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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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