Better Boy Tomato

Solanum lycopersicum 'Better Boy'

vegetable

Better Boy is the workhorse slicing tomato found on nearly every garden-center bench, a vigorous indeterminate hybrid prized for dependable yields of large, round, deep-red fruit that average 10 to 16 ounces, often nearing a pound. The flavor is the classic balanced sweet-tart tomato taste and the flesh is firm enough to slice cleanly for sandwiches and burgers. Its real claim to fame is built-in disease resistance: the VFN designation means it shrugs off verticillium and fusarium wilts and root-knot nematodes, the soilborne problems that cut heirloom plants short. That resistance lets a single plant keep setting fruit from early summer right up to the first hard frost.

✅ Plant alongside

Good neighbors that attract beneficial insects or deter pests

• Basil — Repels thrips and whiteflies
• French Marigold — Suppresses root-knot nematodes
• Borage — Attracts pollinators and parasitic wasps that target hornworms
• Parsley — Draws hoverflies that prey on aphids

❌ Keep away from

🛡️ Pest & disease prevention

Proactive ways to stop trouble before it starts — tap a name with an arrow for its full guide

• Tomato hornworm →

  Interplant dill and borage to attract parasitic wasps; handpick large caterpillars at dusk

• Early blight →

  Mulch to prevent soil splash onto leaves; prune lower foliage for airflow; avoid overhead watering

• Aphids →

  Attract ladybugs and lacewings with nearby flowering herbs; blast small colonies off with water

🌾 Harvest & storage

First ripe fruit comes about 70 to 75 days from transplant and the plant keeps producing in flushes until frost. Pick when the tomato is fully red and still firm with a slight give, twisting it gently off the vine, and harvest every couple of days so the plant keeps setting. Never refrigerate ripe tomatoes, since temperatures below about 55F destroy the flavor compounds and turn the flesh mealy; hold them stem-up at room temperature instead. At seasons end, pick all the mature green fruit before a hard frost and ripen it indoors in a single layer.

🥗 Nutrition & benefits

Tomatoes are low in calories at roughly 22 per 100 grams yet rich in vitamin C, potassium, and vitamin K, and they are the leading dietary source of lycopene, the red antioxidant linked to heart health. Lycopene is absorbed better from tomatoes cooked with a little fat, so Better Boy earns its keep in a simmered sauce as much as sliced fresh.

⚠️ Toxicity & safety

Eat the ripe fruit only. Tomato leaves and stems (and large amounts of very unripe green fruit) contain solanine-type compounds and are not for eating.