Marigolds & Tomatoes in Planter Boxes

Container Gardening

• Choose your container based on the place where you intend to locate it and the plants you plan to grow in it. A container needs to provide enough space to accommodate the roots of the plant. Smaller plants need less-sturdy containers than large, heavy plants. Consider the environmental factors such as sun, wind and light when you decide where to place the containers.

Growing Marigolds

• Marigolds are some of the hardier types of flowers to grow, and this makes it easy to create a colorful display with them in planters. Fill your planter with soilless potting mix and sprinkle the seeds across it. Cover the seeds with a 1/4-inch layer of the mix and keep it moist. Once the seedlings appear, thin them out by pulling up those plants that look smaller and weaker. This will provide the remaining plants with enough space to thrive.

Growing Tomatoes

• Tomato plants grow fairly large, reaching a height of 6 to 8 feet and a width of up to 2 feet, so you need a planter that can accommodate a plant of this size if you want a good harvest of fruit. Provide a support for each plant to climb, as this will contain the spread. Plant the tomato vines in rich potting soil with 25 percent compost and use mulch around the base of the plants to keep the soil moist. Position the planter where it will get six to eight hours of sun each day.

Watering and Fertilization

• The sun dries out container gardens faster than outdoor gardens, as they have a limited volume of soil to retain moisture. Both tomatoes and marigolds grow best if you keep the soil moist, but you should not let the tomato plant stand in water. If water accumulates in the drip tray, the roots can draw it back up through the soil and an excess of water can cause them to drown. Watering container gardens frequently causes nutrients to wash away with the water, so you should replace them weekly with the use of liquid fertilizer, or a slow- or timed-release fertilizer program.

Companion Planting

• Plant tomatoes and marigolds together, because marigolds have a distinctive smell that repels certain insects such as aphids and carrot root flies. This helps to protect the tomatoes from pests that may be harmful to them.