Since we don’t all have room for a traditional tomato garden either because the yard is too small or for apartment dwellers there is no yard. Growing tomatoes in pots is a great way to have a small garden on the patio or apartment grown tomatoes. FInd a spot with enough space for a pot, and enough sunlight and start growing tomatoes in pots this year.

Here are some tips to get your tomatoes going strong in a pot. First, find a spot that has at least 6 to 8 hours of sunlight a day, more if you can find it. Here are some more things to watch for in container grown tomatoes.

Previously we had done a review of the Topsy Turvy tomato planter. This popular hangingtomato planter is the one that has tomatoes growing upside down, and has sold like wildfire over the last few years, and we bought a few for our own use. Here’s a look at our results.

As background we were using this in North Texas, where the summers get pretty hot (a typical summer can have a couple of dozen or more days over 100 degrees, and the nighttime temperature stays above 90 for at least a couple of weeks in July and August). So your mileage with these hanging tomato planters will differ in your area.

You see all sorts of planters these days letting you start growing tomatoes upside down. They are advertised on TV and the TV shopping channels, and they are a best seller on Amazon much of the summer. Are they a good idea, or is the whole idea of growing tomatoes upside down just a fad? The commercials always make things look good. Lets look at the real world advantages and disadvantages of these upside down tomato planters.

I’m sure you’ve seen the hanging tomato baskets and planters, especially those that have upside down tomatoes growing out of them. These are great for apartment balconies or patios. It turns out that there are many advantages to growing plants in hanging planters. And for a number of reasons, it can be easier to grow peppers in a hanging planter than it is tomatoes.

What is a self watering container or planter? FIrst let’s be clear about the terminology. What is normally considered a self watering planter doesn’t actually water itself. But it does address the greatest problem usually seen with container plants, and that is maintaining the right moisture level.

The Earth Box Garden System has been around since 2001. If you are looking for a good way to do container gardening for larger plants like vegetables, including container tomatoes and peppers and the like, you will need a container that holds at least a couple of cubic feet of soil. The EarthBox is just the right size, measuring about 29×13x10.5 in. It’s a totally self contained garden system. It goes together quickly, about 20-25 minutes including the addition of the potting soil.

We’ve reviewed tomato planters for hanging upside down tomatoes. But those hanging planters tend to take up a lot of space, especially vertically. If you don’t have that kind of room or that’s too much to climb around here is an idea for small patio or balcony hanging planter.

Here’s a short video from the University of Nebraska (the Backyard Farmer Series). It cover many aspects of choosing the right outdoor containers for your use, including choosing the right size and colors. The focus is on containers used for outdoor landscaping, but the areas touched on apply equally as well to vegetable container gardening.

You may have seen the ads for the Upside Down Tomato Planter and wondered what the deal was. Is this a real way to grow tomatoes? We thought we would take a look at this product to see if it was worth the investment. How does it differ from a regular hanging tomato planter?

The biggest advantage to growing tomatoes in containers is that you can grow them just about anywhere they will get at least 8 hours of sun. You can move them if needed (say an unexpected frost). The biggest problems with container gardening are usually related to watering since they can dry out fairly quickly, so attention to watering or some type of irrigation can be needed. (Try one of the water holding gels or hydrogels if you think this will be a problem.).

Window planter boxes are a great way to put container gardens outside. They are a great addition to the outdoor landscaping of your home, and can create a pleasing vista from the inside of the home.

There are several styles and materials for window boxes. Purchased window boxes can be made from wrought iron, copper, plastic, vinyl, fiberglass, wood (including cedar), and hayracks.

This is a video from Osmocote that features container gardening with edible plants. Covers basic container choice, soil preparation, and focuses on herb and vegetable selection and moisture maintenance for your container garden. This particular sample uses a trellis for support for climbing bean plants.

Here’s another video on container gardening, this one from Scotts’s Trainging Institute. While it has a couple of shamless plugs for Scotts products like their potting soil, it still has some good information on container gardening, especially container herb gardening. Overall good content and production. Enjoy!

The requirements for plants for indoor container vegetable gardens are somewhat different from the typical outside garden.  Here are a few tips to guide your choices.

Plant Labels

In a container vegetable garden, look for plant or seed labels which say patio, dwarf, or space saver; these all refer to plants which have been bread to grow to maturity and stay small with root systems that accomodate being grown in a pot easily. 

Most vegetables can be grown in a container as long as they are given proper spacing, drainage, nutrition, and attention; many vegetables are hearty and easy to grow, choosing plants which are wells suited to ones climate is important, the same plants do not grow well everywhere.  You can start your search at the local nursery or home improvement store, and eventually you may decide to look online at some of the more specialized nurseries.

It Starts with the Pot

When starting a container vegetable garden, the choice of a proper pot is key.  If it’s too small it will crowd the roots.  Conversely, very large pots can be difficult to move so they can take best advantage of the available sunlight.  A good pot for container vegetable gardening needs to provide good drainage. Visualize the mature plants, not forgetting the root system, and make sure the pot is large enough to allow the finished plant room.

One rule of thumb for container vegetable gardens is to allow at least 18 inches in diameter or width and 18 inches of depth for most plants; this will vary depending on the exact vegetable that is being grown, carrots for example will need twice the depth they are expected to reach at maturity, while many herbs will get by with considerably less room.