A cherry tree I now have growing in a sunny den window. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

“Charlotte, don’t laugh. I am very attached to a tomato plant my mother gave me last spring. It’s still going strong. Can i bring it inside. Do you think it will live?” - Melissa

Moving Tomato Plant inside

Not only will it live, Melissa, but I will chuckle with you. If you have the correct light and keep it evenly watered, it may still be giving you tomatoes next year.

In their home grounds of Peru in South America, tomatoes grow as perennials. The only reason we treat them as annuals is our temperatures in USDA zone 5 (for us) and, in general, for most of north America, it gets too cold for these tropical plants.

If we bring them inside, though, they can flourish. I have pulled tomatoes through for several years - one plant was with me continually for four years.

This year I started a cherry plant very late in the season. It’s an indeterminate tomato, which means it will keep blooming as long as it has the right nutrients and growing conditions. As opposed to determinate tomatoes, which provide a limited tomato supply and then stop producing fruit.

When temperatures started to drop, this plant kept growing. It was doing so well that I moved it into my garage until I could find a south-facing window for it.

This cherry tomato is still blooming so more tomatoes are on their way. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Tomatoes are pollinated by bumble bees. You can also artificially pollinate by using a small paint brush and moving pollen from one flower to the next. I’ve done that when the inside tomato plant was blooming in January and no bumblebees were around.

From the look of this cherry tomato plant, there should be many more tomatoes before I need to do that.

Once you have it inside, monitor the soil. Tomatoes like soil moisture level to stay even. Winter conditions in our homes can be dry so I daily check to make sure the soil is not drying out.

Now this cherry tree is a new one for me. Yes, it’s a cherry plant. I have been tying it up as it grew and it now this cherry plant is a good 7 feet tall. Don’t you think this qualifies now as a tree?