Growing Mexican Midget Tomato

Heirloom tomatoes are becoming more and more popular, but some varieties are easier to grow--and more productive--than others.

Looking for something new to grow this past winter, I leafed through a catalog from Seed Saver's Exchange. Because my kids like small, sweet cherry-style tomatoes, I ordered a packet of Mexican Midget tomato.

The packet my seeds came in describes Mexican Midget tomato as "very prolific plants" that "continue producing heavily throughout the entire season."

This description is pretty accurate. My Mexican Midget plants, which were quite large--about 3 feet tall--by July, were the first of my tomato plants to bear fruit. I got my first ripe tomatoes around July 10 in Chicago. These plants, which were tiny seedlings when planted outside, even beat the much larger specimens of Roma I bought at the local garden center.

My sister, who carried some of my Mexican Midget tomato plants home on a plane from Chicago to Washington, D.C., reports that she had large amounts of fruit by mid-July.

The Mexican Midget tomato plants bear clusters of round red fruits that range in size from 1/2 inch to 1 inch across. These tiny tomatoes have a very strong tomato flavor but are somewhat less sweet than many modern cherry tomatoes, such as sweet 100.

The tiny fruits are suitable for eating as part of a crudite platter, or in a salad.

I started my Mexican Midget tomato plants indoors about April 1, following the method I described in Growing Tomatoes from Seed. I transplanted the young plants outdoors in mid-May, after the last-frost date had passed.

The large vines, described as "indeterminate," will sprawl on the ground without support. Because they grow so large, I recommend supporting Mexican Midget tomato plants with large tomato cages rather than stakes.

Tomato plants, including Mexican Midget, require at least 6 to 8 hours of full sun each day for the best yields. To ensure better growth, I spread a thick layer of mushroom compost each spring so that the soil will be rich in organic matter.