How to Grow Tomatoes in Hanging Baskets
Nearly every home vegetable garden has a row or two of tomatoes. Tomatoes don't need much room, they're easy to grow and, if properly cared for and watered, bear throughout the growing season. Eaten fresh off the vine or canned as sauces for wintertime use, tomatoes provide vitamins A and C and are low in calories. Growing tomatoes in hanging baskets in a sunny location on your porch or patio supplies fresh food from a limited space. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Tomato seeds or seedlings
- Hanging basket line with coconut fiber
- Sphagnum moss
- Fertilizer
Instructions
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Start tomatoes from seed in small pots in April before the last frost or buy tomato plants in May or June when you're ready to start your hanging garden.
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Select your hanging baskets. Wire baskets lined with coconut fiber are a good choice because the fiber keeps the growing medium moist.
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Line the basket with about 1 inch of sphagnum moss.
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Remove a tomato seedling from its pot by running a knife around the inside of the pot and turning the pot over while you support the plant between the fingers of one hand.
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Set the seedling in the basket and add sphagnum until the roots and about 1 inch of stem above the root ball is covered.
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Give the plant a boost with an application of 24-8-16 fertilizer dissolved in water or a fertilizer designed for vegetables in baskets. Follow the instructions on the package for the proportions for the size of your hanging basket.
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Hang the basket in a sunny location and keep it watered throughout the growing season. Test the moisture by sticking the tip of your finger ½ inch into the sphagnum. If the top ½ inch is dry, water the plant.
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Tips & Warnings
Use varieties of tomatoes that don't grow too large, like Moskovich, Sprite or a variety of cherry tomato like Tumbler. Plan on one plant per basket, unless you have very large baskets. Letting the plant dry out between waterings can add to the tomato disease called blossom-end rot. You may need to water twice a day when it's very hot.
