Honey moon tomato, great for growing in the garden and cooking, too

The Honey Moon tomato is a hybrid that resists mildew. Perfect for beginners!

Key Honey Moon tomato facts:

Name – Solanum lycopersicum
Common name: Honey Moon tomato
Family – Solenaceae

Type – fruit vegetable
Height – up to 6 feet (2 m)
Planting distance – 20 to 24 inches (50 to 60 cm)

Exposure – full sun
Soil – cool, healthy, rich, soft

Sowing: spring – Planting: end of spring – Harvest: mid-summer → mid-fall

The F1 Honey Moon tomato is a “Rose de Berne” variety, and it has a very interesting characteristic: it resists tomato mildew! It’s ideal for climates in which this fungal disease constantly appears. This trait also makes it the perfect tomato for beginner gardeners.

Add to that the fact that this hybrid is extremely productive and vigorous – a result of its short, bushy bearing and the close distance between eyebuds – and you’ve got an easy, abundant fruit harvest ahead!

Fruits are large, round, and fleshy, and quite large at 8 to 10 ounces (250 to 300 g). Pinkish red skin at peak ripeness. Very few seeds in the flesh, which is sweet and tasty.

Sowing Honey Moon tomato

Start your F1 Honeymoon tomato seedlings off from seeds. You’ll find them in most garden stores, it’s a popular variety. Those seeds were carefully produced through cross-pollination of two parent tomato plants selected for their qualities. Note, however, that these genetic traits are lost in the following generations.

Launch your sowing process between March and April on a warm bed, the temperature must stay within a few degrees of 68°F (= 20 °C).
Sow the seeds at a depth of about a quarter-inch (5 mm) in nursey pots filled with special seedling soil mix.
Place the tray with the Honey Moon tomato seedlings in a bright spot and keep the soil mix evenly moist until the seeds are fully germinated.
To learn more, read: Succeed in starting tomato seedlings off

Planting the Honey Moon tomato

Once the last frost date has passed, you can transplant your young Honey Moon seedlings to the vegetable patch. Each seedling should have reached a height of 5 to 6 inches (12 to 15 cm) and should already have produced several true leaves.

Decompact the soil and dig out planting holes at least 3 to 4 times larger than the size of the root system of your Honey Moon tomato seedlings.
The planting holes should be 20 to 24 inches (50 to 60 cm) apart in all directions.
Amend the ground with very ripe compost and settle your seedlings in them, burying them quite deep since you should cover the stem up to the first pair of leaves.

The Honey Moon tomato is a part of the group of tomatoes that have an “indeterminate” growth pattern. Stake it on the day you plant it.

Care and maintenance

Without a doubt, the ‘Honey Moon’ is one of the easiest to grow of all tomato varieties thanks to its vigor and its resistance to blight. It isn’t frost hardy, though, so in temperate climates you can only grow it as an annual. It need heat to truly thrive.

Set it up preferably in a sunny spot that doesn’t get too dry in hot weather. Rich, light and constantly cool soil is what the Honey Moon tomato prefers.
Lay out a good half-foot (15 cm) of mulch at the foot of your Honey Moon tomato plants, so that the soil remains cool for longer after each watering. It it’s thick enough, you can set your watering schedule to only water in very hot and dry weather.

Diseases and pests

The Honey Moon tomato is a variety that was bred to resist fungal diseases particularly well.

Harvest and keeping

Between July and September, harvest your Honey Moon tomatoes a few at a time, right before your meals. Make sure the fruits you pick are perfectly ripe.

This tomato will keep in the vegetable compartment of your refrigerator, but only for a few days.
Also, you can line the fruits up out on the counter if you intend to eat them quickly after having harvested them.
Cooking Honey Moon tomatoes is possible, and makes for excellent long-term preserves in sterile jars.
To learn more, read: Harvesting tomatoes at just the right time