Tomato Gardeners Delight

Solanum lycopersicum 'Gardeners Delight' Heritage cherry tomato, RHS AGM

The cherry tomato that has held its place as the British gardener's favourite for half a century — and almost certainly the next one too. Gardeners Delight (sometimes written "Gardener's Delight") holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit and is one of the most frequently recommended cherry tomato varieties in British garden literature, for one straightforward reason: the flavour is genuinely exceptional. Sweet, intensely tomato-flavoured, with proper acidity to balance the sweetness, and the deep complex savouriness that supermarket cherry tomatoes can never quite match.

The fruits are classic cherry size — roughly 20–30g each, smaller than a walnut, larger than a grape — in a deep glossy red when fully ripe. They grow in long elegant trusses of 8–12 fruits, ripening progressively along the truss, so each plant produces continuous harvests of perfectly-ripened cherries from July through to first autumn frosts. The cropping is genuinely heavy: a single well-grown plant can produce 5–7kg of cherry tomatoes across the season — far more than most families can eat fresh.

Like Alicante, Gardeners Delight is an indeterminate (cordon) tomato, growing continuously upward on a trained main stem. The plants are vigorous and productive, reaching 1.8–2 metres in good conditions. The cherry size makes the variety particularly suitable for both greenhouse cultivation and outdoor growing in sheltered positions across most of England; in colder areas, greenhouse or polytunnel cultivation produces the earliest and heaviest crops.

The combination of intense sweet-acid flavour, heavy reliable cropping, RHS recognition, and decades of British gardening trust makes Gardeners Delight the cherry tomato of choice for anyone who has only grown supermarket cherry tomatoes and is wondering whether home-grown could possibly be better. It is, and considerably so.

Gardeners Delight is open-pollinated heritage. Seed saved from your best fruits will grow true to type the following year.

A note on growing

Sow indoors from late February to early April at 18–22°C in seed compost at 0.5cm depth. Germination takes 7–14 days. Prick out seedlings into individual 9cm pots once they have two true leaves, then pot on to 12cm pots before final planting. Grow on at 15°C minimum.

Plant out from mid-May (greenhouse) or early June (outdoors). Plant in fertile, well-drained soil enriched with well-rotted manure, or in 30cm pots/grow-bags. Allow 45–60cm between plants.

As an indeterminate variety, Gardeners Delight needs three ongoing tasks. Training: tie the main stem to a 1.8m bamboo cane or to overhead wires as it grows. Side-shoot removal: pinch out every shoot that appears in the angle between leaf and main stem, keeping the plant to a single stem. Stopping: in late August (outdoor) or mid-September (greenhouse), pinch out the growing tip above the highest truss with a chance of ripening.

Water consistently and deeply. Feed weekly with high-potash tomato food from the appearance of the first flower truss onwards. Mulch around the base.

Harvest from July through to October by picking individual fruits from the truss as they fully colour. Some growers cut entire trusses once the majority are ripe, which makes a beautiful presentation in a wooden trug or kitchen bowl.

Where it shines

In the kitchen, Gardeners Delight is the cherry tomato for fresh eating as much as for cooking. Eat straight from the plant as a midsummer treat. Add to salads. Skewer onto kebabs with halloumi. Slow-roast halved fruits with garlic and olive oil for an intensified flavour that elevates pasta, bruschetta, focaccia, and risotto. Use whole in pasta sauces (the small size means they soften without losing all texture). Halve into shakshuka and other slow-cooked egg dishes. Pickle whole in spiced vinegar. Make cherry tomato jam — an unexpected savoury-sweet preserve that pairs beautifully with mature cheese. The intense sweetness also lends itself to slightly unusual applications: try a small handful added to crumbles alongside autumn plums, or roasted into focaccia dough with rosemary.

In the garden, two or three plants provide more cherry tomatoes than most families can keep up with. The cropping is so heavy that gluts are common from August onwards. Pair with Tomato Moneymaker (heritage British) and Tomato Alicante (Spanish-origin) for a three-variety tomato range covering cherry, salad, and outdoor cropping.

Plant alongside

Tomatoes benefit from companion plants that deter aphids and whitefly. Plant alongside French Marigold 'Spanish Brocade' whose strong scent deters whitefly. Basil is the traditional Italian companion that improves both flavour and pollinator attraction. Calendula 'Neon' attracts beneficial predators. Avoid planting near brassicas or potatoes (which share blight risk).