Tomato ‘Totem’

I’m trying to narrow down the list of tomatoes I want to grow next summer. While researching varieties the other day I came across an intriguing review on one of the seed catalog websites. A man wrote about how much he loved a particular tomato and planted it every year (sorry, but the name escapes me), and he recently had to order a new packet because the seeds from his original packet had finally stopped germinating. My eyes nearly popped out of my head when I read the next line. He’d been sprouting seeds from the same packet since 1982! I usually save my seeds for 5 years before I toss them and buy fresh ones. I guess I should rethink that strategy.

My husband and I enjoyed the last ‘Chef’s Choice’ tomato just before Thanksgiving. It sat on our counter for a full NINE weeks before we ate it, and it never got sunken spots or developed mold or any other blemishes. It was crazy. I already ordered more ‘Chef’s Choice’ seeds so I’ll be able to plant this amazing cultivar for years to come (perhaps until 2044?).

But ‘Chef’s Choice’ wasn’t the only amazing tomato I grew. I also tried a little tomato called ‘Totem’. The description claimed the plants only grow 12 to 18 inches high but would be loaded with fruit. I was skeptical, but I nestled 3 of them into a barrel. It was a pleasant surprise when they lived up the hype with 18-inch plants that churned out fruit all summer long. I had to stick a small trellis in the middle of the barrel to keep the plants upright because they were so top-heavy with fruit they would lean way over.

The cultivar is classified as a cherry tomato, but the fruit is quite large—sometimes 3-plus inches in diameter. I was able to slice them for sandwiches, and they were very conveniently-sized for topping a homemade pizza.

‘Totem’ is a determinate variety, but my plants still had red tomatoes on them well into September (in the photo below, the taller plant in the background is ‘Chef’s Choice’).

‘Totem’ is the perfect tomato for people who have limited gardening space or who do their vegetable gardening in pots and planters. The plants really do produce a tremendous number of tomatoes.

My plants never showed any signs of disease. My only problem was that the chipmunks discovered how tasty they were and kept beating me to the fruit!