Tomato plants are one of the easiest and most popular vine plants to grow but, as with all homegrown vegetables and fruits, it pays to do your homework up front to make sure you can successfully grow your own tomatoes or any other vegetables. Selecting the right location and using the right soil or compost mix will set you on your way to successful tomato crops.
One of the best options available to people with small gardens that will still allow them to grow a few tomato plants and enjoy the satisfaction of eating fresh homegrown tomatoes is to use a hanging planter, the planter can be hung in any convenient location, remembering of course that tomato plants need plenty of sun and plenty of water.
The main benefit of using a hanger in a small garden is that you need very little space in which to hang it and instead of spreading out to take up a large area they tend to hang straight down and occupy vertical space rather than horizontal space. So plenty of scope for the fruit to grow but in a long vertical line.
Other benefits are that you can clip the end of the plant to make sure there is no contact with the ground and therefore less chance of disease. There will naturally be good air movement around and through the plant, again good for keeping disease at bay.
The downside is that the hanging planter will need frequent watering, the fact that the soil is suspended in the air and in sunlight for most of the day means that it is bound to dry out more quickly than some other tomato growing options.
A great way of dealing with this is to employ the use of a plant watering system, particularly useful for this method of growing tomato plants. The main benefit is that it removes the need to lift heavy watering cans up to water the planter or as some people do lowering the planter down to water, not a good idea. Too much risk of damaging your plants and you still have to lift the planter back up after watering and now its full of water so heavier as well.
There are plenty of watering systems available that you can easily purchase from gardening centers, I would suggest a micro system for this type of planting as it is lightweight and can be controlled with a built in timer.
Visit Grow a Tomato for great tips on tomato growing and to gain access to some expert advice.
To access a comprehensive guide to caring for tomatoes, please use this resource link.
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