Video: How to Grow Cherry Tomatoes • From Seed to Harvest

Today I'm planting seeds for 'Jasper' tomatoes. This is a wonderful red cherry variety with sweet rich fruits, and the plants are also resistant to late blight.

Starting Tomato Seeds

Don't start your seeds too early. Start them at the right time, which is about 6–7 weeks before the last expected spring frost.

Once your trays or pots have been planted, place them beneath grow lights or in a sunny window. If you have a heating mat for seedlings, use it, because that little bit of extra heat helps encourage good germination.

Transplanting Tomatoes

Once your last frost date has passed, harden off your tomato seedlings and move them to the garden.

For tomatoes that will be supported on stakes, plant them 12–18 inches apart. For those just allowed to sprawl in the garden, plant them 2–3 feet apart.

Finally, when planting tomatoes, be sure to plant them deeply  in the hole. They'll form roots all along their stems and create much stronger root systems.

Growing Tomatoes

Well, it's early summer and my 'Jasper' tomato plants are growing really well. Now, 'Jasper' is an indeterminate tomato, which means it gets tall — really tall — up to 6 feet or more! So, it needs strong sturdy support. Now I use wooden stakes about 7 feet tall, and I tie the plants to them with twine as they grow. You could also use strong tomato cages or another trellising system. Just make sure you do support your indeterminate tomatoes.

Dry, stressed tomatoes are more prone to issues like blossom end rot, so I make sure to water deeply once or twice a week. I also mulch the soil surface, which not only holds soil moisture but it also can reduce the spread of soil-borne diseases like early blight.

I fertilize my tomatoes every 2–3 weeks with a liquid organic fertilizer.

And I do some pruning. I remove the lower leaves, especially any that may touch the mulch or the soil, to help prevent the spread of disease.

Harvesting Cherry Tomatoes

Summer is the sweetest season for the tomato lover, and with a variety like 'Jasper,' the plants produce a non-stop crop of cherry-sized, bright-red fruits until frost. And actually, it's late September now in my garden. These plants have been producing for over 2 months. We've had 2 light frosts, and as you can see, the plants are still doing well. The flavor? Amazing!

How do you know when your cherry tomatoes are ready to harvest? Well, look at the color. The fruits will be their mature color, which in the case of 'Jasper' is bright, glossy red. They'll also be between 1 inch and 1½ inches across. And if you're not sure, you know you can always just pick a fruit and give it a little taste test.

Large-fruited tomatoes are best clipped from the vines, but cherry tomatoes can be gathered by hand. It's important to stay on top of the harvest, so pick your ripe cherry tomatoes every day or two during the growing season. I always bring a bowl or a basket or a container into the garden with me, because I want to avoid damaging the fruits as I gather them. And trust me — there's always more that are ready to pick than you think!

I also like to harvest all ripe fruits from my cherry tomato plants when rain is in the forecast. While 'Jasper' is a crack-resistant variety, a sudden influx of water can cause cherry tomatoes to split, which reduces their storage time and can also attract fruit flies if you bring them inside your home.

If you haven't harvested your cherry tomatoes in a couple of days, super ripe fruits can also split as you pick them. We just eat these right away or turn them into salsa or delicious sauces.

Happy Gardening!

Learn more about 'Jasper' an organic, award-winning Johnny's-Bred variety with high resistance to late blight…
Browse our Easy-Choice Tomato Varieties…