Growing tomatoes in a container is a great way to have fresh tomatoes even if you live in a condo, an apartment, or just like having them on your patio for show. Frankly… I just love tomatoes no matter how or where there grown. Mmmmm! A red, ripe, juicy tomato… picked right off the vine and warmed by the sun. Nothing like it. And… of course…lots of salt. And…fresh tomato slices with cheese, basil, and vinegar is just the very best… my mouth is watering already… And… stuffed tomatoes… And… on and on.

Get busy and grow your own… they sure beat the one’s you buy in the store. Notice I have couple of tomatoes on my vine already… and I just planted it a week ago!

There are a few tomato growing tips for your container garden:

1. Find a nice size tomato plant! Down with those dinky little things…. start it out big. I found one that already had a tomato in the making. You can find container tomatoes… but I just found a regular tomato called “Celebrity”… nice flavor and it produces well.

2. Find a container with good drainage. You’ll need at least a 12 qt. size.

3. Pick up a bag of Miracle Grow Garden Soil (fertilizer included)…. Not Potting Soil. Because the vine bears heavy fruit… you’ll need the soil to be a little more firm than the potting soil can provide.

4. Mix a bit of perlite to the soil. This holds the moisture. (About 1 qt. perlite to 12 qts. of soil.)

5. Plant the tomato covering the bottom set of leaves. I know this seems strange but any stem below the soil line will root…. giving the vine a sturdy base.

6. Prune off sucker leaves… the small cluster of leaves in the crotch of the stems.

7. Water. Tomatoes like to be watered when the soil is dry. Important to be consistent.

8. You can stake your tomato with a rod..or a stick. (I just cut up an old nylon and tie the plant to the stake.) Oh by the way… if you want to pollinate the plant yourself… just tap the stake a few times and the pollen will fall.

9. Your tomato will need at least 8 hours of sun a day. No problem! Set your container on a rolling plant coaster and move it to the sun.

Hope you find the video helpful. Have a good time growing your tomato garden in a container. Happy harvest!