Tomato Container Gardening: 7 Easy Steps to Healthy Harvests From Small Spaces by Mary Verdant

Author:Mary Verdant [Verdant, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2012-03-25T06:00:00+00:00

Patio Princess

Bushsteak

Sweetheart of the Patio

Marglobe

Baxter's Bush Cherry

Sweet Baby Girl

Gardener's Delight

Balcony

Stupice

Tumbling Tom Yellow

You can guess from a few of these names, like Patio Princess, Sweetheart of the Patio and Balcony, that they have been intentionally bred for container gardening. You may want to ask your local nursery about their popularity in your area. If they aren't suited for your region, your nursery attendants certainly will propose equivalents.

One of the criteria to keep in mind when you're making your choice is how you plan on using your tomatoes. Perhaps your goal is to grow big, juicy tomatoes for slices. You may prefer moderate-sized tomatoes to cut into your fresh salads.

Some individuals even grow the small round tomatoes specifically to take to work with them as part of their lunch. Still others grow tomatoes specifically for canning or for juicing. Be sure, when you talk to the staff at the local garden supply store, you mention your intent if they don't ask.

Choosing your tomato plant

One critical factor to your tomato growing success is choosing the right plant. Look for plants with a strong stem, no black spots or yellowing leaves, and no flowers. The ideal starter plant is going to be short, solid and leafy.

Getting Down and Dirty: Planting Your Tomatoes

Most gardeners do not grow tomatoes from seed. Certainly though this is an option. But I don't recommend this, especially if you're a first-time tomato grower. You'll have much better success when you buy the seedlings - the small starter plants - and use these. In fact, this is the way most individuals plant their tomatoes - even experienced gardeners. Because of this, you may be limited in the types of seeds available.

You'll have better luck growing tomatoes purchasing seedlings. But even at this, there's a few little tricks to transplanting. Even if you're an old hand at transplanting flowers, you may want to check out the following steps for transplanting tomato seedlings to containers.

The first step, especially if you've had your seedlings growing inside for any length of time is a process called hardening off. It really sounds much more severe than it is. Its purpose it to ready the plants for the extended natural sunlight that's about to be a part of their life.

This is about a 10-day process. You set your plants outside for a few hours every day in order to acclimatize them slowly to the outdoors. Begin by placing them in what gardeners call filtered, or partially shaded, sun. Be sure at this point to protect them from any heavy breeze. You'll also bring these little ones back in every evening.

With each successive day, keep them outside a little longer while gradually exposing them to a little stronger light until they're adapted to full sunlight. When doing this, take extra notice of the soil. These plants will be thirstier when set outside than they were when left inside for the entire day.

Now you're finally ready to take them out of the seedling pot and give them a larger home in their containers.

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