Tomatoes Can be grown succesfully in Containers and Pots

I decided to have a go at growing tomatoes in pots this year and have been very pleased with them. 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'm sure what variety they are - everything seems to grow easily enough to me. 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. Once the risk of frost had gone I set them out in the garder and in my containers and within a month I was picking tomatoes. My tomato plant still have plenty of tomatoes on them, it has been a good year. I did notice 2 slight differences between the containers grown tomatoes and those in the ground.

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. The taste of your own tomatoes is fantastic and you will never eat better. 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 checked the pots grown tomatoes more regularly as they sometimes seem to be underwatered. The plants grown in the ground do not need this. The reason for this is that the leaves of the tomato plants deflect much of the water away from the pot. Not much of the water can get to the roots directly. So I made sure to check them often.

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 standard moneymaker tomatoes that were grown on containers needed weekly pinching out to make sure the fruit was good and big. I never bother pinching out cherry tomatoes. They do not need such close attention and still give plenty of fruit.

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. I take away all the excess leaves to allow the sun to ripen the fruits better. I prefer the tomatoes to ripen on the plant and this helps speed up the ripening process. Removing the leaves also gives you slightly bigger tomatoes.

Growing tomatoes in containers

If you have missed this tomato season then I encourage you to plan ahead for your tomato growing in 2009. Try growing tomatoes in containers this year instead of just in the ground. They are a lot of fun and be grown on any sunny spot you have.