Grow Tomatoes in Pots

How to grow tomatoes in pots when container gardening. Easy tips and techniques for growing healthy tomato plants in a potted or container garden. When you grow plants in pots, you are bringing nature in for a tastier view.

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These days with more people spending time at home and looking for ways to save money, many folks are turning to vegetable gardening as a hobby.

It is also a way to supplement your food budget while providing healthy and nutritious meals for your family.

Give Container Gardening a Try

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A beginner gardener soon discovers that growing plants is a fun activity with many rewards. How convenient it is to pluck a fresh vine ripe tomato from your own plant?

In fact, the delicious beauties not only thrive in the dirt outside, but will also prosper in a pot a nice sunny location that may be more convenient to you as a gardener!

Many gardeners choose to grow plants in pots because they lack adequate vegetable gardening space.

You may also have been shocked by grocery store prices and unimpressed with the quality of the produce.

But what can be done about it without a sufficient yard or the extra time to put in a backyard vegetable garden?

Provided with a sunny porch, balcony, patio, or window ledge, you can grow tomatoes that taste much better than any that supermarkets have to offer and at a price savings also.

The smaller varieties such as Red Cherry, Small Fry, Presto, and Pixie are well-suited for container gardening. All sizes of tomatoes can be grown successfully in large window boxes, tubs, half barrels, and clay pots.

Container Gardens offer Seasonal Protection

Besides saving space, tomato plants raised in containers are portable. When the tomato plants are still young and tender, you can move them into a windless, protected corner for safekeeping from cold wind or drafts.

Later on in the growing season, when the sun is blazing down all afternoon, the pots can be moved in the shade for a bit to give the plants a break from the heat. As winter approaches, you can continue to grow tomatoes inside or on sheltered patios.

Pot Choices for Container Gardening

By a show of (dirty, grass stained) hands, avid gardeners most often choose wooden planters for planting tomatoes! Wood is a porous material that allows for better air circulation through the container's walls.

The drawback to wooden containers is that they will disintegrate over time.

Plastic, clay, and ceramic containers all work as well for growing tomatoes in containers.

• The main requirements for the pots you select are that they are large enough to allow for good root development, and that they have proper drainage holes. 3-5 gallon size is usually adequate.
• There should be several holes in the bottom of the containers for water to drain properly.
• Grow tomatoes in pots and take advantage of your crop's ability to grow vertically by adding cages to support the plants.
• Use stakes or trellises to support the tomato vines and train them to grow upward instead of sprawling.
• Tie plants to the stake using soft twine, strips of cloth, or panty hose.

How to Grow Tomatoes in Pots

A scheduled watering and fertilizing plan is essential to keep the plants healthy, strong, and productive.

Since the plant's roots are confined, they are dependent on your care for water and nourishment.

For the best beginnings, put tomatoes in pots that contain an ideal soil mix of equal parts topsoil, compost, and peat moss.

The topsoil and compost provide nutrients and the peat moss improves drainage and helps to lighten up the mixture.

Use compost tea or manure tea for liquid fertilizer and add some bone meal to make an equivalent of the 5-10-5 proportions you use on tomato plants grown in the garden.

An important tip to help successfully grow tomatoes in pots is to keep the soil moist without over-watering.

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Grow Tomatoes in Pots to Vegetable Gardening

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