Early Girl

Early Girl is a medium-sized, globe-shaped F1 hybrid tomato bred for early ripening. The ripe fruit is comparable in diameter and rounded form to a tennis ball, weighing 4 to 8 ounces, with a bright color. Its flavor is often described as a mild, old-fashioned tomato taste with a balance of sweetness and acidity, and the flesh is aromatic and meaty with concentrated flavor.

Early Girl is grown chiefly as a slicing tomato, suited to sandwiches, bagels, and salads, and its fruit size lends itself to stacking on bread or quartering into salads. The same fruit can also be cooked down into quick sauces. Among aficionados, dry-farmed Early Girl tomatoes have developed a devoted following, with some claiming their flavor rivals that of well-regarded heirloom varieties.

Early Girl ripens quickly, typically 50 to 62 days after transplanting, which suits gardeners in short-season climates and often makes it the first slicing tomato to ripen in the garden. The plant is reliable and prolific, with one long-season test garden reporting an average of roughly 300 fruit per plant. It handles a wide temperature range, holding up in conditions as cool as the low 40s Fahrenheit while also performing well in hot, arid regions with wide swings between day and night temperatures. Because it sets much of its crop before late blight typically strikes in mid- to late summer, some coastal growers use Early Girl specifically to get a harvest ahead of the disease.

Early Girl began as a short-season hybrid tomato bred in France before PetoSeed Company brought it to the United States in the early 1970s. PetoSeed board member Joe Howland, who had been searching for a short-season tomato suited to the unpredictable climate of Reno, Nevada, named the new variety to complement the company's Better Boy tomato. Burpee Seeds secured an exclusive three-year deal and gave Early Girl the featured spot on its 1975 spring catalog cover. Since 2005, Monsanto has been the primary producer of Early Girl seed, following its acquisition of Seminis and the patent on the hybrid.