The case for cherry tomatoes!

For more years than I care to remember, I’ve made it a point to start a few tomato varieties each spring. Most of the time, I would choose one heirloom like Brandywine and a couple of hybrids. Better Boy and Quick Pick come to mind as two that have actually produced edible fruit for me here in southwest Missouri.

The problem is, I’ve only had limited success and am ashamed to admit it. All my fellow gardeners never ever seem to have any problems growing them, and come each fall, they complain to me about all the excess tomatoes they’re forced to give away. I smile back at them, all the while thinking about the bare shriveled vines back home. (A case of tomato envy)? Seriously, I’ve tried every which way I can think of to grow them to little or no avail. (It’s not like my heart isn’t in the right place). I generally start out each April and May with plants I started myself in addition to a few pre-grown plants from the local garden center. Some of these will go into pots and some into raised beds. Like a general getting ready for battle, I like to spread my forces around. But, by mid summer, I can tell you that all of them will be in trouble of one sort or another.

Brandywine tomatoes have been especially problematic in this regard. I remember one year (2009?) that I actually raised five Brandywine plants that not only were healthy, but which were loaded with green fruit. Woo Woo! I went to bed that year dreaming about all the ‘sumptuous meals’ to come. Then, one morning I happened to glance out my window and did a double take. All, and I mean all, the plants had disappeared! It was like a bad dream. [Insert Twilight Zone music here]. It took me some time to discover that the culprits were deer of all things (check out the night I lost my clapper). Turned out they not only liked green tomatoes,  but they also craved the entire plant as well! That year, it also turned out they were not really picky about the variety I was growing either as all the garden tomatoes were eaten right down to the ground. This left me with just a couple of plants in pots that were located on a balcony and hence out of reach. You can just imagine how I felt when they developed root rot soon thereafter and so, yet again, I was forced to get my fruit from local stores.

That’s where cherry tomatoes have come to my rescue! Seems that back in 1973, two Israeli professors developed a tomato variant that would not only handle hot conditions but which also would take longer to mature. And so, the cherry tomato was born!

With these guys, of which there are numerous varieties now available, I found I could produce bumper crops. You plant them just about anywhere (think weeds) and a month or so later, you have oodles and oodles of tiny little tomatoes that not only store well in the fridge, but which also are just perfect for salads! (When I say I’ve never met a cherry tomato I didn’t like I would be telling you the truth)! Now, while they do not have the awesome taste of a true Brandywine (nothing does actually), they make up for it by sprawling all over the place like a common weed all the while producing little fruit like there’s no tomorrow. (One gardener confided to me that he actually got over a thousand little fruits from one plant)! Way cool…

Now, each season, while I still will try and grow a few regular season cultivars, I also make it a point to start a tray of the small guys. That way, I know that come rain or shine; I will at the very least have loads of ‘red poppers’ to grace my late summer salads.