Freighter View Farms | Chris Izworski

The question I get asked more than any other by Michigan gardeners is: which tomatoes should I grow? I have been answering it with my own beds for years now — growing, eating, saving seeds, and growing again — and the list has settled. What follows is not a catalog review. It is the varieties that have proven themselves in Zone 6a on Saginaw Bay, in raised beds with a short season and a gardener who is paying close attention.

Cherokee Purple

I will start with the one I would keep if I could only keep one. Cherokee Purple is a deep-shouldered, purple-shouldered, brownish-red fruit that looks a little rough on the vine and tastes like nothing else in the garden. The flavor is complex — sweet, with something savory underneath, almost smoky in the best examples. The skins crack if you have uneven watering or a hard rain after a dry spell. The shoulders stay green when the rest of the fruit is ripe, which will make you think it is not done when it is. Ignore both of these things. The fruit is worth every accommodation.

Cherokee Purple matures in about 80 days from transplant, which fits the Zone 6a window if you transplant in mid-May from stocky, well-timed starts. I have been selecting seed from my best plants for long enough that my Cherokee Purples perform reliably in this specific garden, which is one more argument for saving seed rather than buying new every year.

Black Krim

Cherokee Purple’s more acidic relative, and the better choice for a wet summer. Black Krim has a similar dark, complex flavor but higher acid — which cuts beautifully through oil and salt in a salad and makes it more stable in the difficult humidity of a Bay City July. In a cool, wet season when Cherokee Purple struggles, Black Krim holds up. I grow both and they complement each other well on the plate and in the beds.

Brandywine

The classic, and classics become classics for a reason. Brandywine produces large, sometimes enormous fruits — I have had single tomatoes that covered most of a cutting board — with that old-fashioned, complex tomato flavor that people mean when they say commercial tomatoes have no taste. The plants are late producers (85 to 90 days) and the yields are modest compared to smaller varieties. None of that matters when the first Brandywine of the year comes in. It is worth the wait, and it makes the wait make sense.

Costoluto Fiorentino

The workhorse. This Italian ribbed tomato is not the most beautiful on the vine and not the most spectacular in flavor, but it is reliable, high-yielding, and excellent — the best I grow — when cooked down into sauce. In late August when the harvest is ahead of me and I need to do something with thirty pounds of tomatoes, the Costoluto is the one I reach for first. It reduces into a deep, sweet sauce that tastes like everything the summer was. I would not give up a bed row to it every year if it did not earn its place, and it earns its place every year.

Orange Accordion

Ribbed, orange, extravagant, and the variety that draws the most comments from anyone who sees the garden in August. The flavor is lighter and sweeter than the darker tomatoes, which makes it a counterpoint on a plate and an excellent fresh-eating variety when the Cherokee Purples are going to sauce. It sprawls if you do not contain it — it wants more horizontal room than the other varieties — and I have learned to give it the corner of the bed where there is space to expand. The fruit is beautiful enough that I forgive it the ambition.

What Makes a Michigan Heirloom Tomato Work

Days to maturity matters more here than in a longer-season climate. Any variety requiring more than 85 days from transplant is a risk in Zone 6a — not impossible, but requiring an early start, warm soil at transplant, and a little luck with the fall frost. I lean toward the 75-to-80-day varieties as my workhorses and allow the longer-season ones as a calculated indulgence.

Disease resistance matters too, because Michigan summers are humid and early blight is not a question of if but when. Good air circulation — single-stem training, adequate spacing, consistent pruning of affected lower leaves — extends the season more than any spray I have ever tried. The variety is not the only variable, but starting with one that performs in this climate is the first variable to get right.

These five are where I would start if I were starting over. They have not let me down on Saginaw Bay, and they will not let you down in your Michigan beds either.

If you grow any of these varieties, saving seed from your best plants each year is worth the fifteen minutes — the heirloom seed saving guide covers how.

Related reading:

• The longer story of trialing varieties in these beds: What I Learned Growing 20 Heirloom Varieties.
• The best plant from each of these varieties becomes next year’s seed stock: Saving Seeds in Michigan.

Heirloom Tomatoes in Michigan: Common Questions

What are the best heirloom tomatoes for Michigan?

The five that have consistently produced in Zone 6a raised beds at Freighter View Farms: Cherokee Purple, Black Krim, Brandywine, Costoluto Fiorentino, and Orange Accordion. Cherokee Purple is the most reliable producer in a short season. Brandywine needs more time but rewards patience. Avoid any variety listed as needing more than 80 days to maturity without a long season or row covers.

Do heirloom tomatoes grow well in Michigan?

Yes, with the right variety selection and a few adaptations. The keys: raised beds (which warm 2 to 3 weeks earlier than in-ground soil), black plastic mulch to hold heat, pruning to a single leader to concentrate energy, and starting transplants 6 to 8 weeks early under lights. A 150-day frost-free season is enough to ripen most heirlooms if you start them at the right time.

When do you transplant tomatoes in Michigan?

After May 15th for Zone 6a. In practice, I watch for consistent overnight lows above 50°F and soil temperature above 60°F before transplanting. Cold soil stunts tomatoes even if there is no frost. A soil thermometer is worth the five dollars.

How do I save seeds from heirloom tomatoes?

Scoop seeds and gel into a jar with water, ferment 2 to 3 days at room temperature until the viable seeds sink and a layer of mold forms on top. Rinse, spread on a ceramic plate to dry completely (2 to 3 weeks), label and store in a cool dark place. Full method in the Complete Guide to Seed Saving.

For a structured comparison of trade-offs in yield, flavor, disease resistance, and seed-saving viability, see the heirloom vs. hybrid seeds guide at chrisizworski.com.