No greenhouse? No garden? No problem. Tiny Temptations Red is a cherry tomato bred for hanging baskets and containers, so a back door, balcony or sunny windowsill is enough. It's our tomato of choice for small gardens and beginner gardeners, and here's why, plus exactly how to grow it.
Why we love Tiny Temptations
It's built for small spaces. This is a compact, semi-trailing variety. Instead of towering up a cane, it tumbles over the edge of a basket or pot, which makes it perfect for small gardens and doorsteps.
It's seriously sweet. Sweetness in tomatoes is measured in "Brix", and Tiny Temptations scores a very high 10–12. In plain terms, these taste more like sweets than salad.
It's low-fuss. No side-shooting, no pinching out, no tying in. You can let it do its thing.
The fruit hangs on. The small, bite-sized tomatoes stay on the plant for a long time without splitting or dropping, so if you miss a few days of picking, they'll wait for you.
It looks good. A basket dripping with red cherry tomatoes is a decorative feature in its own right.
What you'll need
- Your Laura Florals Big Veg tomato planting kit (seeds, fibre pots, feed, wool pellets and bamboo labels)
- Peat-free compost
- A hanging basket or pot. Upcycled is perfect. Just make sure it has drainage holes
- A warm, bright windowsill and a tray to start them off
- A sunny, sheltered spot
Pot and basket sizes:
- One plant: a pot or basket around 25–30cm / 10–12in across.
- Hanging baskets: at least 25cm / 10in. Bigger is better, because larger baskets don't dry out so fast.
Step by step
1. Sow indoors. Sow from February to April. In Scotland, lean to the later end (March–April), because plant-out comes later up here. Wherever you are, don't be tempted to jump the gun. Early sowings tend to get tall and floppy while they wait for the weather to warm up. Sow one seed per fibre pot, barely covered (about 5mm deep), in moist compost. Keep the pots somewhere warm, around 18°C. The top of a radiator shelf or a heated propagator both work. Seedlings usually appear within 1–2 weeks. Sow your marigolds at the same time, not later: 1–3 seeds per fibre pot.
2. Give seedlings light. As soon as they're up, move them to your brightest windowsill. Turn the pots slightly every day so the seedlings grow straight rather than leaning towards the window.
3. Pot on. Once the first true leaves of the tomatoes and marigolds show, move each seedling into its own 10cm pot somewhere bright and frost-free. Pop the whole fibre pot straight in. It breaks down in the compost, so there's no root disturbance.
4. Harden off. Tomatoes hate frost. Once the risk of frost has passed, which is usually around late April in southern England and late May to early June here in Ayrshire, get the plants used to outdoor life gradually. Put them outside during the day and bring them in at night for 7–10 days before leaving them out for good.
5. Plant out into the final pot or basket. Plant one tomato per basket or large pot, in full sun. If you're adding a watering bottle (see step 6), bury it now, so you don't disturb the roots later.
6. Water consistently. This is the big one, especially for baskets. Hanging baskets can dry out in a single sunny afternoon, so check them every day in summer. Letting the compost swing between bone dry and soaking wet is what makes fruit split. Aim for evenly moist compost, and water at the base rather than over the leaves.
Two tricks make this much easier:
- Wool pellets: at planting out, scatter the wool pellets from your kit around the plant on the surface of the compost and water them in. They swell into a woolly mat that holds onto moisture and slows down evaporation, and they help keep slugs away too.
- A buried bottle: give an old plastic bottle a second life. Cut off the bottom, poke a few holes in the sides, and bury it neck-down next to your tomato when you plant it, leaving the open end just above the compost. Keep the lid on so the water seeps out through the side holes. When you water, pour straight into the bottle and it soaks out gradually, reaching the roots deep down and moistening the compost evenly. Use a big bottle for pots and a small one for baskets.
7. Feed. Once flowers appear, sprinkle a quarter of the comfrey pellets and seaweed meal from your kit onto the compost surface, scratch them in lightly and water. Top up every 4 weeks, which gives you four feeds over the season. Comfrey is rich in potassium, the nutrient that fruiting plants crave.
8. Help pollination along. Bees and the wind do most of the work outdoors. If your plant is on a windowsill, give the flower trusses a gentle tap now and then.
9. Pick and snack. Harvest as the fruit turns red, mid-summer into autumn, roughly 10–12 weeks after planting out. The more you pick, the more the plant keeps producing.
Scottish tip: a sheltered, south-facing wall is your best friend. It soaks up heat during the day and releases it at night, which buys you valuable weeks at both ends of our shorter season.
Companion planting with French marigolds
Companion planting simply means growing plants next to each other so they help each other out. Tomatoes and marigolds are a classic partnership. We've picked Durango Flame, a compact French marigold that only grows about 15–20cm tall, so it fits neatly around the edge of a basket or pot. Here's the honest picture of what marigolds can do:
- Whitefly: some research suggests the scent of French marigolds helps keep whitefly away from tomatoes. It's a helping hand, not a force field.
- Good bugs: marigolds can bring in hoverflies, and hoverfly larvae eat aphids. Durango Flame has big, frilly-centred flowers, so think of this as a bonus rather than the main event.
- Colour: fiery red-and-gold marigolds with red tomatoes in the same basket is a proper Eco-Punk clash.
How to do it:
- Sow marigolds at the same time as your tomatoes, 1–3 seeds per fibre pot. Pot them on with the tomatoes, and as they're also frost-tender, harden them off together.
- In a basket, plant the tomato in the centre and tuck one or two marigolds around the edge.
- In pots, plant a marigold at the rim or in a neighbouring pot. Keep it close, but don't let it crowd the tomato's roots.
- Deadhead the spent marigold flowers to encourage more blooms all summer.
Common problems
- Split fruit: caused by uneven watering. Water little and often, or use the buried bottle trick.
- Leggy seedlings: caused by not enough light. Use the brightest window you have and sow later rather than earlier.
- Yellowing lower leaves late in the season: this is usually just the plant winding down. Keep picking.
- Slugs: less of a problem up in a basket, but for pots at ground level, the wool pellet layer from step 6 does double duty.
Ready to grow your own? Get the Tiny Temptations cherry tomato beginner grow kit.
Every kit does more than grow tomatoes
Laura Florals is a social enterprise, so every kit funds living wage jobs and horticultural training right here in Ayrshire. Your snack tomatoes are doing more good than you think.
Have a grow, Laura x.
