Organizational Gardener

I am always trying out new things in my garden and this year it was pot grown tomatoes. I always grow tomatoes in my garden plot but added pots this year. I have always had success with tomatoes grown on the ground. 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 cannot remember the name but they came free with a magazine. I germinated them indoors in march and grew them on under glass in the warm. As Always I grew too many tomato plants and gave 20 away. They went into the garden after the frosts had finished and I was picking Tomatoes in July. As I speak in late august I still have many fruits to pick so it has been a good year. The plants grown in containers have had similar results but I have noticed 2 differences.

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. You may not know that the taste of home grown tomatoes is far superior to shop ones. For the container grown tomatoes

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

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. Make sure you use a very large pot to allow full root growth. I use standard clay terracotta pots but any wide and deep container will work fine.

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. The plants in the veg plot did not need this. The pot is protected by the leaves of the tomato plant and the water cannot get through to it. Not much of the water can get to the roots directly. I always checked them morning and evening.

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 learned this through trial and error. The moneymaker tomato plants in the pots were regularly pinched out throughout the season to make sure that I had a good large crop. I never bother pinching out cherry tomatoes. You can leave them alone safe in the knowledge that with regular watering they will give a good harvest.

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. Once you have all the tomatoes set on the plant remove any leaves that are hiding the fruit from 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. Grow some in pots and containers as well as in the ground. You will love the sense of acheivement from finding a sunny spot and growing these tomatoes.