Tomatoes Can be grown succesfully in Containers and Pots

I have been growing tomatoes in patio containers and pots this year with some success. I always grow tomatoes in my garden plot but added pots this year. Over thirty years I have succesfully grown tomatoes in my garden plot. But growing my tomatoes in containers is anew departure for me.

 

 

The comparison between the pot grown tomato and those in the ground.

 

 

I grew 2 varieties this year moneymaker and an Italian cherry tomato variety. I'm sure what variety they are - everything seems to grow easily enough to me. I germinated them indoors in march and grew them on under glass in the warm. There were far to many plants for me alone so I gave away the surplus. Once the risk of frost had gone I set them out in the garder and in my containers and within a month I was picking tomatoes. As I speak in late august I still have many fruits to pick so it has been a good year. I did notice 2 slight differences between the containers grown tomatoes and those in the ground.

 

Firstly the moneymaker tomatoes were slightly smaller than the ones grown on my plot.

 

Secondly there were not quite as many cherry tomatoes in the containers.

 

Other than that the results were very similar. The taste of your own tomatoes is fantastic and you will never eat better. For the container grown tomatoes

 I did treat them differently and with a bit more care.

 

1. Make sure you put tomato plants in a really big pot.

 

I like the root systems to have plenty of room and not become pot bound. You also need a big container to have enough depth for the support canes. I use standard clay terracotta pots but any wide and deep container will work fine.

 

1. Water your tomatoes even if it rains.

 

We have had a dreadful summer in the UK this year and it has rained constantly. I still found that the pot grown tomato plants were wilting a bit if I didn’t check them for watering. This is not needed for tomato plants grown on the ground. The reason for this is that the leaves of the tomato plants deflect much of the water away from the pot. Very little water gets to the root of the plants. So I made sure to check them often.

 

1. Be ruthless with pinching out side shoots on the tomato plants.

 

I only pinch out once or twice a season when growing tomatoes in the ground because they seem to do fine. I have done quite a bit of trial and error over the years. The moneymaker plants in pots were pinched out once a week to ensure that the fruits I did get were big enough and juicy enough. You do not need to pinch out cherry tomatoes because they do not suffer from being left to run. They do not need such close attention and still give plenty of fruit.

 

1. Remove excess foliage once you have the tomato fruits.

 

I have always done this to tomatoes and do not know where I picked this tip up. Eventually your tomato plant will have all the tomatoes growing on them and you can then remove any leaves that stop direct contact with the sun. You can ripen your tomatoes indoors but I like to leave them on the plant as long as possible to get ripe. Removing the leaves also gives you slightly bigger tomatoes.

 

If you have missed this tomato season then I encourage you to plan ahead for your tomato growing in 2009. Try growing tomatoes in containers this year instead of just in the ground. This can be great therapy for you after a busy day and can be done in any sunny spot.