Help choosing tomato plant

[Aciduzzo]

Hi, everyone.
I recently bought a tomato planter from Lidl and am struggling to choose a suitable tomato plant for it! The planter is a 20l container, 37cm diameter by 30cm height. it has a 1.2m cage support.
I'm in NW London, so just about as sunny and warm as it gets in the UK, and i have SW-facing patio. From my research, i think a cherry variety would suit best, perhaps sungold or black cherry. But my concern with indeterminate varieties is that they can grow v tall, so the support won't be tall enough!
Any suggestions really appreciated; my only requirement is that it is a relatively sweet variety.

[peanut]

Hi Aciduzzo,

I have to say you have good taste, both sungold and black cherry are delicious. I had so many Black cherry fruits one year that I made jam from them, and it was fab, just like strawberry jam weirdly!

They do get tall, but you can pinch out the growing tip when they get too tall or stick in a stick/bamboo cane and tie it in to that so you can let it grow taller. The only possible problem I can see is with the planter getting blown over once it's planted up. You might want to find something bigger/heavier to pop it in to prevent that happening.

Good luck!

[Jungle Jane]

Id add a cane too,you could put a brick on top of the compost,next to the plant,to help stop it falling over also helps give the roots some shade.

[bramble]

If you dont want a plsnt that grows too tall you could try Maskotka.
A Bush and kind of trailing plsnt.
Early fruiting and lovely sweet Tom's.

[Aciduzzo]

Thanks, all.
At this point, is it wise to start with a plug plant, or better to get a more developed plant. With C19, i'll have to order sth online. And most places seem to be out of stock. Or is it still too early?

[peanut]

I'd get whatever you can, as you've noticed most places are selling out already. It's the end now for sowing seeds but hopefully places will still have plants, just a case of finding them.

Fingers crossed you'll find what you want.

PS. Might be worth looking at your local freecycle group, people often have too many home grown plants and gardeners (I like to think) are a friendly bunch who would prefer to give them away than compost them!

Good luck!

[smallblueplanet]

... From my research, i think a cherry variety would suit best, perhaps sungold or black cherry. But my concern with indeterminate varieties is that they can grow v tall, so the support won't be tall enough!

Well you have two choices, stop the plant when it gets as tall as you want it to. Or train it sideways - we do that with our indeterminate plants in the greenhouse. One of which is usually Sungold, it's a strong grower (thuggish! Lol.). When it gets to the top of the 6ft greenhouse we just bend the stem sideways and tie it in along the shelf that goes along the 'eave' of the greenhouse roof.