Balcony Miracle Tomato Review

I was very surprised when I couldn’t find this variety in the catalog yet. I’ll tell you right now—mine were sour, watery, with huge seeds. Complete garbage. It’s only good as a toy for little kids to grow.
And I completely disliked how it behaves in a pot. We sowed it in a pot in December, and it just got incredibly leggy and stretched out.

Mine grew in a pot out on the enclosed balcony. I actually liked them—they were as sweet as candy and turned out great for canning.

My Balcony Miracle didn’t have long flower trusses like that at all. And the leaf shape was completely different.

I remember my mom had one of these on the balcony last year… there weren’t many fruits… but the grandkids were thrilled, they ate every single one of them.

It’s highly likely that different seed companies are just packaging completely different seeds under this name. I planted “Balcony Miracle” from Semko Junior; I bought the packet a long time ago, around 2009. I really love it.

Here is the description from that specific packet:
“Early determinate variety. 40 days from transplanting 45-day-old seedlings to first harvest. Tree-type (stout/rugose) plant, 20-35 cm (8-14 inches) tall. Simple truss with 7-8 fruits. Fruits are round, smooth, red, small (20-30g), sweet, and aromatic. Grown outdoors as well as on windowsills and balconies.”

I would describe my results like this: extremely early. The plant is short, stout, determinate, about 25 cm (10 inches) tall. The little 20g cherries practically encrust the main stem, hiding under the leaves. The flavor isn’t candy-sweet, just a normal tomato taste. Very low-maintenance, and quite productive for such a tiny baby. It’s a “plant it and forget it” variety—no pruning or suckering needed. You can even stick them on the very edges of your raised beds to save space.

What a handsome little guy 👍

I remember playing around with these—I planted some in pots and some out in the open garden. Let me tell you, they were NOT “balcony” tomatoes… In the garden, they just grew into massive, regular tomato bushes. The taste wasn’t great either. Maybe I just got a mislabeled packet…

My neighbor grew one in her greenhouse and it reached about 1 – 1.2 meters (3-4 ft) tall. The fruit trusses were very long, and it was tasty and sweet. I grabbed a few tomatoes from her to save seeds. It looked very pretty.

Ah, the “Miracle”—it comes in so many shapes and sizes 😂
I actually grew TWO different versions of it this year:

Version 1: An indeterminate (tall), vigorous bush. It throws out a ton of suckers, but every sucker immediately forms a flower truss after the 1st or 2nd leaf, so it’s manageable. Mid-early maturity. The cherry tomatoes are round, red, somewhat meaty, with a standard tomato flavor, growing in clusters of 7 to 11.

Version 2: Allegedly from Czech breeders. A determinate bush, only about 50 cm (20 inches) tall, light green foliage, very early. The fruits were cocktail-sized, round, deep red, juicy, and distinctly sweet. This second version became an absolute favorite! 🥰

Looks like I have Version 1, but mine are quite sweet.

Polina, could I beg you for a few seeds of your Version 2? I’m looking for a sweet, high-yielding cherry, and a short determinate is perfect for planting at the feet of taller plants or just throwing in the open garden. 😳

I planted this “Miracle” in a pot on my windowsill about seven years ago. It has been growing there ever since. I just feed it, trim it back, tie it up, and that’s it. It’s basically my little tomato bonsai tree! And it always has a few tomatoes hanging on it, whether it’s the dead of winter or summer. It’s not a huge harvest, and the tomatoes aren’t big, but it is such a joy to look at.

Reading this thread, it really seems like different people are just growing completely different entities under the name “Balkonnoe Chudo.” It just proves how rarely you get the true, original seeds. My neighbor and her friend bought seeds from the exact same vendor, from the exact same batch. They sowed them—one girl got a tiny balcony plant, and the other got a 2-meter (6 ft) giant vine. I’ve seen similar stories all over the internet. It is officially one of the most mislabeled varieties out there.

I had a packet of these seeds sitting in my freezing shed for three years. Everyone forgot about them. I stumbled across them by accident and planted them. They grew into very healthy plants with delicious red tomatoes. Height was 50-60 cm (20-24 inches), weight 50g (1.7 oz). I never expected “Balcony Miracle” to make me so happy. I saved seeds from it and will grow it every year now.

Last year I planted it from a store-bought packet. It grew into a determinate potato-leaf bush, about 40-60 cm (16-24 inches) tall. I pruned the suckers. It ended up being VERY sprawling and quite sweet, with up to 30 cocktail-sized (40-60g) tomatoes per truss, and 2-3 trusses per plant.
I saved the seeds, sowed them this year, fed them well, and decided NOT to prune the suckers. This year it grew into a tiny potato-leaf dwarf—only 30 cm (12 inches) tall! 😂 Doesn’t get more “balcony” than that! There are two of them in the photo (the brick behind them is 12 cm / 4.7 inches tall).
As for the taste… well, last year was my first year gardening, so everything tasted great to me. This year I’m a bit spoiled, and these seemed too sour to eat fresh. But they are probably perfect for canning.