Tomato Tasting - 5 Varieties to Grow in Pots

The tomato is a popular addition to salads, but which are good varieties to choose? Tomato tasting helps you to find the varieties that suit your need to grow in pots and that you’d enjoy eating.

Tomatoes are most flavourful when allowed to ripen fully on the plant, which is why ‘on the vine’ tomatoes generate a premium price in the shops. However, they are fairly easy to grow yourself at home. And the taste of a freshly picked, sun warmed tomato is one of the small pleasures of life!

There are various reasons why growing your own tomatoes in pots rather than in the soil in a vegetable garden is best for you. For example –

You may only have a small amount of space, such as a balcony or courtyard garden.
You may have had problems with blight, a fungal disease, in previous years and want to try growing in pots to reduce the risk. Growing under cover further reduces the risk as the spores are airborne.
You may like to give each of your children a tomato in a pot to grow (for a fun competition perhaps!)
You may not have very good soil in your garden.

Tomatoes can be grown in pots both outdoors and in the greenhouse, conservatory, polytunnel. The smaller varieties would also grow on a windowsill, if outdoor space is non-existent.

Which variety of tomato should you buy?

Tomatoes are classed as either determinate or indeterminate.

Determinate tomatoes are also commonly known as bush tomatoes. These are best for small spaces.

Indeterminate tomato plants, also called “vining” tomatoeswill need staking and support. Many cherry and heirloom / heritage varieties come in this category.

Tomato Tasting – 5 Varieties to Grow in Pots

Taste is subjective, but these are all tomatoes that I’ve grown in pots or containers and have been enjoyed by friends and family. The list is not in any order of preference.

Totem

A high yielding F1 bush tomato.

This dwarf stocky bush variety is both early and heavy yielding, with large trusses of crimson tomatoes produced low down on the stem. You may need to support the tomato using a small cane or twig as Totem does get a bit top heavy with all those fruit.

I have only grown it in the greenhouse, as although it should be fine in a warm sunny spot outside it needs to be protected from frost. If you’d like more fruits over a longer period, have plants at different stages of maturity. I managed to crop from June through to October.

The tomatoes are flavoursome, a good size both to pop into a lunchbox whole and to slice.

Yellow Pear Cherry

Heirloom tomato dating from the 1700s in Europe; there are records dating 1752 using it to flavour soup.

An indeterminate tomato plant, yellow pear cherry will need either staking or tying to some support, for example a trellis. If it’s getting too big, the terminal bud can be pinched out, but if you twine it around the support it doesn’t take up too much room.

I do love this one, the colour and shape is a delight and it brightens up both the garden and the salad bowl! The small, mild flavoured pear-shaped tomatoes are borne in clusters on the vine all summer long, and into autumn.

Red Robin

An heirloom bush variety; very compact in size.

Small enough to grow on a windowsill indoors or outside, this compact tomato will provide a steady supply of sweet tomatoes that I would call ‘largish’ cherry sized.

Red Robin is an early cropping variety with just that hint of sharpness to the sweet taste that I like in a tomato. A good size to eat whole when you don’t want a huge tomato.

Indigo Rose

Indeterminate but not too big

Selectively bred from wild tomatoes this was the first high anthocyanin tomato commercially available anywhere in the world. Developed in the USA, tomato Indigo Rose was one of the finalists at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2014 Plant of the Year.

Anthocyanin is a naturally occurring pigment that has been shown to fight disease in humans and creates a vibrant colour on the smallish fruit. The side of the tomato that gets the most sunlight will be the most purple, whilst the shadier part will be a deep red. Inside the flesh is red – purple and tastes very much of tomato, if you see what I mean! Allow the fruits to mature completely for the fullest flavour.

This variety will need a larger pot or container and some support. May be grown either outside in a sunny courtyard for example, or in the greenhouse.

100s and 1000s

Determinate variety; bush, trailing

This is the first year I’ve grown this particular variety, and I chose it for its novelty value in a way. The fruits are very small but there are vast quantities of them!

These bite sized tomatoes are sweet and were extremely popular with visiting children.

Happy to be grown either inside or outside, you will certainly have hundreds of little tomatoes; they’re particularly good in a hanging basket. Mine started fruiting in July and are still laden as I write this blog, so a good cropper. They are deliciously sweet, although I feel you need three or more to make much of a mouthful, that isn’t a problem. Certainly for anyone who has small children and grandchildren I would recommend them.

There you have it, a personal selection of tomato plants for you carry out your own tomato tasting session on. Then you can then fill your patio pots and hanging baskets with tasty salad crops. I was struggling to keep it down to only five, but felt it was more useful for you to have some understanding of the different types of plant so that when you’re making choices to grow your own tomatoes, you won’t buy the wrong sort for your needs. If you don’t have room to grow 5 different, try looking for named varieties in the shops and carry out your tomato tasting trials that way.

Enjoy!