Tomato 'Ukrainian Purple'
Solanum lycopersicum 'Ukrainian Purple'
A sweet, savory heirloom plum tomato in purply-black, with meaty, crack-resistant fruit that's excellent for sauce.
Keep reading Show less
‘Ukrainian Purple’ is a heirloom plum tomato with sweet, savory, purply-black fruit. The flesh is meaty and resists cracking, which makes it a favorite for sauces and salsas as well as fresh eating.
Hardy and forgiving
This variety tolerates cooler temperatures better than most — down to around 40°F — which gives it a longer window in shorter or cooler seasons.
Care tips
Start seed indoors about six weeks before your last frost and plant the seedlings deep to encourage strong roots. Grow in full sun, keep the soil moist, and space plants 2–3 feet apart in rows 3–4 feet apart.
Fun Fact
This is a pre-Soviet heirloom that Ukrainian families saved and passed down through generations, carrying it across borders and through upheaval. Growing varieties like this is one of the ways communities preserve agricultural heritage — and the large, meaty fruits are prized for their complex, slightly smoky flavor.
Habitat & form
Where it's from and what to expect.
- Native range
- Western South America (the species); this heirloom comes from Ukraine
- Plant type
- Vegetable
- Mature size
- Indeterminate.
- Bloom
- Purply-black plum-shaped fruit; about 80 days from transplant.
- Hardiness
- Warm-season annual; frost-tender — transplant out only once nights stay reliably warm.
Care
How to keep it happy.
- Sunlight
- Full sun — at least 6–8 hours of direct sun a day.
- Water
- Keep the soil consistently moist. Uneven watering invites cracking and blossom-end rot; water the soil, not the foliage.
- Soil
- Rich, fertile, well-drained soil high in organic matter; slightly acidic pH (about 6.2–6.8).
- Planting distance
- Space plants 2–3 ft apart in rows 3–4 ft apart.
- Propagation
- Readily grown from seed
- Pruning
- Maintenance: pinch out the suckers in the leaf joints and remove lower leaves for airflow as the indeterminate vines climb their stakes; top the plant late in the season to ripen the last fruit.
- Pet safety
- Mildly toxic
Leaves, stems/vines, flowers, unripe fruit—ripe red fruit is safe