Key Takeaways
- Clustered tomatoes, also known as tomatoes on the vine (TOV), are perfect for a bountiful harvest of juicy, flavorful fruits.
- Compact growth and multiple fruits on each stem make clustered tomatoes ideal for small spaces, greenhouses, and patio gardens.
- Try growing a variety of clustered tomatoes, such as Sweet Cluster, Razzleberry, Early Cascade, Sungold, and Juliet, for different flavors and colors.
- Clustered tomatoes offer rich, sweet, and sometimes exotic flavors, suitable for snacking, salads, and various recipes.
- Harvest these tomatoes by snapping them off the vine when fully ripe for the best taste and texture.
Nothing beats the taste of a garden-fresh summer tomato! I love snacking on juicy cherry tomatoes straight off the vine. For a huge tomato harvest, many gardeners are now turning to clustered tomato varieties. Also called tomatoes on the vine, these beauties produce multiple fruits on each stem.
Clustered tomatoes are perfect for greenhouses and small space gardens. Unlike field tomatoes, these don’t spread out along lengthy vines. With compact growth, it’s easier to support and manage these plants.
If you want a big tomato yield with less effort, then you need to try growing clustered tomatoes! Here are my top 18 picks for the most spectacular options:
1. Sweet Cluster – The All-Around Crowd Pleaser
Sweet Cluster tomatoes will win you over with their well-rounded perfection. Each vine produces at least half-a-dozen plump medium tomatoes clustered closely together. With a classic round shape and scrumptious sweet taste, Sweet Cluster is everyone’s favorite.
Kids will gobble them up and beg for more! The fruits ripen to a rich ruby red when mature. At 4-5 ounces each, Sweet Cluster is the ideal size for salads, salsa, and slicing. An indeterminate variety, Sweet Cluster yields non-stop all summer long. Let the fruits fully ripen on the vine for the best sweet flavor before harvesting.
2. Razzleberry – Pretty in Pink
Your garden needs more pink! With their vibrant rosy hue, Razzleberry tomatoes are almost too pretty to eat. But one juicy bite will convince you. Despite their delicate appearance, these tomatoes pump out impressive yields on compact determinate vines.
Each plant produces abundant clusters of 6-8 ounce fruits. Under the thin pink skin, the flesh stays amazingly firm and crisp with a sweet candy-like taste and low acidity. Razzleberry is ideal for snacking and salads. Slice one open and enjoy tomato candy!
3. Early Cascade – Bold Flavors and Colors
Add some spice to your summer with Early Cascade tomatoes! This champ was bred to thrive in cool climates but pumps out medium-sized 5-6 ounce fruits loaded with warm, rich flavors. The oval-shaped tomatoes almost glow with their intense crimson skins.
Early Cascade laughs at cracked tomatoes and long storage – the thick skin and meaty flesh stay perfect right off the vine or canned. From sandwiches to simmering pasta sauce, Early Cascade brings excitement to your recipes with its complex sweet yet tangy taste.
4. Sungold – Bursts of Sweet Sunshine
Take your taste buds on a tropical vacation with Sungold tomatoes! These golden cherry tomatoes look like tiny suns. Despite weighing less than an ounce each, Sungold offers an astonishingly sweet flavor with exceptionally high sugar content – you’ll swear you’re eating candy, not tomatoes!
The petite fruits have unusually durable flesh for their size. Pop a Sungold tomato in your mouth for a burst of sweet sunshine anytime. Salad, salsa, snacking – Sungold brings joy to everything it touches!
5. Juliet – Small Package, Big Impact
Good things come in tiny packages – like Juliet grape tomatoes! Don’t let their petite 1-2 ounce proportions fool you. These little red rubies pack a serious punch of rich, old-fashioned tomato sweetness.
With a compact growth habit, Juliet lets you grow buckets of glossy red fruits perfect for popping straight into your mouth. The sturdy plants yield continuously, producing abundant clusters of 10 or more fruits all season long. Juliet tomatoes make ordinary salads and salsas extraordinary.
6. Maglia Rosa – Sophisticated and Succulent
Pink is still my favorite color tomato! Maglia Rosa fruits look like clustered gems, shifting from green to perfect rose when mature. The oblong 2-3 inch fruits are produced abundantly on vigorous indeterminate vines.
With a meaty yet juicy texture and balanced sweet-tart taste, Maglia Rosa brings elegance to any dish. Imagine these beauties sliced over mozzarella, scattered across pizza, or mingling in a salad. Exquisitely flavored and frankly gorgeous, Maglia Rosa tomatoes charm both palate and eye.
7. Sweetheart of the Patio – Big Love for Little Tomatoes
Let Sweetheart of the Patio tomatoes steal your heart this summer! These vigorous semi-determinate plants produce crazy clusters of sweet red cherries even in patio pots. The abundant harvests bear fruits about an inch across that weigh approximately 1 ounce each.
Popping one of these sugar-sweet morsels will make you smile every time. With such bountiful harvests of bite-sized fruits, juicy tomato flavor is always close at hand. Sweetheart is ideal for container gardening and any space short on room but big on tomato cravings.
8. Black Pearl – Strikingly Delicious
This summer, go for the dark side! Black Pearl tomatoes offer bewitching beauty with their sultry reddish-black 8-12 ounce fruits produced on indeterminate vines. But the taste will cast its spell over you – rich, complex, and utterly addictive.
Allow plenty of time for Black Pearl’s full flavor to develop on the vine before harvesting. The wait is worth it! With meaty flesh perfect for slicing and cooking, these classy mahogany tomatoes are ideal for parties and impressive dishes. Make a stunning salad or beautiful bruschetta to remember.
9. Macxize – Big Bold Flavors
If you’re crazy for big honkin’ tomatoes, get growing Macxize! Each long indeterminate stem holds up a half dozen or more substantial 6-8 ounce fruits for your slicing pleasure. These tomatoes were bred specifically for salads and sandwiches.
With a meaty texture and mild sweet taste, Macxize shines when enjoyed fresh and uncooked. The hardy plants resist cracking or getting mushy off the vine too. Slice up a cluster for BLTs, burgers, plates, and more!
10. Green Envy – Curiouser and Curiouser
Normal red tomatoes bore you? Go green with Green Envy! At first glance, these look unripe, but the translucent emerald skin offers a tempting peek at the sweet green flesh within. The grape-sized fruits are produced in abundance on vigorous vines.
Don’t judge Green Envy by its color – the flavors offer a perfect balance of sugar and acidity. Mix them into salsa, salads, and more for an exotic twist. When cooked, the green softens to olive adding intrigue to sauces. However you use them, Green Envy promises new adventures in tomato taste!
11. Italian Ice – Sweet Cream Dreams
Close your eyes and bite into an Italian Ice tomato – the creamy texture and sweet flavors will have you dreaming of ice cream! When ripe, these 1-2 inch beauties turn a delicate creamy yellow, almost like lemon ice.
The meaty flesh boasts very low acidity, seeming to melt in your mouth with a subtle sweetness. Scatter them over pasta primavera, fold them into omelets, and mix them into potato salad – your dishes will thank you. The mild sweet taste even makes Italian Ice ideal for snacking straight off the vine.
12. Sunchocola – Smoky and Succulent
Take your tomato experience on a Southwestern adventure with Sunchocola! One taste of these sun-dried flavored beauties will have you hooked. The small 2-3 ounce fruits are produced abundantly on vigorous indeterminate vines.
The rich sugars caramelized by the sun give Sunchocola tomatoes an irresistible smoky essence balanced by nice acidity. The meaty yet juicy texture adds intrigue when eaten fresh or cooked. Savor Sunchocola’s novel flavors sprinkled on salads and bruschettas or enjoy as finger food.
For the full impact, eat them right after harvest – the complex tastes fade quickly.
13. Baby Boomer – Snacking Satisfaction
You’ll be singing the praises of Baby Boomer tomatoes! This high-yield bushy plant churns out oodles of sweet red cherries even in patio containers. The 1-2 ounce fruits ripen to a beautiful cardinal red with an irresistible old-fashioned sweetness that keeps you popping them into your mouth all summer.
Baby Boomer offers the ultimate snacking satisfaction. Let the kids harvest them – these flavorful antioxidant-rich fruits inspire healthy eating!
14. Tiny Tim – Abundant Taste in Miniature
Green thumbs tight on space should try Tiny Tim tomatoes! This dwarf variety reaches just 1-2 feet tall but is produced amazingly in containers or hanging baskets. The petite grape-sized fruits weigh less than an ounce each.
What Tiny Tim lacks in stature, it makes up for in impressive early yields. You’ll be harvesting sweet little tomatoes just 45 days from planting! The compact size makes Tiny Tim perfect for urban gardens and patios. But the abundant harvests keep you in savory bite-sized tomatoes all season long.
15. Midnight Snack – Stunningly Delicious
Add intrigue to your garden and recipes with Midnight Snack tomatoes! The split personality of dusky purple tops and green bottoms gives these 2-3 inch fruits visual allure. But the real magic is the flavor-rich, complex, and utterly addictive.
Allow Midnight Snack time to develop its colors and full taste on the vine before harvesting. Your patience will be rewarded with a rainbow of nutrients and antioxidants too. Dress up dishes from bruschettas to salads with these edible jewels.
Come midnight, you might even sneak another snack!
16. Candyland – Sugary Seduction
Let the kids run wild in Candyland this summer! One bite of these golden orbs will convince you that Candyland tomatoes live up to their name – almost perilously sweet yet balanced by nice acidity. As the 1-2 inch fruits bask in the sun, they develop a warm, golden glow outside while the flesh caramelizes with sugar within.
Grown in hanging baskets, the trailing vines and clustered fruits resemble strings of edible pearls. Let Candyland liven up your recipes with its playful colors and flavors.
17. Ruby Crush – A Burst of Old-Fashioned Richness
Longing for the tomato tastes of your childhood? Ruby Crush is the answer! These petite round 1-1.5 inch red rubies offer incredible old-time tomato sweetness in every juicy bite. Even tomato skeptics will be wowed by the rich flavors.
The small grape size means you’ll be popping them into your mouth all summer. Use Ruby Crush to bring that fresh garden tomato burst to salads, salsas, sandwiches, and more. One taste and you’ll be hooked on this classic flavor.
18. Mountain Magic – Whimsical Colors, Rich Taste
Add a whimsical twist to your tomato harvest with Mountain Magic! The green and pink stripes on the 2-3-inch fruits make these little tomatoes so cute. But the rich sweet taste will keep you coming back for more.
The thin skin barely conceals the meaty juicy flesh within. Allow the fruits to fully ripen for a sugar rush in every bite. Scatter these beauties into salads and bruschettas or enjoy them plain for a refreshing treat. Mountain Magic promises a bounty of fun flavors!
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are clustered tomatoes called tomatoes on the vine?
Clustered tomatoes are also known as tomatoes on the vine (TOV) because they grow multiple fruits directly on each stem, unlike traditional field tomatoes. The tomatoes grow together in bunches or clusters all attached to the main vine.
How do you harvest tomatoes growing in clusters?
Clustered tomatoes can be snapped off the vine by hand when ripe. Take care not to damage the other fruits on the stem. Or use a pair of garden shears to snip the tomatoes off the vine one by one. Allow the remaining tomatoes to continue ripening. For the best flavor, let the fruits mature fully on the vine before harvesting.
Wrapping up!
Clustered tomato varieties yield abundant harvests of sweet juicy fruits perfect for sauces, salads, snacking, and more. With compact growth and fewer vines to manage than field types, tomatoes on the vine are easier to cultivate as well. Discover the joy of growing your own clusters of garden-fresh tomatoes!
