The cherry tomato , which is easy to grow and requires little maintenance, is one of the most popular vegetable plants!
The cherry tomato is a type of tomato variety that is especially appreciated for its small size which gives it its cute and light side. It is also recognizable for its pronounced taste and beautiful color.
It is particularly consumed as an aperitif for its practicality, easily shared and friendly. However, it can also be eaten in a salad with a drizzle of olive oil and a few basil leaves .
Whether in your garden, your indoor vegetable garden , but also on your balcony or terrace, this vegetable plant has the advantage of bringing pretty colors to your interior and therefore being very decorative .
Varieties of cherry tomatoes
'Sweet 100' and 'Sun Gold' are two hybrid varieties of cherry tomatoes that are particularly early and fruitful .
Very sweet, they are particularly resistant thanks to their very firm flesh.
To lovers of these two varieties, we recommend tasting the F1 'Summer Sun ', which is very fruity and golden yellow in color.
Tomato 'De Berao'
- Exposure: full sun
- Type of soil: Rich, humus
- Watering: moderate
- Sowing: mid-February to end of March
- Planting: May
- Harvest: late July to early October
- Mildew resistance: good
- Use: salad, coulis, preserves
Our advice: use long and sturdy stakes
Also called "Tree tomato", 'De Berao' is a vine tomato that can climb up to 4 m high.
The olive-shaped fruits of the 'De Berao' tomato are reminiscent in a miniature version of those of the more classic type of the 'Roma' variety. Although they are smaller, the tomatoes of this variety are still very fertile! This vigorous variety is adorned all summer long with beautiful firm and sweet bunches.
Cocktail tomato 'Harmony' F1
- Exposure: full sun
- Type of soil: Rich, humus
- Watering: moderate
- Sowing: mid-February to end of March
- Planting: May
- Harvest: July to September
- Mildew resistance: good
- Use: raw in salads, cooked on skewers
Our advice: grow it in a pot, it is disease resistant and easy to grow.
Cocktail tomato 'Black Cherry'
- Exposure: full sun
- Type of soil: Rich, humus
- Watering: moderate
- Sowing: mid-February to end of March
- Planting: May
- Harvest: July to September
- Mildew resistance: good
- Use: raw in salads, cooked on skewers
Our advice: it is suitable for areas in the north of France
Don't be fooled by its name; 'Black Cherry' is of Siberian origin. That says a lot about the hardiness of this cocktail tomato! Gardeners were not mistaken: it is the most cultivated black variety with small fruits.
Cherry tomato 'Gold Nugget'
- Exposure: full sun
- Type of soil: Rich, humus
- Watering: moderate
- Sowing: mid-February to end of March
- Planting: May
- Harvest: early July to late September
- Mildew resistance: low
- Use: appetizer, salad, skewers
Our advice: after a rain, treat it with Bordeaux mixture effective against alternaria or mildew, and nettle manure
'Gold Nugget' is an early cherry tomato with determinate growth and yellow-orange fruit. This compact and productive variety is ideal for small gardens and balconies. It's one of the earliest varieties to ripen in season so you can count on it to deliver golden, soft, sweet berries.
Cocktail tomato 'Brockwood'
- Exposure: full sun
- Type of soil: Rich, humus
- Watering: moderate
- Sowing: mid-February to end of March
- Planting: May
- Harvest: end of July to September
- Mildew resistance: medium
- Use: salad or coulis
Our advice: collect the seeds and share them with your friends.
The large, juicy and sweet fruits of this variety have nothing to envy to the classic tomatoes with which they have great similarities in terms of taste. Give your friends a taste blindfolded to see if they manage to tell the difference!
Tomato 'Crokini'
- Exposure: full sun
- Type of soil: Rich, humus
- Watering: moderate
- Sowing: mid-February to end of March
- Planting: May
- Harvest: end of June to end of September
- Mildew resistance: good
- Use: salad, appetizer
The 'Crokini' does just as well in the ground in the vegetable garden as in pots or containers. It is a recent variety which produces many clusters with small red fruits of 15 to 18 g each.
The 'Crokini' tomato is covered with sweet and very tasty small round fruits. Ideal as a snack or to take away for your picnic, it can be enjoyed at any time of the day. Resistant to Fusarium wilt, mosaic and nematodes, 'Crokini' was quickly adopted by amateur and experienced gardeners. One of its particularities is its resistance and its good behavior when it has reached maturity.
Cherry tomato 'Sweet'n Neat' F1
- Exposure: full sun
- Type of soil: Rich, humus
- Watering: moderate
- Sowing: mid-February to end of March
- Planting: May
- Harvest: mid-July to September
- Mildew resistance: medium
- Use: as is or in a salad
This tomato has the advantage of having a determinate growth, so it is ideal for growing on the balcony or on the windowsill.
The dark and compact vegetation of 'Sweet'n Neat' (yellow version) is covered in summer with golden tomatoes, with a mild and sweet flavor. Its mini fruits of around 20 g make it a large cherry tomato or a small cocktail tomato. You can grow it in a planter, on the terrace, on your balcony, or even simply on a window sill. To double the pleasure, we advise you to cultivate it with its red alter ego!
Cherry tomato 'Capriccio' F1
- Exposure: full sun
- Type of soil: Rich, humus
- Watering: moderate
- Sowing: mid-February to end of March
- Planting: May
- Harvest: July to September
- Mildew resistance: good in sunny conditions
- Use: aperitif, salad, cooked
'Capriccio' is a cocktail tomato the shape and size of a small olive. Vigorous, this hybrid variety is available as seeds or as young organic plants.
Currant tomato 'Red Currant'
- Exposure: full sun
- Type of soil: Rich, humus
- Watering: moderate
- Sowing: mid-February to end of March
- Planting: May
- Harvest: end of July to September
- Mildew resistance: medium
- Use: raw as an aperitif, salad
- Our advice: keep only 3 to 5 bouquets per plant
This tomato has the particularity of having smaller fruits than cherry tomatoes , so it is ideal for your aperitifs .
Where to place your pot of cherry tomatoes?
The tomato is a fruit that needs many hours of sun exposure. We therefore recommend that you set up your potted cherry tomato outdoors in good exposure, and if possible sheltered from wind and rain to reduce the risk of cryptogamic diseases. In humid regions particularly affected by the mildew that attacks tomatoes, such protection is almost essential.
Cherry tomatoes also need a stake, their fruit-laden stems are quickly too heavy to support their weight. In addition, they can quickly tangle! So install a stake, a bamboo tipi for example or even a trellis on the wall behind the pot. It will be put in place before the tomatoes, so as not to damage their roots. You will tie the stems as they grow.
How to plant cherry tomatoes?
The cherry tomato is less greedy than the large-fruited varieties and, if it often grows in a bush, it is also particularly well suited to growing in pots . Pot culture does not prevent it from being extremely fruitful!
- Start by making a drainage layer with gravel, pebbles or clay pebbles at the bottom of your container. 5 to 6 cm thick, it prevents the roots from remaining in contact with water which may remain at the bottom of the pot after watering.
- You can then isolate this layer of substrate by laying over it a geotextile felt cut according to the diameter of the pot, but this is an optional step.
- Then fill in with the substrate and prepare a hole to place the young plant in.
- Bury it up to its first leaves, to ensure optimal root development. Indeed, the tomato has the capacity to be able to give birth to additional roots on the buried part of its stem. In addition to providing better stability to the tomato, this more flourishing root system will allow better absorption of nutrients and water.
The cherry tomato, in pots or in the ground, must be installed in May when it is outdoors. However, the advantage of the potted tomato is that it can easily be moved, and therefore be installed in a well sheltered place in the event of announced frosts.
If the light allows it, the potted cherry tomato can be planted indoors in its final container and then taken out once the weather is finally favorable to it.
Its reduced size also allows it to be planted until late in the season , around mid-July, it will still have time to mature.
If you want to plant cherry tomatoes according to the lunar cycles, it is in the waning moon that you will act, during a fruit day.
How to grow your plant?
The soil runs out very quickly in a pot, so nutrients will be needed on a regular basis.
- Every 3 to 4 weeks you will need to feed your tomatoes. This will require a specific organic fertilizer for tomatoes or a little seaweed mixed with a handful of wood ash (for potash, very beneficial for fruiting), incorporated by simple scratching, they will spread through watering.
- You will gradually tie the stems of the cherry tomato to its stake, taking care not to tighten the ties so as not to damage it.
- Potted plants, having a limited amount of water available to them, require watering of the tomato base potted cherry much more important than for tomatoes in the ground.
- The tomato must have its stem always fresh.
- It is recommended to make infrequent but rather important waterings and to do it in the ground. The frequency of watering the potted cherry tomato will be 2 or 3 days depending on the weather.
- It is best to prepare the water a few hours before watering because very cold water in a pot in full sun can cause temperature shocks. Water is poured at the foot of the tomato, avoiding touching the foliage . And for optimal watering , act early in the morning or in the evening, which will allow light evaporation.
- Mulching is an asset to limit this evaporation and it also limits the heating of the substrate (by selecting a light-colored mulch): straw, cocoa pods, grass clippings... the choice is great and allows you to combine aesthetics with the useful.
When and how to harvest cherry tomatoes?
- The harvest of cherry tomatoes takes place from the beginning of summer and generally until the end of autumn, or a little earlier depending on the region.
- The cherry tomato is picked when it is well colored, generally 4 to 5 months after sowing .
- Cherry tomatoes grow throughout the summer, so it is recommended to harvest them according to your desires and to taste them quickly.
- Avoid putting them in the refrigerator; tomatoes keep much better in a moderate temperature place. The best thing is to eat cherry tomatoes right after picking them , that's when they are the best. Good tasting !
