9 Best Trailing Tomatoes for Baskets and Vertical Planters

Cascading over the side of hanging baskets or tucked into vertical planters, trailing tomatoes are always an eye-catching addition to a garden space.

If your ground space is limited, planting trailing tomatoes up high in baskets or vertical planters allows you to extend your growing space. It also, ultimately, helps you create bigger harvests in a small garden!

The World’s favorite!

Tomatoes are usually awarded the title of ‘most loved vegetable in the world’. Easy to grow, sweet, nutritious, versatile, and also one of the most high yielding crops, it’s easy to see why!

Because of their popularity, tomatoes have been developed into some amazing varieties. From the unusual, striped ‘Green Zebra’ to the lemon yellow ‘Honey Delight’. Generally, most tomato plants and seeds are available as a large bush or cordon variety.

However, there are some amazing tomato plants available for gardens with limited space. You can find micro tomatoes for windowsills, or dwarf tomato varieties that require smaller containers.

But if you’ve run out of space for containers on the ground, there are also some sweet and tasty trailing tomato varieties to choose from!

Choosing tomatoes for baskets and vertical planters

These trailing tomato varieties are perfect for small garden spaces and vertical planters. They’re generally smaller in size (although not as small as these micro windowsill tomato varieties), but trailing tomatoes can be very high yielding. Their heavily laden trusses will hang from hanging baskets and stepped planters at a perfect height for picking.

Though for a more budget-friendly option, you could try creating a plastic water bottle hanging tomato planter!

All of these trailing varieties are cherry tomatoes. Ideal for hanging near a doorway or window for an easy-to-reach snack. They’ve been cultivated specifically for their smaller size, lower heights, and trailing habit.

Best trailing tomatoes for baskets and vertical planters

So, whether you’re looking for tasty varieties to add to a hanging basket to your condo, or simply looking to grow more in a small garden by growing vegetables up high. Here are the best, and easiest-to-find, trailing tomato varieties for your hanging baskets and vertical planters!

1. Tumbling Tom 

Usually available in red or yellow color variations, Tumbling Tom is definitely one of the most popular trailing tomato varieties. This means they’re definitely one of the easiest to find in nurseries or on seed websites!

They’re a very high-yielding cherry tomato and are loved for their sweet flavor. It’s a bushy plant with a branching habit that fills out a hanging basket nicely. As summer sets in, it begins to produce cascades of little yellow flowers that soon ripen into perfect round cherry tomatoes.

Best for:

• One of the most popular trailing tomato varieties
• Easy to find in nurseries
• Early cropping

2. Cherry Falls

The Cherry Falls tomato definitely lives up to its name. With its trailing stems, the Cherry Falls tomato sends out cascades of cherry tomatoes that hang in abundance from baskets or vertical planters.

They have a sweet, delicious flavor, perfect for snacking on or adding to summer salads. Compared to other trailing tomatoes on this list, the Cherry Falls tomato stays low and compact which is best for smaller hanging baskets.

Best for:

• Small hanging baskets
• Early cropping compared to other varieties
• Creates beautiful cascades of ruby red tomatoes

3. Garden Pearl 

As its name suggests, the Garden Pearl tomato produces shiny, pearl-like cherry tomatoes. Although, unlike an oyster, you’ll get much more than one tomato!

It has lovely, tumbling growth that’s perfectly suited to growing in hanging baskets. They’ll also work really well cascading from taller or stepped planters, with about 20 inches of growth trailing over the side.

Best for:

• Lovely bushy shape with more compact growth than other varieties (20-inch spread)
• Pinky-red tomato coloring

4. Losetto

A determinate cherry tomato with bushy growth that cascades over the edges of containers and hanging baskets. The tomatoes grow all summer long and well into autumn too (as long as there’s no frost!).

It has very good resistance to tomato blight, so it’s a great hanging basket tomato variety for warm, wet climates.

Best for:

• Disease resistance in warm, wet climates susceptible to tomato blight
• Long cropping season!
• Large planters and strong hanging baskets

5. Lizzano

A very popular low-growing tomato plant with a trailing habit, perfect for hanging baskets! Lizzano is also a winner of the All-America Selections (AAS)!

It’ll produce plenty of small, round, bright red cherry tomatoes. They’re not the smallest variety on the list, so make sure you pick the tomatoes regularly, as the plants can become quite heavy!

Best for:

• Award-winning cherry tomatoes
• Bushy shape with more compact growth than other varieties (20-inch spread)
• A popular variety that’s common in nurseries and online shops

6. Sweet Heart of the Patio

Closely related to the Lizzano variety, Sweet Heart of the Patio is an epic producer. They’re semi-determinate, so can produce a taller plant than Cherry Falls or Tumbling Toms. However, the fruit-laden stems will still cascade over the edges of containers and hanging planters.

It has good tolerance to tomato blight and should start cropping earlier than other tomato varieties. They can be very prolific, so be prepared to pick tomatoes almost every day throughout the summer!

Best for:

• Tolerance to tomato blight
• Early cropping compared to other trailing tomato varieties

7. Peardrops

A unique heirloom variety that produces small, golden pear-shaped tomatoes. The Peardrops tomato plant produces a great crop of these golden tomatoes. Ideal for eating raw, adding to salads or even creating beautiful golden tomato soups!

It’s a determinate tomato, with a semi-trailing habit. However, it still cascades beautifully over the edges of containers. Definitely, a lovely addition to a balcony garden or porch if you like heirloom or unusual vegetable varieties.

Best for:

• Unusual fruit color and shape
• Excellent flavor

8. Maskotka

The Maskotka tomato was specifically bred to be perfect for hanging baskets. It’s a determinate tomato with lush, trailing growth that cascades over the side of planters.

Its fruits are slightly larger than the other cultivars on this list, but still deliciously sweet and snack-sized!

Best for:

• Bigger cherry tomatoes
• Fruits that are very resistant to cracking

9. Terenzo

A popular tumbling tomato that produces plenty of flowers that develop into good-sized cherry tomatoes. It’s not the sweetest cherry tomato, but its tumbling foliage and yield make it a worthwhile addition to a hanging basket. The Terenzo tomato also won an All-America Selections (AAS) award in 2011!

Best for:

• Award-winning cherry tomatoes!
• Bigger cherry tomatoes resistant to cracking
• Big harvests!

Top tips for growing trailing tomatoes in hanging baskets

They’re easy to grow, but to create bumper harvests, check out our top tips for growing trailing tomatoes below!

Positioning trailing tomatoes

• Trailing tomatoes need as much sunlight as you can give them (8+ hours is best) so place them in a sunny area. Luckily, keeping them up high in a hanging basket generally means they might receive a bit more sunlight compared to other container plants on the ground.
• Trailing tomato plants can become very heavy, so make sure you’re using a strong planter that can support their weight.
• As stems begin to flop over, you might need to spread or arrange them so they’re not too clustered together. This also improves air flow between the stems (helping to prevent diseases) and also allows more sunlight to hit the ripening tomatoes.
• Planting your tumbling tomato with other plants can be a great way to really fill out your hanging basket. Pairing it with basil is also a great idea if you love pasta and Italian cuisine. Trailing tomatoes are an excellent edible trailing plant if you’re creating kitchen garden hanging baskets!

Watering trailing tomatoes

• These trailing tomato varieties produce big crops of cherry tomatoes, but only if they’re well-hydrated. Make sure you keep the plants well-watered. It’s difficult to see the soil drying out when plants are up high, so invest in a good watering system or check the soil regularly.
• Water slowly, allowing the compost to soak up as much as possible. Watering too fast can cause too much water to spill off or escape out the bottom of your planter.
• Adding a layer of mulch to the top of your basket or container can help to keep moisture in the compost.
• It’s usually best to water in the morning before you head out for the day. This makes sure that the tomatoes have plenty of water before the hottest part of the day.
• If you’re going away for a few days or longer, ask a neighbor or friend if they could help out with watering. Or, invest in a self-watering system. You can buy watering kits online or in nurseries with valves and tubing, or create your own DIY watering kit!

Do you need to pinch out shoots?

These trailing tomatoes have determinate or semi-determinate growth, which means you shouldn’t need to pinch out any shoots. If however you have excellent conditions in the summer, and find the plants taking over, you can definitely trim off any excess shoots.