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Container Gardening

Need advice on how to start tomato gardening in containers

14 years ago

I am interested in starting a couple of tomato plants in containers. My 4 year-old wants to garden (but we;re military and we move). We all like cherry tomatoes (or grape) and I like big ones, too. Any suggestions for getting started? I have no idea where to start! I could use any help you can give - I've never really grown anything before!

Thanks to all!

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Comments (7)

justaguy2
14 years ago
Well, the first thing would be to talk to locals or the area's extension service to find the recommended growing season or seasons for tomatos wherever you happen to be at the time. Trying to grow tomatos, or any plant, outside it's season for the area will lead only to disappointment.

Second, I would strongly recommend choosing a self watering container such as an EarthBox. These greatly simplify things that new growers get often wrong such as watering and fertilizing. The commercial earthbox comes with very simple, clear instructions that if followed will nearly always lead to success, even for a first time grower.

Last, but not least, have fun and welcome to GardenWeb and gardening in general!
bcskye
14 years ago
As a veteran and ex-military wife, I understand your situation and agree with justaguy2. The commercial EarthBox is expensive, but if you do searches on here under "Self Watering Container", "Earthtainer" or "SWC" you will find instructions on making and maintaining your own. Also, you can Google Josho.com and get step by step directions and pictures. I did my first SWCs this year and am hooked on them. You can do them from large storage totes to smaller buckets. I love it. We have a 5th wheel RV and when we start going on trips more, I plan to have a garden of SWCs to take with me. Just remember to use a good soiless potting mix for them. I have Cherokee Purple tomatoes growing in one that are going crazy. Their sister plants were planted in the ground on the same day and are pretty much the same as when they were planted.
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Excuse me for not being more thorough in my desciption, first time on a forum. Yes, New Jersey(northern part). A few reasons to plant in a container : we have a dog that likes to chase balls or birds at top speed, so the yard is his playground. Im a bit wary of the chemicals in the soil as I think roundup may have been used to clear up a lot of ivy. One side of the yard has some rose bushes growing along the fence, I could clear up the rest of it and plant some things in there, but then the family wont eat anything they think the dog might have peed on. I suppose I could try to place some raised beds here to grow vegetables in. We have 4 growing trees spread through the yard. I do have the idea of planting some flowers/foliage around one of them, a drooping cherry. The other trees are magnolia, dogwood, and a copper beach. All of them had plastic edging to keep mulch and soil in, but got broken by a running dog and the soil has drained out. so Im looking for a cheap solution to this, hopefully. I also really like the idea of containers just to make the entry way(north facing) prettier as well as the patio, for the summer. Im hoping we will spend more time as a family there. Along the house(foundation) we have the patio with gravel between the patio and the foundation wall.
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@sam (SF bay, 10a / Sunset 16), Thanks for the update! So glad your tomatoes are doing well this year in your new beds. They really do love the ground over the fabric pots. Are you getting a lot of tomatoes right now or are most of yours still green? Last year, my first year with all my tomatoes in the ground, I had an insane amount of tomatoes. All my plants were giant 8'+ monsters. It was a jungle of tomatoes. I had no diseases and nothing ate them accept the neighbors (we gave tomatoes to the whole neighborhood!). This year I am having a lot of trouble with early blight and with rats eating my tomatoes. The plants are still huge (one even had a birds nest!), but everything is taking so long to ripen! Last year at this time, all my tomatoes were in full swing. This year, most of my tomato plants have yet to produce a ripe one. I just got my first Cherokee Purples. I am thankful I planted an Early Girl, or I would have almost no tomatoes. Lucky my Early Girl is a beast with over a 100 tomatoes... just enough for the rats and me. My poor neighbors will have to wait and be content with beans and cucumbers. I think we had an unusually cool foggy July hence the blight and the slow ripening. Glad there is another heat wave on the way. My tomatoes aren't enjoying this cold spell!
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jmalt31
14 years ago
Here is the link to all my information on how to make a self watering container.

Here is a link that might be useful: SWC how to docs
mea2214
14 years ago
Cherry tomatoes are very forgiving in containers (as well as not in containers) and they grow like a weed. You really can't screw them up. The larger tomatoes are a little more difficult in containers. If you move a lot I wouldn't advise building self watering containers because they take a lot of work to make and once you spend the effort they'll just be excess baggage for you when you move. Get cheap 5 gallon buckets (or larger), drill holes in them for drainage, and some Miracle Grow mix and you should be fine. You'll also need to figure out how to support the plant when it gets big.
bleedenver
14 years ago
Hi darcyd,

In case this stuff about self watering containers seems a bit much at first, don't let it deter you from just enjoying the experience of growing tomatoes in a simple pot.

My 5 year old got a lot of joy putting some seeds in a wet paper towel (she copied daddy on her own) and seeing them actually start to grow something. If you make things too complicated with kids at that age, they often lose interest.

Although my main tomato plants are in homemade earthboxes (aka "self watering" or "sub irrigation planters"), I had a couple of extra sweet 100 seedlings and planted one in a spare pot and another in the ground by my composting area.

Growing the one in the pot was the simplest thing to do as I just put some potting mix in, transplanted the seedling from the plastic cup, put a handful of cheap 9-12-12 fertilizer (not too close to the plant), put a couple of handfuls of pine mulch on top, then watered it occasionally.

I later bought a tomato cage and used some twine to secure it against the fence and this is what it looks like now:

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It's not in the best location since it doesn't get direct sun all the time but it still grew like a weed and has all kinds of tomatoes on it. Last week, I pinched off all of the growing tips near the top and am not expecting a full season of tomatoes from this guy but it's all still worth it and it's a great thing for kids to experience.
tn_veggie_gardner
14 years ago
Yea...I agree...Cherry tomatoes are very forgiving in containers. =)

(This plant does not fit properly into 1 photo)
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okpondlady
14 years ago
I bought 10 of those 20 gallon blue totes from Lowe's and put an L shaped slice in the bottom on 2 sides. Filled with Garden Soil for Vegetables and planted Tomatos in them. Most are doing quite well but 2 of the 9 are really stunted. I am not sure why. I have fertilized with Miracle Grow Tomato fertilizer and water every day. Maybe there was something wrong with the plants when I bought them... or they could be a different variety. They were supposed to be Big Boys. Good Luck with your tomatos but I wouldn't spend a great deal on containers if you are gonna have to move them in 3 years or less... a 5 gallon bucket will do a great job also, long as it has drainage.

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