Tommy Toe Tomato

Solanum lycopersicum

Also known as: Tommy Toe Cherry


An American heirloom cherry tomato that consistently ranks at the top of Australian taste tests — round red fruit around 3–4cm across, borne in heavy clusters on a vigorous indeterminate vine. The flavour is what makes it — rich, sweet, well-balanced, with the kind of full tomato depth most cherry types can't manage at that size. Fruit falls into the "cocktail" range: bigger than a standard cherry, small enough to eat whole, and generous enough that a single plant will keep a household in fresh eating for weeks. Disease resistant and long-cropping, often carrying fruit right through to the first cold snap. Indeterminate (climbing) variety — requires sturdy staking or caging.

Days to harvest 60–70 days from transplant
Fruit size Round cherry-cocktail fruit, 3–4cm across
Sowing depth 5mm
Germination 5–14 days at soil temperature 16–35°C; best around 21–24°C
Spacing 40–60cm apart, rows 60–150cm
Aspect Open, sunny position; light to heavy soil with good drainage
Frost tolerance Sensitive to frost; plant out only once frosts have finished

Growing notes

A warm, sheltered position in the garden or tunnel suits it best. Tommy Toe is one of the easier tomatoes for a home garden — vigorous, disease resistant, and forgiving of variable weather.

Soil preparation: Well-rotted compost worked in before planting, with a balanced feed high in phosphorus.

Support: Vines reach 2m or more and grow heavy with fruit — stake, cage, or train up a string trellis from planting out. Tie regularly as the plant grows.

Containers: Suits a large pot of 40L or more with sturdy support; keep water and feed consistent, as pots dry out faster than beds.

Watering & feeding: Deep, consistent watering at the base. Overhead watering invites disease. Side-dress with a potassium-rich feed once flowering starts.

Harvest: Pick regularly through the season. Ripe fruit hold on the vine for several days without splitting, so a slight delay only concentrates the sweetness. The heavy clusters ripen unevenly — pick the reddest fruit and leave the rest to continue.

Timing: First ripe fruit 60–70 days from transplant.

Key features

  • Widely regarded as one of the best-flavoured cherry tomatoes in Australia
  • Cocktail-sized fruit, 3–4cm across
  • Rich, deep, well-balanced tomato flavour
  • Prolific in heavy clusters
  • Notably disease resistant
  • Long-cropping vine — often produces into autumn

Short season tips


Sow 6–8 weeks before your last frost. Grow on under cover until night temperatures sit reliably above 12–14°C. In Coonabarabran and similar inland zones, plant out from mid-October. A hoop tunnel or cloche buys earlier plantings. Tommy Toe's long cropping window and disease resistance make it a reliable pick for short-season inland gardens.

  • Spring
  • Summer

Tender perennial — almost always grown as an annual in Australia

  • Basil, chives, parsley, marigold, carrots
  • Other nightshades (potatoes, eggplant, capsicum), brassicas, fennel, corn


An American heirloom cherry tomato traced back to the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, carried into the wider seed-saver trade through the twentieth century and taken up enthusiastically in Australia after The Digger's Club named it the top-flavoured cherry variety in their tomato taste tests. Since then it has become one of the most-grown cherry heirlooms in Australian home gardens — kept in wide circulation for the sheer quality of eating from a plant that isn't fussy about how it gets there.