Crops › Tomato (Cherry)
How to grow Tomato (Cherry)
in the UK
Sow March to April, plant out May to June, harvest July to October. About 70 days from seed to plate.
Cherry tomatoes, eh? Proper little bursts of sunshine, they are. You can get a cracking crop from these, so satisfying to pick your own sweet fruit right from the vine. They're a medium difficulty crop, but nothing to be scared of, just need a bit of attention on the plot.
Sowing
You want to get your cherry tomato seeds going indoors around March or April. Don't be tempted to sow too early, like, because leggy plants are a nightmare. They need a good warm spot, 18 to 21 degrees Celsius is proper. A heated propagator or a warm airing cupboard is ideal, especially if you've got grow lights to keep them from getting too drawn. Sow them about 0.5 cm deep in trays or small pots. If you're not up for starting from seed, you'll find plenty of plug plants at the garden centre after April, that's a good way to get going too.
Growing on
Once your seedlings have got their first proper leaves, it's time to prick them out into individual pots. When they're about 15cm tall, you can start hardening them off, getting 'em used to the outside world a bit at a time. Don't plant them out until after the last frost, usually mid to late May up here in the North, earlier down south, mind. Give them about 60cm between plants and make sure they've got good sturdy supports, like canes or strings. Plenty of these varieties are cracking for containers too, even hanging baskets.
Looking after it
Cherry tomatoes are thirsty things, especially once they start setting fruit, so water them regular and consistent. Feed them with a tomato feed every week or two once flowers appear, they're proper hungry. For cordon varieties, pinch out those side shoots that grow between the main stem and the leaves, it keeps the plant focused on fruit. Keep an eye on them through the season.
What goes wrong
Blight's a real pain, it can hit hard in damp weather, so keep an eye on the leaves and remove any affected bits fast. Whitefly and aphids can be a bother too, you'll see them under the leaves. A bit of sticky trap or a good spray with soapy water can help, but sometimes they just get everywhere. Check your plants regular, you know.
Harvest
You'll be picking your first cherries around 70 days after sowing, usually starting in July, right through to October if you're lucky. Pick them when they're a proper bright colour and feel a bit soft to the touch; don't yank 'em off, twist gently. They're best eaten fresh, straight off the vine, like. Keep 'em at room temperature, never in the fridge, or they lose their flavour. If you get a glut, they're cracking roasted.
I always try and put a basil plant right next to my tomatoes in the greenhouse, it's a cracking companion, and some folks reckon it helps with the flavour too.
Dates for your plot
Type the first half of your postcode and the plant-out advice shifts to your area's typical frost dates.
Varieties, and whether the club would grow them again
| Variety | Club verdict |
|---|---|
| Gardener's Delight Sweet cherry tomato perfect for UK greenhouses. A reliable early cropper, great for beginners. | No club votes yet |
| Sungold F1 Golden orange cherry tomato with exceptional sweetness. If you want a proper sweet treat, this is the one for you, cracking for flavour. | No club votes yet |
| Sweet Million F1 High yielding cherry variety with long trusses. You'll get masses of sweet red cherries with this one, perfect for a big harvest later in the season. | No club votes yet |
| Tumbling Tom Red Compact trailing variety ideal for containers. Cracking for hanging baskets or pots on the patio, producing loads of sweet little red fruits. | No club votes yet |
| Black Cherry Dark purple-red cherry with complex flavor. A real talking point with its unusual colour and a rich, deep taste that's proper delicious. | No club votes yet |
| Rapunzel Long trusses of sweet cherries, vigorous grower. This one just keeps on giving, producing huge amounts of fruit on long strings, proper impressive. | No club votes yet |
| Sakura F1 Pink cherry tomato, extra sweet. A lovely sweet pink cherry, very popular for its delicious flavour and good yields. | No club votes yet |
| Supersweet 100 F1 Ultra-sweet red cherry, heavy cropper. Like the name says, these are incredibly sweet and you'll get a massive amount of fruit from each plant. | No club votes yet |
| Rosada F1 Pink cherry with excellent flavor. A fantastic pink cherry known for its superb taste, a really chuffed choice for the dinner plate. | No club votes yet |
| Cherrola F1 Extra-large cherry tomato. If you fancy a cherry that's a bit bigger than the norm but still packed with flavour, this is a good shout. | No club votes yet |
| Chocolate Cherry Mahogany brown cherry, rich flavor. Don't let the colour put you off, these have a wonderfully rich and smoky taste, a real gourmet choice. | No club votes yet |
| Tumbling Tom Yellow Golden trailing cherry for baskets. A bright yellow version of the popular Tumbling Tom, perfect for adding a splash of colour to your patio pots. | No club votes yet |
| Cherries Jubilee Bicolor pink and yellow cherry. A beautiful looking tomato with stripes and a lovely sweet flavour, great for adding colour to salads. | No club votes yet |
| Sugary Tiny super-sweet red cherry. Tiny little powerhouses of sweetness, these are one of the earliest to ripen and taste absolutely cracking. | No club votes yet |
| Honeycomb F1 Yellow striped cherry tomato. A unique looking yellow cherry with lovely stripes and a sweet, juicy flavour that's a bit different. | No club votes yet |
| Midnight Snack Purple-black cherry with anthocyanins. A striking purple-black cherry that tastes great and is packed with good stuff, a really interesting choice. | No club votes yet |
| Matt's Wild Cherry Tiny wild-type cherry, prolific. These little fellas are proper hardy and just keep on producing masses of tiny, sweet red fruits. | No club votes yet |
| Celano F1 Deep red cherry, disease resistant. If you've had problems with diseases before, this variety offers good resistance and still gives you a cracking crop. | No club votes yet |
| Favorita F1 Early red cherry, cold tolerant. A fantastic early variety that can handle a bit cooler weather, so good for getting an early start in the greenhouse. | No club votes yet |
| Ildi Masses of tiny yellow cherries. You'll get an absolute cascade of these small, sweet yellow cherries, a real showstopper and very productive. | No club votes yet |
| Jasper Cherry Pink-red cherry, sweet flavor. A lovely sweet cherry with a good balance of flavour and yield, a solid choice for a reliable maincrop. | No club votes yet |
| Balconi Red Dwarf cherry for small spaces. Perfect for windowsills or tiny patios, this compact plant still gives you plenty of sweet little red tomatoes. | No club votes yet |
| Chadwick Cherry California heirloom cherry. A well-regarded heirloom with a rich, full flavour, great if you're after something a bit special. | No club votes yet |
| Sprite Cherry Small red cherry, bush variety. A neat little bush tomato, ideal for pots and giving you a good supply of tasty red cherries without needing much fuss. | No club votes yet |
Votes are members rating varieties in their Seed Tin, one vote per gardener. Tap a variety for the full page and where to buy.
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Cook the harvest
A proper shortcrust pastry tart with a creamy goat's cheese custard filling and rows of slow-roasted cherry tomatoes pressed into the top, their edges just catching and concentrating into something intensely sweet and jammy. This is the kind of tart worth making on a weekend when the tomatoes are at their best. It holds together beautifully when sliced and is just as good at room temperature as it is warm.
95 min · mediumThis is a weeknight supper that takes less time to make than it does to describe. Inspired by the classic Chinese tomato and egg stir-fry, using cherry tomatoes instead of larger ones gives you concentrated sweetness and juicy bursts in every bite. It is genuinely one of the best things you can do with a glut of summer tomatoes — fast, comforting and far more interesting than it sounds.
18 min · easyThis is the salad you make on a hot August evening when you do not want to turn the oven on. Raw sweetcorn is shaved straight off the cob and tossed with a mountain of cherry tomatoes, creamy feta, and a sharp shallot dressing. Everything is at its very best in the same few weeks, and on a plate together they are more than the sum of their parts.
20 min · easyGiant pasta shells are filled with a creamy ricotta mixture, then baked on a bed of burst cherry tomatoes that cook down into a vivid, jammy sauce beneath them. A basil brown butter poured over at the end adds a nutty richness that lifts the whole dish. It looks impressive but is straightforward to assemble, and the tomatoes genuinely do all the work in the oven.
70 min · mediumWatch for, and grow alongside
Companions: basil, marigold, chives
Questions people ask
When do you sow Tomato (Cherry) in the UK?
Sow Tomato (Cherry) from March to April. Plant out May to June, after the last frost.
How long does Tomato (Cherry) take from sowing to harvest?
Roughly 70 days, with the harvest July to October.
Which Tomato (Cherry) varieties do gardeners grow again?
Club members rate every variety they grow. This page shows the grow-again votes for Gardener's Delight, Sungold F1, Sweet Million F1, Tumbling Tom Red and more.
Track your Tomato (Cherry) from packet to plate
Sowing reminders and harvest forecasts for your own frost dates, the Seed Tin, Scan Centre for any label or packet, and the Potty Mouth Garden Club. Free to start.
Allotment keeper in the North East of England, the voice behind the Tony C Smith YouTube channel, and the gardener who built GrowMore CookMore. Club numbers on this page update as members log their plots. Last updated 3 September 2026.