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moderate · balcony
The most rewarding thing you can grow in a pot, and the crop where the difference from shop-bought is most obvious.
Solanum lycopersicum · Solanaceae
Commercial tomatoes are picked unripe to survive transport. A cherry tomato ripened on the plant is a different food, and a single plant can yield several kilograms.
Week 0
Sow 5mm deep in small pots, somewhere around 20C. A windowsill is fine.
Week 3
When the seedling has two true leaves, move it to a 9cm pot. Bury the stem deeper than before — tomatoes root along buried stem.
Week 6
Before moving outside, put the plant out for a few hours a day for a week. Going straight out cold-shocks it.
Week 7
Move to a 30cm pot with a cane or string support. Cordon varieties need side shoots pinching out; bush varieties do not.
Week 9 onward
Start high-potassium feed at first flower and keep watering consistent. This is the stage that decides your yield.
Week 12 onward
Pick when fully coloured and slightly soft. Leaving them on the plant an extra day or two is what produces the flavour.
Cause: Blossom end rot — a calcium uptake failure, almost always caused by inconsistent watering rather than a lack of calcium in the soil.
Fix: Water regularly and evenly. Mulch the surface to slow drying. Affected fruit will not recover but later fruit will be fine.
Cause: Too much nitrogen, usually from general-purpose feed.
Fix: Switch to a high-potassium tomato feed once the first flowers appear.
Cause: Heat stress or, less often, over-enthusiastic side-shoot removal.
Fix: Provide afternoon shade in a heatwave. Mild curl alone does not harm the crop.
Basil, Marigold
Before you eat anything you grow: be certain of the identification. This guide describes cherry tomato specifically — it is not a way to confirm that an unknown plant is safe. Never eat a plant on the strength of an app alone.