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Kitchen garden tips from NAREI… Planting tomatoes in containers
In this week’s article, the National Agriculture Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) will provide you with some tips on how to grow tomatoes in your kitchen garden. Growing tomatoes in containers is easy, as long as you give them a big enough pot, and keep them watered. Tomatoes are heavy feeders with a big root system, and confining them in too small pots will stunt the plants and depress their yield. It has to be watered two or three times a day. To begin with, you will need to pick a good spot where the plants will receive at least six hours of sun. Secondly, you will need to choose the right containers because the seedlings may look small at the beginning but a full-grown tomato plant needs a lot of space for a strong root system.
Aim for a 20-gallon container. The container will need drainage holes, so be sure to drill several if none are present. Garden soil from planting beds tends to be too heavy for containers — it will over-compact —so it is better to fill the containers with premium quality potting soil. Plant the tomatoes properly. Be sure to dig a hole deep enough to cover two-thirds of the tomato stem to encourage more root growth. Insert a support when you plant each tomato, as doing so later on may disturb the growing roots. To create your own tomato cages, bend metal fencing or wire into a cylindrical shape, and then use wire to connect the ends. Insert it into the soil or slip it over the outside of the pot, then secure it to stakes driven firmly into the soil. When planting the tomatoes in pots, keep the soil at least one inch below the pot rim, so you can add a layer of mulch to help keep soil moist. You can use traditional mulch materials, like chopped leaves. Proper watering is a big key to success for growing tomatoes in pots. Keep soil consistently moist, but not saturated. Feed your tomato plants regularly throughout the growing season with composted material or a split application of a fertilizer such as 15:15: 15. Harvesting can take place 80 days after planting. You will just need to remove tomato plants from the pots at the end of the growing season.
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