Collection of 5 colourful tomato plants

A collection as appetising as it is colourful, which brings together five varieties of tomatoes, each with different colours and flavours, to add colour to your vegetable garden and to all your dishes.  Planting the plugs takes place from April to June after the last frosts, once the plants have reached about 15 cm (6 in). Tomatoes like warmth and sunlight as well as rich soil. Remember to stake your tomatoes or train them when transplanting them into the ground. Harvesting takes place from July to September-October.

The collection consists of:

 - 1 x Tomato 'Rose de Berne': an old mid-season variety with red-pink fruits, known for its sweet and fragrant pink flesh and its resistance to diseases. Its round fruits are fairly medium-sized - 150 to 250 g. The plant can reach up to 2 m (7ft) under good conditions.

- 1 x Tomato 'Prune Noire': a productive and hardy, mid-season, variety that produces many small, oval-shaped, dark red to brown-red fruits weighing 25 to 30 g, grouped in clusters. Their flesh is firm, juicy and sweet. They are excellent in salads but also as an appetiser or even candied. Height: 1.50 m (5ft)

- 1 x Tomato 'Lemon Boy F1': semi-late, productive and disease-resistant. It provides fleshy, bright yellow fruits weighing about 160 g. Their sweet flavour and colour are well-suited to summer salads. Height: 1.80 m (6ft)

- 1 x Tomato 'Green Zebra': an old mid-season variety producing curious green fruits striped with yellow weighing 80 to 120g. Their juicy, sour, and melting flesh make them ideal for salads or chutneys. Height: 1.80 m (6ft)

- 1 x Tomato 'Orange Queen': produces yellow to bright orange flattened and slightly lobed fruits. These weigh from 100 to 250 g. The beefsteak-type flesh is dense, juicy, with a sweet flavour and few pips. These tomatoes are suitable for all types of dishes, but are generally an ideal size for stuffing. They also work very well in salads. Height: 1.20 m (4ft).

The Tomato is native to South and Central America. Several varieties were already cultivated by the Incas long before the arrival of the Conquistadors. The term 'Tomato' derives from the Inca Tomatl and refers to both the plant and the fruit it produces. It is one of the many foods that came to us from the New World, along with beans, corn, squash, potatoes, and chilli peppers. The Tomato took significantly longer to reach our taste buds. This is because it was long cultivated for its aesthetic and medicinal qualities, but it was considered toxic due to its resemblance to the fruit of the Mandrake, another member of the Solanaceae family. It only became a regular part of our diet from the beginning of the 20th century.

The Tomato is a herbaceous perennial plant in tropical climates, but it is grown as an annual in our latitudes. It becomes woody over time and produces small, insignificant yellow flowers grouped in clusters that will develop into fruits. Tomatoes can be grown in open ground but can also be grown in containers on a balcony, preferably choosing varieties with compact growth.

It is a fruit vegetable that has many nutritional benefits. Low in calories like most vegetables, rich in water, it contains a molecule of particular interest: lycopene, a powerful antioxidant. It is also rich in vitamin C, provitamin A, and trace elements.

In terms of cooking, tomatoes can be consumed raw or cooked in many ways: in salads or as an appetiser, grilled, stuffed, marinated, candied, in ratatouilles, as a sauce... They come in all colours, shapes, and sizes. Take advantage of this and grow several varieties in your vegetable garden to enjoy a variety of flavours!

Harvesting : the harvesting periods vary depending on the earliness: early varieties are harvested from 55 to 70 days after planting, mid-season varieties from 70 to 85 days, and late varieties beyond 85 days. Harvesting takes place when the fruit has acquired its final colour and when its texture, while remaining firm, shows a slight softening. For better preservation, be sure to harvest the fruit with its peduncle. Please note that immature fruits, stems, and leaves contain solanine and should not be consumed.

Storage : the optimal storage temperature for tomatoes is between 10 and 15°C. Refrigeration is possible but alters the taste qualities of the fruits. For longer storage, tomatoes can be candied, dried, frozen, canned, or cooked as chutneys. To confit them, cut your tomatoes in half and collect the juice. Place your half tomatoes facing upwards on a baking tray. Season with salt, pepper, and sugar, then bake at a very low temperature for at least an hour. Remove your tomatoes, store them in a glass jar and cover with olive oil.

Gardener's tip : in order to limit watering, we recommend mulching the soil with successive thin layers of grass clippings, if possible mixed with dead leaves. This protection, which keeps the soil moist, also limits weed growth.