If you know what it’s like to bite into a delicious, succulent, juicy, fresh tomato grown in your own garden, then you don’t want to miss out on growing tomatoes at home just because you don’t have a garden. .
Maybe you live in an apartment in the middle of a big city, or you live in a cold climate where the growing season for tomatoes may be too short.
Growing tomatoes in containers is the perfect solution!
What do you need?
In a nutshell, all you really need for container tomatoes is tomato seedlings, soil, solar water, and a “container” to put the seedlings and soil in. Usually it would be a standard terracotta pot of some kind.
What types of tomatoes can you grow?
It’s best to start with the largest type of pot that you can comfortably store in your home or apartment. The larger the pot, the more room for proper tomato plant root development.
However, even with a large pot, it is best with smaller, more determinate tomato varieties such as cherry tomatoes. That way, you won’t have to worry about inadequate space for root development or insufficient nutrients in the soil for proper growth.
Where do you grow them?
Place the pots in the window where they can be exposed to plenty of sunlight. Tomato plants require at least 6 to 8 hours of sunlight per day if you want a proper harvest. In fact, you may need to move them from window to window to get the right amount of sunlight.
You should also rotate the plants from day to day so they are evenly exposed to sunlight.
How much water should you use?
Tomato plants need a lot of water and container tomatoes are no exception. When tomato plants are in an open garden, watering every other day is sufficient, but container tomatoes need water more often.
This is due to the fact that as the soil dries out, the roots of container tomato plants cannot reach deeper for more water like open garden plants can.
For that reason, you should water your potted plants daily. Just apply water to the ground. Do not water the entire plant like a flower, as this can make the plant vulnerable to disease and pests.
What about the fertilizer?
For container tomatoes, mixing a small amount of water-soluble plant fertilizer once a week is sufficient. There is no need to add large amounts of fertilizer to the soil.
conclusion
Following these simple tips for container tomatoes will allow many home tomato growers to enjoy fresh home grown tomatoes in locations otherwise unavailable for growing tomatoes.