How to properly grow tomatoes in a barrel
At the summer cottage, I want to plant not only fruit trees and shrubs, but also leave a place for planting various garden crops. However, there are not enough beds for all the beds, so vegetable growers come up with new options for growing vegetables, saving space for planting: growing tomatoes in a barrel is one of such methods.
The essence of growing tomatoes in a barrel
Growing tomatoes in a barrel is a very interesting method to save space and grow sturdy bushes that give big yields.
On garden plots, beds with strawberries appear, arranged vertically, flowerpots hanging along the walls of buildings and other containers in which dill, parsley and other greens are grown. The most popular vegetable in garden beds is tomatoes, because the harvested tomato crop is used for fresh consumption, salads are prepared, fruits are actively used in canning, tomato juice, tomato puree are made from them, various salads are closed on a turnkey basis with the addition of tomatoes.
Among the different methods of growing tomatoes with a shortage of planting space, special attention should be paid to planting and growing tomato seedlings in barrels. Consider how to grow tomatoes in a barrel, what is required for this and what kind of harvest you can get.
The nuances of growing and caring for tomatoes in a barrel
The main innovation of this growing method is as follows: the barrels are hung over the plot, and the seedlings are planted so that they grow "tops" down. So you can grow all varieties of tomatoes, observing certain rules for planting plants and further caring for tomatoes.
For planting, you can use any containers:
- metal barrels;
- buckets of different materials;
- tubs made of wood.
The main requirement is a sufficient container volume for root growth. A hole with a radius of 3.5 - 4 cm should be made in the bottom.
The container is placed on a pair of supports - for stability. Tomatoes are threaded into the hole, leaving about 6 cm of the stem outside. The nutrient mixture is laid in the barrel in layers. First, lay the soil along the walls, fixing the plant. The thickness of the soil in the area of the root system is no more than 6 cm. The next layer should consist of rotted manure or compost, the last layer is garden soil. So, layer by layer, fill the entire container, not reaching the edge by 4 cm. After that, you can hang the finished "bed" in a permanent place.
Growing tomatoes in such an unusual way allows you to save as much space in the garden for other vegetable crops as possible. Hanging grown tomatoes yield good yields - the same amount of fruit is harvested from one plant as from bushes grown in beds.
When planting seedlings in barrels, you should carefully thread them through the holes, taking care not to damage the root system and stems. Having got used to it, summer residents can plant tomatoes in barrels as easily and naturally as they do in the garden.
Caring for tomatoes in suspended containers is no different from caring for a crop in a garden. The main thing is to ensure regular watering. At first, in order to protect seedlings from possible spring frosts, you should cover the containers with polyethylene at night. If the variety requires the formation of bushes and the removal of stepchildren, this should be done regularly. It is better to remove stepchildren after a sufficient number of ovaries have formed on the bushes - in this case, there will be more fruits.
