Growing Container Tomatoes

Most people associate growing tomatoes with an outdoor garden.  Not everyone has enough land to have a garden.  Fortunately tomato plants can be grown just as easily in a container as in an outdoor garden.

Growing a tomato plant in a container has many of its own benefits.  Pots can be strategically placed on decks, patios, sun rooms, window sills or any place in the house that receives enough sunlight which is crucial to growing your tomato plants.  The experts say that tomato plants ideally need to get 5-6 hours of sunlight each day.  If your location doesn’t receive enough sunlight, the containers can easily be moved to satisfy this need.  Another benefit is that when you grow tomato plants in pots, weeds are less apt to invade so you will save an enormous amount of time by not having to weed your garden.

Choosing the correct species of tomato is crucial to successfully growing tomatoes in containers.  The reason is that most, but not all varieties will thrive in pots.  Naturally you don’t want to select a tomato plant that grows too large.  Doing this would require a larger pot which would defeat the purpose of the container garden, namely ease and mobility. Try to select a tomato plant that grows no larger than 2.5 ft. maximum. Another thing to note is that the tomatoes tend to all ripen at the same time when they are grown in containers.  By choosing the smaller varieties, you won’t be stuck with more tomatoes than you can handle at the same time.  You will also want to choose a plant that has a lower demand for water.  Tomato plants require moist soil which can prove to be a real challenge when growing them in a pot. This really doesn’t have to be difficult though.  Ideally, you will need to provide your potted tomato plant with about an inch of water each week.  Simply find yourself a nice terra cotta pot that will support the growth of the plant and make sure it has a hole in the bottom for proper drainage.  The last thing you want is to over-water your plant and have water lying at the bottom of the pot causing root rot.  Another way to fight root rot is to provide a layer of rocks on the bottom to keep the roots from sitting in water all the time.  You will also need to use the proper soil. You can use most soils found at your local home and garden center marked for vegetable growing but the ideal growing medium is a mixture of vermiculite, perlite and sphagnum peat moss.  I use compacted peat moss for my starter seeds which helps to germinate the seeds in less than half the time as normal potting soil.  Tomato plants love to be fed so you will want to fertilize your tomato plants as well.  Use a time released, organic fertilizer following the manufacturer’s instructions. Now you’re ready to go.

Probably the biggest benefit of all is the fact that you’ll be growing your own organic tomatoes, free of pesticides and harmful chemicals that will taste so much better than the store bought varieties.  You’ll also have the satisfaction of knowing that you did it yourself.