Tomato plants, as well as the fruits themselves, come in many different shapes and sizes. It means that you can grow tomatoes in whatever space you have. With that in mind, this guide looks specifically at the best tomatoes for growing in pots.
Whether you want snack-sized cherry tomatoes or larger fruits to turn into sauces or ketchup, there are varieties to accommodate any desire that can grow successfully in containers. Thanks to developments in breeding, there are highly productive patio-sized plants for a deck or balcony.
I used to grow tomatoes in pots as a professional kitchen gardener, and have also grown them in containers at home for many years. I have my preferred varieties, and I also share advice from two experts who reveal their picks of the best tomatoes for growing in pots and containers.
Best tomatoes for growing in pots - recommended by professionals
Growing tomatoes is all about getting the best crop possible. These varieties are all highly productive plants, even when grown in containers or hanging baskets - you can even grow the tomatoes in buckets.
Sungold
Sungold is a favorite tomato variety of mine and one that I have grown a lot over the years. The fruits were popular with chefs and, when I grew them in public gardens, the harvests sold out quickly from our garden stall.
Sungold is a prolific, easy-to-grow cherry tomato that produces trusses laden with bite-sized, extra-sweet orange fruits. It can take less than 60 days from transplanting seedlings to getting the first harvest, and the thin-skinned golden fruits are ideal for snacking or to go in salads.
It is an indeterminate variety that reaches up to 60 inches in height, and the plants are ideal for growing outdoors or in a greenhouse. Another bonus of Sungold is that the variety is resistant to many tomato diseases.
Super Sweet 100
Super Sweet 100 is a popular variety of cherry tomato and a regular on the display tables of garden centers and nurseries to take home and plant.
The indeterminate plants are renowned for early harvests and a long cropping season, potentially right up to the frosts. Super Sweet 100 plants are also known as heavy croppers, with clusters of small, deep red tomatoes to harvest throughout the season.
Super Sweet 100 is not a compact variety specially bred for containers, but can grow successfully in pots. The plants can reach six feet tall and need training and tomato pruning throughout the season. But the effort is worth it for the large yields of sweet cherry-sized fruits.
Little Bing
Little Bing is a cherry tomato variety ideally suited to growing in containers. It is a compact, determinate tomato that produces a large haul of bright red one-inch tomatoes in 60-65 days from planting.
Isabel Branstrom, the vegetables development manager for PanAmerican Seed, says of the Little Bing tomato: ‘At less than 24 inches tall, they stay a manageable size and produce lots of tomatoes in a period of a few weeks for a large harvest.’
Little Bing tomato plants don’t require a trellis due to their compact nature. Their manageable size makes them one of the easiest and best cherry tomatoes to grow in pots on a deck or balcony.
Isabel Branstrom is the vegetables development manager for National Garden Bureau member PanAmerican Seed, a global plant breeder and seed producer for the horticultural industry. She is stationed in the company’s breeding and research facility, where the team trials new vegetables and herbs for home gardens across the world.
Little Napoli
If you are after a fantastic compact Roma tomato variety for a container, Little Napoli ticks all the right boxes.
Reaching less than two feet in height, the plants yield bumper crops of tomatoes in summer, which are great for making batches of sauces, salsas, or ketchup. The determinate tomato plants are also disease-resistant and crop in 60-65 days.
‘Little Napoli is a compact plant with a tidy habit and looks good on the patio. The tomatoes are bright red, pear-shaped, and meaty. These are great for sauces,’ recommends Isabel Branstrom.
Lizzano
Lizzano tomato plants are ideally suited for growing in patio containers or hanging baskets. They are vigorous semi-determinate tomato plants that grow to under 24 inches in height, but trail over the edges of their containers.
‘Lizzano tomato has a low-growing trailing habit, so you can grow it in a hanging basket on your patio,’ says Gail Pabst, an experienced horticulturist from the National Garden Bureau.
‘Plus, you get lots of bright red cherry tomatoes from each plant. It is also disease-resistant, so it will stay healthy and produce tomatoes later in the season.’
The sweet and juicy cherry tomatoes are produced over a long harvest season and are ideal for adding to salads or snacking straight off the plant. As mentioned by Gail, a great reason to grow Lizzano tomatoes is that the plants are bred to be highly resistant to diseases, including tomato blight.
Gail is a passionate horticulturist with over 25 years' experience in the industry. She is an avid home gardener too and loves to try out the newest varieties and techniques. Gail is the Marketing Director for the National Garden Bureau and her work has helped her to continue their mission of inspiring, teaching and growing in gardening with others.
Patio Choice Yellow
Patio Choice Yellow is a compact, determinate tomato variety specifically bred for producing big yields when grown in containers or small spaces. The plants may reach just over 18 inches tall, but are capable of impressive harvests.
‘One plant can produce over 100 yellow, mild-flavored cherry tomatoes,’ says Gail Pabst. ‘It's amazing how many delicious tomatoes you can pick from a single plant.’
Patio Choice Yellow is a fast-maturity variety that can produce fruits within 65 days of sowing the seeds, or 45 days from transplanting your plants in containers. It is also a variety with high levels of disease resistance.
Bush Early Girl
Bush Early Girl is a compact version of the popular Early Girl tomato variety prized for early-season fruits.
Bush Early Girl is a high-yield determinate variety suited to growing on containers. The plants grow only around 18 inches tall, yet are highly productive and take 60-65 days to harvest.
Despite being a patio-sized plant, Bush Early Girl still produces medium-sized tomatoes early in the season and offers growers an excellent opportunity for four-inch diameter, meaty, flavorful tomatoes in a container.
Even when growing the crop in containers, it is recommended to consider tomato companion planting. One beneficial combination is growing marigolds and tomatoes together, as the cheery annual flower repels lots of tomato pests.
You can either plant marigolds in the same container or grow marigolds in their own pots and place them within 18 inches of the tomato plants to get the most beneficial effect.
Shop the best tomatoes for growing in pots
Super Sweet 100 is an indeterminate, cherry tomato that produces large harvests of scarlet, cherry-sized fruits over the season.
Sungold is a prolific, easy-to-grow cherry tomato for early harvests of small, extra-sweet, golden fruits.
Little Napoli is a great Roma tomato variety for a container. A perfect plant for lots of tomatoes to use to make sauces and salsa.
Lizzano tomato plants are ideal for growing in hanging baskets thanks to their low-growing habits.
Patio Choice Yellow tomato plants can produce over 100 yellow cherry tomatoes on compact plants - ideal for pots and smaller spaces.
Bush Early Girl is an ideal choice for early, medium-sized fruits on 18-inch compact plants.
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