Off The Record
Stop Buying Tomatoes. Use These 4 Smart Methods To Grow An Endless Supply
Tomatoes can be used in a wide variety of meals, from soups and pastas to salsas and chilis.
Growing your own tomatoes could save you money (and provide you with better flavor) if you consume a lot of them.
However, while planting a tomato seedling is the commonplace approach to kick off a new harvest, there are other options.
Here are four strategies for guaranteeing yourself a never-ending supply of your go-to fruit:
1. Bury tomato slices
That’s not a typo; you heard it here first. The Wannabe Homesteader provides a simple and low-cost solution. An overripe tomato, some potting soil, and several containers will do the trick.
Put potting dirt into a big container until it is almost full.
Next, lay a few thin tomato slices atop it all.
You should choose slices that have a lot of seeds and bury them in just enough dirt to keep them from sprouting. Give them a week or two to begin growing.
It will take your tomato seeds roughly a week to germinate. Possible to grow up to 60 seedlings in one container.
Try to identify the top four or five (strongest sprouts). Take the cuttings and replace them elsewhere.
Check on the young plants every few weeks.
One or two of the plants may appear to be expanding and strengthening relative to the others.
Cut down the weaker plants to make room for the stronger ones.
2. Plant them in the ground
If you have a large yard with lots of sunlight, planting your tomatoes directly in the ground rather than in a container can increase your harvest significantly.
Bonnie Plants claims another advantage of this approach is reduced watering.
Be aware that deer and rabbits enjoy munching on these gardens, so you’ll need to take precautions if you decide to go this path.
3. Grow them in Window Box
Tomatoes can be grown successfully in a window box, even if you don’t have much area for a garden.
Window boxes that can carry at least 1.5 litres of soil are recommended.
The plant can be supported by a string trellis drilled into the wall. To make this strategy work, you need to use smaller tomato varieties.
4. Grow them in a Hanging Basket
Do you fear damaging your windowsill by suspending a hefty box from it? Instead of a pot on the porch, you may use a hanging basket.
One drawback of this technique is that the plant will require more water than it would in a standard container since the water will evaporate more quickly. DIY Network suggests using a cascade cherry tomato variety in this type of planting.
Someone you know interested in trying their hand at tomato gardening?
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