Next Spring Grow Your Tomatoes in Hanging Baskets

Learn growing tomatoes in hanging basket if you have a balcony garden, this way they’ll not take much space. Juicy, plump, small, big, round and colorful tomatoes are one of the most favorite crops, whether you have a garden or not you can grow tomatoes in hanging baskets.

Tomatoes require lot of space to grow and if you have a small garden, growing them in hanging basket is an apt way to use vertical space, plus they adapt easily unlike other vegetables.

Growing Tomatoes in Hanging Baskets

Your success in growing tomatoes depends on three factors— yours choosing right variety, basket and providing it appropriate conditions, if you satisfy all of the three, you’ll get rich home grown tomatoes in harvesting season.

Choosing Right Tomato Variety

You can’t grow regular tomato plants. Varieties of cherry tomatoes do well in hanging baskets— ‘hundreds and thousands’ (UK variety) is highly productive and its mini tomatoes taste great, plant grows bush like and spread well. Other varieties like Tumbling Tom (both red and yellow) provides classic tomato taste and most recommended, whereas deep red Maskotka gives juicy flavor and fruit heavily.

Choosing a Basket

Take a deep basket of diameter 12” as these varieties don’t need bigger pots. Line your basket with plastic or coconut fiber liners. However, it’s better to line it with plastic. For this, make some drainage holes in plastic and place it inside the basket, make sure to spread it properly. As hanging baskets dry out quickly, lining them helps to keep the moisture in soil.

How to Grow Tomatoes in Hanging Baskets

Don’t sow the seeds directly in the basket, transplant seedlings into it or buy a young plant from nursery. Use potting mix instead of garden soil and add slow release fertilizer in it before planting. Plus, add 1 inch layer of manure over it and feed it occasionally with potassium rich liquid fertilizer for optimum growth of tomato plant.

Hang your basket in sunniest spot, tomatoes need at least 6 hours of sunlight daily to form fruits. Care about water because these baskets don’t hold water for long time and dry out often, you have to water it everyday deeply and twice in warm days.

Plant it in the late April or May, so your tomato plant will be ready to harvest fruits from late July to mid October.

Additional Tips

• One plant per pot is ample.
• Cover it with mulch to stop evaporation.
• If your basket is big enough you can also plant herbs like basil, chive and mint with tomatoes.
• Vinca, marigold and nasturtium are good companion plants, too.
• Don’t hang your basket at windy spot & find tough structure to hang it.
• If grown in dried conditions, tomatoes split up. Do regular watering.

Source: balconygardenweb.com