Patio or Container Friendly Tomatoes

Sometimes you want to grow tomatoes or other vegetables but don’t have much usuable real estate. Don't let that stop you, turn to using large pots. All tomatoes can be grown in a container. You will get more yield in a large container than a small one. I have put this collection together of tomatoes that have a smaller growth habit and are ideal for large containers. I hope you see a theme…the word “large" prefaces container. Even though they are shallow rooted, tomatoes like room to spread. They are also fairly early. Several benefits of a larger container are: more soil means less watering, more fertilizing and more tomatoes.

Other tomatoes that would work for big containers are: Orange You Glad, Mastkotka, and all of the Dwarfs are good plants that have nice sized tomatoes, perfect for a balcony or patio grouping. Candyland Red, the Tumbling Tom's Yellow and Red, and Tumbler are cherry tomatoes that are also great for snacking from a pot. Subarctic Plenty, Willamette, both early tomatoes and Taxi, an heirloom are also good choices.

Dwarf (Tree Type) tomatoes from The Dwarf Tomato Project. I grew 6 of them in 2016 and was very impressed with most of them. They are perfect for a small space gardener who wants a slicer instead of the smaller tomatoes that are usually produced by most determinate tomatoes. This class of tomatoes exhibits characteristics of both determinate and indeterminate types. Historically called “tree-type,” they are now commonly referred to as dwarfs. Tree-type tomato plants have very thick main stems with minimal branching. Their foliage can be either regular or potato leaf but in either case, are rugose (e.g. dark green in color and crinkly in texture). Due to their slow growth rate, they appear from a distance to be determinate achieving three to four feet in height. However, like indeterminate, they continue to set fruit throughout the growing season. Compact and everbearing, what a great combination! My favorites are Fred's Tye-Dye, Brandyfred, Summer Sweet Gold, Sweet Sue, and Mr. Snow and Golden Gypsy.

Remember that  ripening times are  from the time of transplanting into the garden.

Click on the picture for a little more detail.