Container Gardening

Growing Tomatoes in Containers Is Easy and Fun

By Jean Starr

Gardeners are growing a lot more plants in containers these days because containers are often times more accessible, and not incidentally, they are space efficient. A favorite container plant is the tomato. And why not? Growing tomatoes in containers is easy and fun.

Even traditionally space-hogging varieties of tomatoes can be now grown in pots because hybridizers continue to roll out varieties that are bred just for container culture. For those who’ve always grown tomatoes the old-fashioned way (in-the-ground), it may be time to give container tomatoes a chance. With the right varieties, good culture and the proper container, the realm of tomatoes has expanded.

container tomatoes

Breeders have created new tomato varieties for hanging pots. Photo by Jean Starr

 

What expert gardeners can tell us about growing tomatoes in containers

I grew my first container tomato five years ago after seeing it as part of a comparison trial of vegetables raised in large containers at Raker-Roberta’s Trial Grounds in Litchfield, MI. Raker-Roberta’s is the leading commercial wholesaler of custom-grown plugs and young plants in North America. Each summer, they test more than 3,000 plant varieties at the four-plus acre property, both in-ground and in-containers. The tomato I discovered there was growing in a huge pot. It was ‘Megabite’, which I successfully grew myself the following year.

The robust Tomato ‘Megabite’ had its first fruit end of June. Photo by Jean Starr

Related Featured Articles

How to Grow Tomatoes in Containers
By Sarah Marcheschi
Read article
How to Grow Your Own Salsa Ingredients
By Nina Koziol
Read article

Related Videos

How to Graft Heirloom Tomatoes with Hybrid Rootstocks
How to Graft Heirloom Tomatoes with Hybrid Rootstocks
Runtime: 4:49
Watch Video
Repotting Tomato Seedlings Manually
Repotting Tomato Seedlings Manually
Runtime: 2:20
Watch Video

Related Blogs

Meatballs with Tomato Sauce (Recipe and Instructions)
Meatballs with Tomato Sauce (Recipe and Instructions)
By Kate Copsey
Read this post
Gardener’s Revolution Tomato Planter
By Ellen Wells
Read this post

Here’s more information about gardening that you’re going to want

Membership has its perks!

Become a PlantersPlace member! Registered users can ask Marianne Binetti questions, create personal photo gallery and post product reviews.