Have you ever heard of bonnie plants tomato varieties? Bonny Best is an old-fashioned tomato variety with the perfect flavor for slicing if you want to make sandwiches or canning for sale. Growing the Bonny Best properly requires a lot of pruning and staking. It grows best in cold climates up to 5 inches tall as an heirloom. It’s also disease-resistant and easy to grow and care for.
This indeterminate vine produces clusters of round and firm tomatoes, making it a favorite for many large and kitchen gardens.
So whether you’re an expert or beginner gardener, there are tips for growing, caring, and even using herein. Keep reading to learn more about growing Bonny Best tomato.
Also Check: Is 13-13-13 Fertilizer good for tomatoes?
Bonnie Plants Tomato Varieties: Which Is The Best Tomato Variety?
Nothing ushers in summer the best way like harvesting fresh tomatoes hanging ripe on the vines. At this time, everyone is waiting to eat, can, or make a tomato sandwich (my personal favorite).
But, to enjoy the joys of Bonnie tomatoes, you need to pick the best variety to grow. So, look at 4 of the best tomato varieties you need to boost your harvest.
- Cherokee Purple
This variety grows to an average the size of most tomatoes. So, it should measure a maximum of half a pound.
What’s most interesting about Cherokee is the purple color. This distinction makes canning and cooking exciting.
- Husky Red Cherry
This Husky Red Cherry takes the medal for having unique looks, flavor, and productivity. If you wish, you can snack on this Bonnie tomato variety anytime.
It grows stout, dark green, and has dwarf indeterminate vines producing clusters of cherries in a tiny space for a prolonged period.
Though the dwarfs grow strong and neat, it would be best to add support using a stake to help endure strong wind and rain.
- Better Boy Tomato
Better Boy has a perfect spot as one of the most popular Bonnie tomato varieties. Commonly grown in the US, this large smooth-skinned fruit has an excellent balance of acid and sugar in its classic flavor.
This tomato works best for salads because it makes ideal slices. Because it requires support while growing, it would be best to tie it to a stake or grow in a sizeable cage.
- Big Beef
As a Bonnie tomato variety, Big Beef is easy to grow, delicious, and resistant to diseases. The large fruit grows from indeterminate vines all summer until winter. This Bonnie tomato sets fruit early even when the weather is cool and wet as a type of beefsteak.
Big Beef is also red and heavy, weighing about a pound, and has several uses. So you can make a sandwich, salad or can it.
The large size and heavy weight sometimes cause the beef steak tomatoes to split at the top. It’s a common occurrence, though.
What Kind Of Tomato Is Bonny Best?
Bonny Best is a robust indeterminate vine that grows anywhere. It grows as tall as 3 to 5 inches and spreads about 20 to 24 inches. It produces clusters of uniform medium-sized round tomatoes in deep red fruit.
So, what is an indeterminate vine?
An indeterminate vine continues to extend in length during the growing season. Like Bonny Best, an indeterminate tomato plant, ripens and sets in the growing season. This is contrary to the determinate tomatoes that reach a mature height and fruit at once.
Therefore, the indeterminate vine results in a steady and slow supply of tomatoes instead of one surplus harvest. However, the ripening of the Bonny Best starts sometime later in the season compared to the determinate varieties. This is because they spend a lot of time growing in height.
What Are Bonnie Tomatoes?
Bonnie tomatoes are an heirloom because they pass down from generation to generation. Usually, heirloom tomatoes are at least 50 years old, growing from open-pollinated plants that aren’t hybrid.
An heirloom breed has its advantages; for instance, it preserves the plant’s genetic diversity. Also, the heirloom Bonnie Original tomato tastes better than hybrid tomato varieties.
They are also known as “breed true,” meaning that you can keep Bonnie Best seeds and grow a similar variety of tomatoes yearly. However, it’s essential to note that the heirloom tomatoes are costly because they are prolific and don’t store or ship well.
What makes heirloom Bonnie tomatoes unique?
First, the seeds are thoroughly selected for a long time to ascertain desirable taste, color, and size. Plus, they are open-pollinated, where it’s easy for rain, wind, bats, birds, moths, and bees to pollinate the tomato flowers.
You’ll find current hybrid tomatoes have similar good taste as Bonnie tomatoes. These hybrids have unique traits that make them disease resistant, produce high yields, and can store and ship well. As a result, they are cheap because of limited spoiled produce and decreased waste.
Nonetheless, Bonnie tomatoes are not GMOs and cannot be hybrid. For Bonnie tomatoes, taste and flavor is everything the hybrids fail to achieve. In short, the mixture becomes highly productive and resistant to disease at the expense of flavor.
How Tall Do Bonnie Tomato Plants Grow?
Bonnie Original tomato plant grows as tall as 3 to 5 inches.
For you to achieve the desired height, there need to be specific conditions that allow the Bonnie tomato to grow. Hence, one needs to know several things when intending to develop Bonnie Original, like the germination and maturity days, containers, and other necessary inputs.
Let’s look at these conditions in depth.
Germination Days
Bonnie Best takes about 7 to 14 days to germinate. When spacing the plant, at least 24 inches is ideal, with a soil depth of an eighth inch. The tomato takes about 55 days to mature after being transplanted outdoors.
Container Size
At first, the seedlings are tiny and can fit in any small container. But, when the Bonnie tomato grows, it needs adequate space to develop a robust root system. So if you’re after maximum production, a container of 24-inch diameter for indeterminate tomatoes like Bonnie Original is ideal.
If you can only get a container sold by volume, 20 gallons would be enough. Also, growing your Bonnie tomatoes in small containers requires more feeding and watering.
Most importantly, a suitable container should have drainage holes, so drill several if yours doesn’t have. For those who live in warm regions, it would be best to avoid black plastic pots. Usually, they hold excess heat, which warms the soil to diminish plant growth.
Temperature
Bonnie tomato is an easy-growing plant that you need to transplant during spring for a long season of growth. When planting the tomato, one starts indoors before moving it outdoors.
The appropriate outdoor growing temperature is 500 F to 900 F with a minimum of 600 F soil temperatures and a light experienced at least six hours a day.
Water
Proper watering is essential for potted tomatoes like Bonnie Original. Ensure the soil is moist but not soaked- inconsistent watering can cause blossom end rot. Preferably, use your finger to test the dryness of the ground to determine if the plant needs water. Bonnie plants grow as high as the knee and require daily watering when hot summer begins.
Moreover, catch the water as it drains through the soil using a saucer under the container. This ensures that the plants continue absorbing moisture, especially on a hot day.
A drip irrigation system is ideal if you need to cut down time spent holding the hose, especially if it’s a large garden. Besides, drip irrigation allows you more time to inspect your plants for any problems.
Additional Conditions
Another critical growing condition of the Bonnie tomato is that you can grow it flat or stake it at about 1.5 meters vertically. Once it matures, it boasts a deep red color, a diameter of between 24 and 36 inches, and a height ranging from 3 to 5 inches.
Undeniably, appropriate conditions and proper care result in abundant meaty tomato yields with an average weight of 170-283 grams.
Uses of Bonnie Tomatoes
So, why should you grow Bonnie tomatoes?
Flavor
It’s among the essential attributes of the Bonnie Best tomato varieties that make the tomato plant stand out.
This medium-sized red tomato is round, loaded with flavor, and meaty. Hence as a tomato connoisseur, homesteader, or gardener, the most important trait when choosing the appropriate variety of tomatoes is the superiority of the flavor.
Preservation
Preservation of Bonnie plants is also another important use. Being able to can the tomato for later use is a major bonus because it consists of a fair amount of acid that enables the canning process.
Bonny Best was one of the most respected canning varieties in the twentieth century in the United States.
Overall, you can consume Bonnie tomatoes whether fresh from the vine or cooked. The tomato can blend well with herbs like Basil or Oregano and cheese as a well-dressed appetizer.
Conclusion
Bonnie plants tomato varieties are indeterminate vine because there’s no set ripening and harvesting date- only frost can eliminate these varieties.
As an heirloom, the Bonnie tomato has an excellent flavor but is not as resilient as other genetically modified or hybrid tomatoes. This makes it quite costly. Remarkably, you can eat the Bonnie tomatoes straight from the garden, choose to make a sandwich, or even can them.
Planting and caring for the Bonny Best variety of tomatoes is easy. The above guide helps you maintain the ideal conditions from growing to harvesting.
