The Best Tomatoes for Montana's Short Season
Everyone wants to grow tomatoes, and in Montana that ambition runs straight into a hard fact: our season is short and our nights are cool. A tomato that needs 85 warm days to ripen is a gamble here. The secret isn’t a greenhouse or a magic fertilizer — it’s choosing the right variety. Pick one bred for a short, cool season and you’ll be eating ripe tomatoes while your neighbor’s are still green.
What “days to maturity” really means
That number on the tag is counted from transplant, under good conditions — and our cool nights slow things down from there. So in the Flathead, we aim for varieties in the 50–70 day range to leave a comfortable margin before the first fall frost. Anything much longer and you’re racing the calendar.
Our picks for the valley
Early Girl is the dependable all-rounder — full-size slicing tomatoes in about 50–60 days, indeterminate so it keeps producing all season. If you grow just one, this is a safe bet.
Sub-Arctic Plenty was practically bred for us. It’s one of the earliest, most cold-tolerant tomatoes there is, setting fruit even when nights stay cool. The tomatoes are smaller, but you’ll get them early and reliably.
Cherry types like the small-fruited varieties are another short-season win — they ripen fast, produce heavily, and shrug off cool weather better than big slicers. Great for kids and for sheer volume off one plant.
Give them every advantage
Even the right variety does better with a little help in our climate:
- Wait for warm soil. Don’t rush them out before our late-May frost; cold soil stalls a tomato for weeks. See our planting-timing guide.
- Warm the ground. A bit of black plastic or a wall that holds afternoon heat helps cool-night gardens enormously.
- Full sun and even water. Six-plus hours of sun, and steady moisture to avoid cracking and blossom-end rot.
- Shelter from wind. A protected spot against the house warms up faster and holds heat into the evening.
The short version
Grow a short-season variety, plant it after the frost into warm soil, give it sun and steady water, and Montana’s “impossible” tomato becomes a reliable one. Come see our tomato and vegetable starts — we grow the varieties that actually finish here, and we’re happy to help you pick for your garden.