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By: Joe Stewart
CONTAINER TOMATO GARDENING Tomatoes can be grown easily in
container gardens.
Here's how:
USE LARGE CONTAINERS Tomatoes are large plants when they
mature. For this reason, your container size should be at
least 12 – 14" in width or diameter. Any smaller
container than this and your tomatoes will not last the season.
With smaller pots, the plant dries out early in the season
and the bloom simply doesn’t happen. The choice is yours.
Whether you want to be stingy now or repent later. Pay for
the bigger pot to ensure that you get great tomatoes in August.
GOOD QUALITY SOIL Use good quality soil all the way to the
bottom of the container. By using an artificial soil mix rather
than the garden soil; you prevent the soil from compaction.
Compaction stunts the growth of the tomatoes and kills them.
The soil should also have the right pH balance for the tomato
to thrive fully. The soil should be mixed properly and good
quality fertilizer should be added at the time of filling
the container this is why garden soil is seldom used. Tomatoes
need lots of soil with constant watering. You should put in
at least six shovels of soil in the container. Any less than
that can spell doom for the plant.
LOTS OF FERTLIZERS Tomatoes need lots of fertilizers, they
need at least fertilizing once a week. This leads to great
growth and great yield for the tomato plant. Use a good quality
fertilizer that’s available. Both organic and synthetic
fertilizers are available in the market. You can also use
a liquid mix fertilizer, which assimilates quickly into the
soil.
WATER & MORE WATER Since the tomato fruit is 95% water,
the plant needs lots of water regularly. You have to water
the plant regularly or when the soil appears as if it drying
out. Don’t be lethargic in watering the plant else your
fruit will suffer. In hotter climate, water the tomato plant
at least twice a day.
STAKING IT OUT You can grow the tomato plants on stakes and
without the stakes. The branches of the tomato plant are easy
to break which is why its essential to secure them. By using
stakes, you can ensure that they are secured to the stakes.
In this way they have less chances of breaking during a windstorm.
A windstorm can easily ruin your tomato plant.
You can leave them to flop over the pots but if there are
slugs then they will enjoy the tomato fruit as much as you
enjoy the fruit. Tomato plants with stakes seem a better option
that those without.
PEST AND DISEASE CONTROL This is as important as watering.
Pest control as well as disease control is important otherwise
the fruit will rot even before it blooms. There are plenty
of commercially available organic and synthetic pesticides
and fungicides, which can combat your woes. Added to this
tomatoes need to be pruned regularly.
CONCLUSION All other factors remain the same as for the tomato
plants, which are grown in the soil.
About The Author
Joe Stewart is a gardening enthusiast that enjoys sharing
information with others. Stop by his new, but growing website
for more about container gardening tomatoes by going to http://www.containergardeningebooks.com.
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