Tomato Planting System

Upside Down

• Hang tomato plants upside down in a small space, on a patio or wherever you want a healthy yield with minimal fuss. Use a 5-gallon bucket with metal handle and a 3-inch hole drilled in the center of the bottom. Insert a tomato plant, stripped of all but its top set of leaves. Pack it up to the roots with peat moss and then add very light potting soil to fill the bucket. Keep the bucket irrigated and in a sunny spot. The tomato plant will grow down eventually, as the tomatoes begin to ripen. There are ready made upside down planters available if you don’t have the patience to make your own. The planters can weigh up to 50 pounds with a fully developed tomato plant so use a sturdy hanger.

Self-Irrigating Container

• Self-irrigating containers are large tubs with a bottom water reservoir and a top soil level for planting. They are ideal for rooftops, terraces and patios and fairly low maintenance. A self-irrigating container can be made easily with a large plastic storage container, some PVC pipe, top mulch or plastic garbage bag to hold in moisture and an optional wheeled base so the container can be moved to catch the best sun. Ready-made containers have tomato trellises to order separately. A homemade container can be positioned against a trellised wall, set in a large tepee to support climbing plants, or fitted with stakes and wire or heavy twine to train vines on.

A Hairy Experience

• The USDA recommends planting hairy vetch in the fall to prepare a fertile bed for summer tomatoes. Hairy vetch is a winter hardy legume that forms a mat above ground and an extensive root system below ground. It prevents erosion and provides nitrogen and other nutrients to the soil. In spring, at tomato-planting time, mow the vetch and leave it on the garden as mulch. It will inhibit weed growth and decompose, fertilizing the tomato plants for a high-yield harvest.

Garden Tomatoes

• Grow tomatoes the old-fashioned way. Start seedlings in newspaper or peat pots that can go directly into the garden once the weather turns warm, pot and all. Plan for a season-long harvest by alternating determinate plants with indeterminate plants. Determinate tomatoes blossom, fruit, and ripen all at once, early in the season. Indeterminate tomatoes produce more gradually well into late summer and early fall. Use stakes, trellises or cages to support the plants as they grow and fertilize with nitrates regularly once the small tomatoes are visible on the vines. Mulch with straw to discourage pests and create a cutworm barrier with 2 to 3 inches of an old milk carton, top and bottom removed, pushed down into the dirt about 1/2-inch deep around each young plant.