What I have put there is wild boar farms; Brad’s atomic grape, Barry’s crazy cherry, blueberry, and then Black cherry, Indigo Cherry Drops, Sungold, Green Grape, purple tomatillo, green tomatillo, and a purple Cherokee but they haven’t been transplanted yet. Do I have a problem is this just a great patio variety?
by asmodoz33
5 Comments
Some of those pots look small for the plants you have in them. In my experience a full sized indeterminate tomato will grow in a 5 gallon container but really needs 10 or more gallons to be happy and will struggle with anything smaller. I’m working off of memory so I could be wrong however I believe most of the tomatoes you’ve mentioned are full sized indeterminate varieties that will grow to 6+ feet, possibly even ten feet tall and I don’t see that any of your pots will have the volume of soil to support them without an enormous amount of watering and fertilizing them.
They’re also going to need support or they’ll flop over the railing. Speaking from experience, accidental tomato jungles do not please people who are mostly interested in aesthetics. One of the many reasons we sought out a house without an HOA.
There are dwarf, patio, and micro varieties that are well suited to growing in your set up that will be better behaved and won’t require large and expensive pots.
I do like your garden, I think it’s pretty and your plants look lovely, but I wanted to prepare you for the struggles I see on the horizon. I am speaking from experience. In my first year of gardening I made the mistake of putting 10 full sized tomato plants in two half whiskey barrels with no supports. In the heat of the summer to keep them healthy I had to give each plant two gallons of water every day, and fertilize twice a week, and I had to jam the trowel in to create holes for the water to get in otherwise it just ran down the sides and out of the drainage holes. The plants were big and healthy, my entire 10×14 patio was covered with tomato vines, and I was absolutely exhausted trying to keep up with the watering and feeding and everything. When I gave up and cut back the plants they were so root bound that I just dumped the soil out and tossed it, and it was 10 years before I tried gardening in containers again. I want you to have a much more pleasant gardening experience than I did.
I think you will start to run out of space towards the end of the season with the indeterminate varieties, so get em trained early. Lots of tasty ones tho. Unless it’s a patio or dwarf variety, expect it to explode in size if it’s happy.
Unrelated, but I would be worried about a strong wind knocking the pots off the railing i.e. in a storm.
You will also want as southern an exposure as possible. Looks like maybe sun is setting behind? If so this is an east facing balcony, which will get morning light but not optimally. If morning then you have west facing which will do
For the small varieties those pots will do but if you want these to get big, you will likely need to transplant to larger pots. Also think about airflow.
Apologies if this was all already accounted for, just my 2c.
Nice!
Did you want nine million tomatoes? Because that’s how you get nine million tomatoes! 😄 I’ve got three cherry plants and have tomatoes coming out my ears already.
How is the flavor on the Blueberry type? I tried growing one of “blue” varieties a few years ago and didn’t much care for it. But Black Cherry is divine.
Btw it is west facing. Gets great exposure nearly all day. My first few years here I tried some flowers and they just roasted but my tomatoes and peppers have all thrived on my patio this year. I’ve already given away a good amount of peppers to my neighbors already. Plus 1-2 extra tomato plants.