Small Space, Big Flavour

There is something quietly satisfying about stepping onto a patio on a July morning and picking a warm, sun-ripened tomato for your breakfast. You do not need a vegetable plot, a greenhouse or even a raised bed to make that happen. A few decent pots, a sunny wall and a little routine are quite enough.

Tomatoes are remarkably willing plants in containers, provided you give them three things: consistent moisture, plenty of sun and a steady supply of food. Get those right and a single pot can crop for months. The trick is choosing varieties that suit the space rather than trying to tame an enormous cordon on a two-metre balcony.

Choose Compact Varieties First

Variety choice matters more in pots than in open ground, because the roots have nowhere to go looking for extra water or nutrients. Bush, or determinate, types are the obvious starting point. They stay manageable, need little or no support and crop generously in a confined space.

• Tumbling Tom — trailing habit, ideal for a hanging basket or a pot on a wall bracket.
• Garden Pearl — small, sweet cherry fruit on a neat bush, very reliable outdoors.
• Totem — a compact bush that fruits early, useful in shorter summers.
• Red Alert — quick to ripen, with good flavour for such an early variety.

If you have room for something taller, cordon varieties such as Sweet Million or Gardener's Delight do well in a large pot against a south-facing wall. They simply need staking and regular side-shoot removal.

Pots, Compost and Position

Size really does matter here. A tomato plant in a tiny pot will sulk, dry out twice a day and produce a disappointing handful of fruit. Give each plant at least 10 to 15 litres of compost, which in practice means a pot around 30 to 40 centimetres across. Bigger is better, and terracotta or glazed pots lose less moisture than thin plastic.

Use a good-quality peat-free multipurpose compost, ideally mixed with a little loam-based compost to add weight and hold moisture. A handful of slow-release fertiliser stirred through at planting gives the plant a gentle start before you begin liquid feeding.

Position is the other half of the equation. Tomatoes want six to eight hours of direct sun a day, so a south or west-facing wall is ideal. If your patio is shaded for much of the day, consider a cherry variety and accept a smaller crop, or grow in a pot you can move with the sun.

Planting Out and Early Care

Wait until the risk of frost has passed — late May in most of the UK, early June in the north. Harden young plants off over a week or so by putting them outside during the day and bringing them in at night.

Plant deeply, burying the stem up to the first set of leaves. Tomatoes will produce roots along that buried stem, which makes for a sturdier plant. Water well after planting and add a layer of gravel or bark mulch to the surface of the compost; it slows evaporation and keeps the soil from splashing onto the leaves.

Bush varieties need nothing more than a little room. Cordons need a cane or a sturdy string, tied in loosely as they grow. Pinch out the side shoots that appear in the join between leaf and stem, and stop the plant once four or five trusses have set fruit.

Watering: Consistency Beats Quantity

If there is one thing that decides whether your potted tomatoes thrive or disappoint, it is watering. Irregular watering — bone dry one day, soaking the next — is the main cause of blossom end rot, that sunken brown patch on the base of the fruit. It also causes fruit to split.

Aim for compost that is evenly moist, never waterlogged and never dust dry. In hot weather that may mean watering once or twice a day; check by pushing a finger two centimetres into the compost. Water in the morning where you can, and always at the base rather than over the leaves, which helps avoid blight and leaf mould.

A saucer under the pot buys you a little buffer, and a few plants grouped together create their own slightly humid microclimate. Just do not let pots stand in water for days on end.

Feed Weekly Once Fruit Sets

From the moment the first tiny green tomatoes appear, start feeding. A high-potash tomato feed, diluted according to the bottle, once a week is the standard routine. Potash encourages fruit rather than endless leafy growth, and the difference in cropping is noticeable.

Feed when the compost is already damp, never onto dry roots, and reduce the strength slightly in very hot weather. If leaves turn pale yellow between the veins, the plant is hungry; if they turn dark and lush with few flowers, ease off the nitrogen.

Keep an eye out for aphids on soft new growth, and remove any leaves showing the brown blotches of blight straight away.

Ripening and Picking

By late summer, you may be looking at a fine crop of green fruit and wondering whether it will ever colour. It usually does — but you can help it along. Remove the leaves below the lowest truss so sunlight reaches the fruit, and cut back slightly on watering to concentrate the plant's efforts.

Pick tomatoes when they are fully coloured and give slightly when pressed. They will continue to ripen on a windowsill, so bring in the last fruits before the first hard frost. There is an easy way to tell when you have got the routine right: the fruit tastes sweet, the skins are unbroken and the plant keeps going well into September.