GardenPlanning
This time of year, you can find me in my grow room, participating in my own sort of March Madness. I am usually found sowing seeds and betting my money on which plants will perform the best and produce first…my March Madness Bracket is more like a chart full of Planting Dates and Varieties.
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If you want to grow something that is sure to boost your gardening confidence, then look no further than cherry tomatoes! They are always exuberant performers in the garden and a couple cherry tomato plants can produce an abundance of juicy, sweet orbs all summer. If you have grown them, then I am sure you heartily agree. Normally I plant only a few cherry tomato plants, but I have deemed this year “The Year of Cherry Tomatoes.” While we had a sudden unexpected snow storm yesterday, I sat inside and dreamed of a truly rainbow bowlful of cherry & grape tomatoes. So this year, I’m going for it! I am throwing restraint out the window and planting several cherry tomato varieties. I’m sure I’ll regret it when co-workers, friends, and neighbors start declaring—”No, I don’t need anymore cherry tomatoes—I still have the gallon bag you brought me yesterday.” But alas, you only live once!
Today, I wanted to share my Cherry Tomato Selection for this Year with you. I have grown some of these varieties before, and some are brand new to me. All are indeterminate varieties, meaning they will continue flowering and fruiting until a killing frost. Moreso than having a colorful bowlful of cherry tomatoes, I am growing big on the cherry tomatoes this year, and scaling back on the slicers because Hunter & I are in a new house, and we are largely starting from scratch with all of the landscaping. In other words, we have a lot of work planned for this year, including establishing a new vegetable plot. You can read more about it here: 2020 New Year, New Garden. Cherry tomatoes are a high impact crop to grow—they provide tons of fruit, ripen quickly, and are low-maintenance. This is just what we need on a year when we have so many other planting projects planned. So, here we go—here is my Cherry Tomato Shortlist for 2020. Please share your favorite cherry tomato varieties with me in the comment section.
First and foremost, above all, I will be planting my beloved Sun Golds. I’ll say it over and over, even shout it from the rooftops, Sun Gold Tomatoes are the best cherry tomatoes EVER! I love them! They are little balls of sugary sunshine. They have thin skin, are sweet as can be, have a delicious fruitiness, and the plants are heavily productive. What’s not to love?! I have planted Sun Gold tomatoes in my garden every single year since discovering them.
(FYI: I have also grown Sun Sugar, to do some side-by-side comparison with Sun Gold. The differences are almost indiscernible. So, if you can't find Sun Gold, but you can find Sun Sugar, then give Sun Sugar a try! These are the sweetest varieties I have come across.)
This variety is being called the sister to Sun Gold. The same breeders who bred Sun Gold, bred Sunpeach. This variety apparently has sweetness that rivals Sun Gold, with just a splash of tang. According to Johnny’s Selected Seeds, Sunpeach has less acid than Sun Gold. The fruits are a pink-to-red color, slightly larger and more elongated than Sun Gold, and born on long trusses. I’m excited to grown Sunpeach, myself, and see how they truly compare to Sun Gold!
One year my in-laws grew Super-Sweet-100s from a nursery transplant, and they were the most amazingly sweet, red, perfectly round cherry tomatoes ever. They were like CANDY! Since then, however, trying these from two different seed sources has not yielded those same incredible fruits. Nectar (from Park Seed) didn’t measure up either…or Sweet Million (Although, my neighbors did love Sweet Million—more, even, than Sun Gold). So this year, in my continued search to find a small red cherry, with all around excellent flavor and sweetness, I am trying Sweetie. Hopefully all of the descriptions I have read about them are true, and not just for marketing purposes. I have consistently read that they are “deliciously sweet”, sweet enough for a “dessert tray”, and that they have “high sugar content”.
I grow Tomatoberries every year, because my in-laws love them. They are my father-in-laws favorite cherry tomato—he is always telling me how he thinks they are much better than Sun Gold because they have a true, delicious tomato flavor, rather that just pure sugary sweetness. These are meaty (especially compared to most cherry tomatoes), 1” strawberry-shaped, red tomatoes, and they do have a perfect hint of sweetness. The key to growing the best tomatoberries, however, is to let them get fully ripe & red—they are not as tasty if you pick them still orange. Tomatoberries never crack and the plants are always beautifully productive.
I tried an indigo variety of tomatoes a few years back and found myself fairly disappointed with the taste, or lack thereof. I have also grown a couple other “black” cherry/saladette varieties that ended up being strongly acidic or mealy-textured. This year, I am hoping for better results with Black Cherry. From the sounds of it, the plant produces hefty loads of rich, sweet, burgundy-colored cherry tomatoes. Some have commented that they have a unami-like or smoky quality to them, akin to that of the infamous Cherokee Purple tomato. We shall see!
Yellow Pear is a polarizing heirloom tomato variety. I have heard either glowing reviews of it’s productivity and mild sweetness, or awful reviews of its boring taste and soft texture. I’ve finally decided to try growing it for myself. Will I hate it or will I love it?
I’ve followed Allison from @FinchandFolly, on Instagram, for years now. Her favorite tomato is Juliet, and I finally started growing Juliet last year. It’s a solid performer. The plant dependably produces a multitude of meaty, bright red grape tomatoes. The flavor is good, not as good as Sun Gold, but really is there a tomato better than Sun Gold?! If your garden is prone to tomato diseases, try growing Juliet. Allison told me that, one year, she lost every tomato in her garden to blight, except Juliet.
Blush is a larger, 2” long grape tomato variety, that is primarily golden with some red striping. This bi-color, blushing beauty has flavor that is described as being exceptionally sweet & fruity. Some also describe the flavor as being somewhat tropical—like a tangerine. Sounds right up my alley! This tomato is in the Artisan series, along with the Bumble Bee tomatoes.
Sun Gold Cherry Tomatoes are the BEST!
It's no surprise that tomatoes are the number one vegetable grown in summer gardens all over. They are juicy and delectable, and store bought simply can't hold a candle to homegrown. Tomatoes are relatively easy to grow in your backyard. However, if you want beautiful, flavorful tomatoes, that are the envy of all of your neighbor's, then you should take care to give your tomato plants a little extra love. Here are some of my tried and true tips to grow Big, Bold, Beautiful Tomatoes.
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