container gardening

Nine Palms Ranch Trial, 2008

Team members: Betsy Fisher

Summary

Many of the container tomatoes did as well or better than the in-ground tomatoes, including the indeteterminate (full-size) varieties. Container gardening with full-size tomatoes is something we can recommend.

Overview

Eight tomato varieties (Azoychka, Carbon, Flashen, Henderson’s Winsall, Howard German, Siletz, Spears Tennessee Green, and Sprite) were grown in black 15 gallon plastic pots. Three of these varieties (Flaschen, Siletz, and Sprite) were also grown in black 5 gallon plastic pots. The trial was to compare the flavor and production from container tomato plants to in-ground tomato plants

Soil preparation

The potting soil mixture was Sunland planter mix and 1/3 horse manure.

Seeding and transplanting

The seeds were started in March and transplanted into the pots in May.

Watering

The pots were hand watered twice a week.

Fertilization and pesticides

They were fertilized once with Whitney Farms organic fertilizer. No pesticides were used.

Wed, Sept 17

Gardening in containers lets us garden anywhere - balconies, patios, driveways and more. With containers we can bring great tastes, textures and smells closer to us, and keep gardening manageable by choosing plants and containe sizes that meet our needs. In this class you'll learn the basics of container gardening: soil, water, fertilizer, container materials (clay, plastic, etc.), container sizes and common pests. Then you'll learn about a wide variety of plants that do particularly well in containers, with special emphasis on fragrant plants, plants that are fun to touch, and edible plants - herbs, fruits and vegetables, including ones that you can plant right now in September.