Jolly Girl Tomato
Solanum lycopersicum 'Jolly Girl'
Height: 3 feet
Spacing: 24 inches
Sunlight:
Hardiness Zone: (annual)
Group/Class: Cherry/Grape-Determinate
Description:
A compact, bushy determinate variety, ideal for use in containers or sunny garden; large, oblong grape tomatoes with a wonderful sweet flavor and crunchy bite, perfect for snacking, salads, drying and pickling; excellent crack and disease resistance
Edible Qualities
Jolly Girl Tomato is an annual vegetable plant that is typically grown for its edible qualities. It produces clusters of red oblong tomatoes (which are technically 'berries') with red flesh which are usually ready for picking from mid summer to mid fall. This is a determinate variety, which means it bears a full crop all at once. The tomatoes have a sweet taste and a crunchy texture.
The tomatoes are most often used in the following ways:
- Fresh Eating
- Eating When Cooked/Prepared
- Cooking
- Pickling
- Canning
Planting & Growing
Jolly Girl Tomato will grow to be about 3 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 20 inches. When planted in rows, individual plants should be spaced approximately 24 inches apart. Because of its vigorous growth habit, it may require staking or supplemental support. This fast-growing vegetable plant is an annual, which means that it will grow for one season in your garden and then die after producing a crop.
This plant can be difficult to integrate into a landscape or flower garden, and is best grown in a designated vegetable garden. It should only be grown in full sunlight. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It may require supplemental watering during periods of drought or extended heat. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in rich soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone over the growing season to conserve soil moisture. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.
Jolly Girl Tomato is a good choice for the vegetable garden, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. With its upright habit of growth, it is best suited for use as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.
