Gardening Tips no.3: Tomatoes in pots

Growing tomatoes in pots is easy, if you keep them well watered and fed.
Time to plant: spring-early summer

There are hundreds of varieties of tomatoes available, and many have been developed specially for container culture. Although you can sow seeds early in the year, it’s often simpler to buy ready-grown tomato plants from a nursery or garden centre especially if you only need a few plants. You can plant these outdoors in late spring or early summer, once the risk of frost has passed. Choose a large pot with plenty of room for the roots to grow, as tomatoes are vigorous, and place in a sunny, warm spot. Water regularly, probably daily in hot weather, adding a highpotash tomato feed every week in summer. Watering is the tricky thing to get right with tomatoes: too much and the flavour is spoiled, too little and the fruit becomes marked or the skins split. Sinking a finger into the compost to
judge its moisture content will help. If in doubt, little and often is better than no water, followed by a good soaking. Good varieties include 'Totem’, a compact bush plant that's perfect for smaller containers; 'Gardener’s Delight’, a cordon type; ’Balconi Yellow', which has small yellow fruits.

references: BBC 2011 gardeners book
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