seed came from Baker Creek.