Growing Cherry Tomatoes in Containers

I adore cherry tomatoes. I buy them at the grocery store in the winter, and in the summer, I used to go every week to our local farmers' market and buy these little pint containers of fresh cherry tomatoes for $4.50 a pint. I'd eat them plain, just enjoying the flavor. That trip to the farmers' market was one of the high points of my week.

It always bothered me, though, that I was spending so much on them, and I got a little box of tomatoes I had to eat quickly. "Why not try growing my own?" I asked myself. And I did.

Growing cherry tomatoes in containers is a lot like any other kind of container tomato gardening, though there are some special tricks and traps to look for.

The most important step is choosing the right variety of cherry tomato. The variety you choose will depend on what kind of container you use to grow cherry tomatoes. There are two kinds of containers commonly used: you can grow cherry tomatoes in pots, or you can grow cherry tomatoes in baskets.

If you choose to grow cherry tomatoes in a basket, you need to pick a variety of cherry tomato that does well with shallow roots. Good cherry tomatoes for baskets include Florida Basket Tomatoes, Floragold Basket Tomatoes, Anmore Dewdrop Tomatoes, Ditmarsher Tomatoes, and Micro Tom Tomatoes. What you care about for basket cherry tomatoes are varieties that don't grow very tall (all of these top out at a foot or under), with good sprawling foliage and a high yield of berries.

If you have multiple baskets, it's a good idea to stagger the planting. These are all determinate tomatoes, which means that they stop growing when they begin to ripen, so you will have a big crop of tomatoes and then the harvest will end a few weeks later. If you stagger the planting a bit, they will ripen at different times, stretching the harvest. Be warned: very hot weather is bad for tomatoes. If you live in a hot climate, you want to plant early and choose tomatoes with a short time to maturity.

Be sure to keep the basket well-watered. Some people have real success with automatic watering systems, but you don't need one if you can be faithful about watering every day.

If you choose to grow your cherry tomatoes in a pot, you have more options. There are lots of varieties of cherry tomatoes which top out at under two feet and can be planted in a small pot. If you want a bigger plant, you can use a standard 5-gallon pot and plant as you would regular tomatoes. Read more about growing container tomatoes.

For smaller pots, of a gallon or so, you want a small plant that doesn't need a lot of root spread. For those who want to grow cherry tomatoes in a small pot, look for the following varieties: Early Dwarf Cherry, Anmore Treasures, Lyana, Tiny Tim, Yellow Pygmy. Early Dwarf Cherry Tomatoes are especially good for indoor gardeners, because they don't need as much light as some varieties of cherry tomatoes.

Good luck, and enjoy!