Fall has fully arrived on the farm but some of the tomato plants are still going thanks to the permaculture planting styles used on the farm, the cherry tomato plants are still producing in the main garden, they are quite sheltered. We often think of tomato’s as a annual but if the weather works right, its very much a perennial. With a little care we can overwinter a few in the house and then taking slips at the right time, start lots of wee babies that will give us a huge head start in the spring.
Today was a perfect day to go get slips, two off the best plant and one off each of the other two next best plants.. only take slips from your best producers. Each slip was cut on a angle with a clean blade and then all the bottom leaves/stems taken off and any flowers also removed off each stem.
This one is a touch long, I will shorten it up one more nod now that I see it in the picture 🙂 I got a nice piece of young willow and cut up a few stick of willow to add to the water to help with the rooting out process for the tomato’s. Once I have roots, I will pot them up with rich potting soil from the store to make sure I do not bring in anything for the winter bug wise.
I placed it in the glass jar so I can keep a close eye on what is happening and its in my bathroom which is warm with nice indirect lighting. I have tried potting up bigger tomato’s types and I have found over the years that while you can keep one or two of the bigger ones for slipping in the spring.. they do not get enough from the winter light to produce the same way that the smaller cherry tomato plants seem to. It might be different in your zone.
Are you going to be bringing in tomato slips? this fall, will you be overwintering any tomato plants in your house? Got a story about a plant that has been alive in the house for many years. I went to one ladies home, her whole living room window was covered in the most amazing cherry tomato plant that she had for many years.. I can not remember how old it was, just that it was a long time and she just pruned it to keep the shape and to keep it producing.
Just another Day on the Farm 
Good idea on the willow for rooting. I put branches in my rain collection barrels and use the water mostly in the greenhouse 😊
LOL! Y’know, I’ve often thought about the amazing amount of rootlets these things produce, but never quite made the leap to taking cuttings… And also always wished that I had more/bigger windows… or a teensy little greenhouse sure would be nice:/
Hi Deb, I hear ya, I wish my house was warmer at times.. and I want that heated greenhouse as much as anyone else. lol
This is awesome!! I have heard of people bringing their tomato plants in the house and getting tomatoes all winter long.
Thank you Joyce. We can get enough light to keep the plants producing till dec and then they struggle unless provided extra lighting till about feb in Ontario Canada, zone 5. However they provide wonderful new slips to start a number of new plants and that gives such a great head start to our garden season 🙂
Like Joyce, I hadn’t even thought to do that 😀 … will certainly keep it in mind for next year.
It was a process to get me there to be honest, first I started potting up a outside cherry tomato and bringing it in.. so I had fresh off the vine tomato’s for Christmas salad. Then I started making new cherry plants from slips and potting them up mid summer and bringing them in so they would last a lot longer in the house.. it was a hop-skip to bringing them in to overwinter this way. I would not do a huge amount of the plants but its nice to carry over a few and then use them to give a head start to the fresh eating tomato’s in spring 🙂
I didn’t know about willow helping the slips to root but it makes sense as aspirin is known to aid rooting and willow is a natural source.
Hi Rose. Yes I make rooting water in the spring with young willow for this very reason.. I have never done a blog post on it.. I will add it to my spring post ideas 🙂