Grocery Store Gardening: Roma Tomatoes

Gardening on the cheap by planting seeds from grocery store tomatoes delivered some surprising results

Tomato bounty grown from a grocery store Roma tomato

I like growing new and unusual varieties of plants, fruits and vegetables as much as anyone does. But I also like saving a buck or two when I can, so, when it comes to plain and simple veggies to grow from seed, I turn to the local grocery store as an inexpensive source.

True, the vegetable selection isn’t as varied or interesting as the average seed catalog. But the commercial varieties of vegetables you find in the supermarket do tend to be reliable growers that aren’t all that nit-picky about growing conditions.

Among the various things I’ve grown from grocery store seeds (and plants) are: avocados, beans, herbs, onions, peas, peppers, potatoes, yams, even a couple of pineapples. But I have to admit, my favorite is plain old Roma tomatoes.

Why Grocery Store Romas

I admit commercial Roma tomatoes aren’t the most flavorful variety. The fruit is kind of dry, and the taste mild. This isn’t surprising given they have to be picked early, and survive hundreds (or thousands) of miles in transport to market. A rich tomato flavor to rival grandma’s heirlooms is probably less of a concern for commercial growers.

Flavor aside, commercial Roma tomatoes have a lot of advantages over other tomatoes. They’re bred to tolerate cooler temperatures so their growing season is longer. They’re compact, disease resistant, and the fruit doesn’t crack or split. Plus, as a determinant tomato, a single plant will produce 20-30 pounds of fruit in 90 days.

Last winter I picked up a pound of Romas at the store for about $1, which provided both tomatoes for eating and enough seed for dozens of tomato plants.

I had zero trouble germinating the seeds, and it was just 4 weeks from sprout to garden transplant. I ended up with three succession plantings – the first of which I transplanted outside in March, and the last of which went into the garden in September. It’s mid-December now, and they’re still producing fruit. (All the other tomato varieties finished a month ago.)

These tomatoes died back in early November

This Roma is ugly, but still fruiting in December

All told, the plain old grocery store Romas delivered 130+ pounds of tomatoes, enough for all the fresh tomatoes we could want and 14½ gallons of tomato sauce.

Almost 15 gallons of tomato sauce from this year’s Roma’s

A pretty good return on a $1 investment if you ask me.

Looking forward to Next Year

I saved a few of the seeds from this year’s Roma crop, but experience with 3rd and 4th generations of hybrids tells me they might not be as reliable producers as the 1st and 2nd. But, even if they’re not, I can always pick up plenty of fresh seed (and tomatoes) at my local grocery store.