Planting Tomatoes in Pots: How to Take Care of them
When I was little, I used to spend a lot of time hiding among the tomato trees. But at that time I never thought about planting tomatoes in pots.
That's what I used to call them. Trees; because they were very tall and stood on very long sticks that Grandma had planted on the ground and tied to their stems.
I couldn't touch the tops even if I pulled myself up on tiptoe and held my breath. I would sit on the ground and bite into the first tomato that came my way. I would often lie on my stomach and look down at those red and green fruits hanging from the stems above my face and marvel at how the plants managed not to break under the weight of those balls.
It was a great pity that the tomatoes did not grow even in winter. They would also have made beautiful Christmas trees, already decorated.
Grandma would start sowing in March. In June, July, August, groves of tomatoes triumphed all over the garden. There were all shapes and sizes: long, round, heart-shaped, small, medium, large.
Some were so big that I could not finish them and what remained of the bitten tomato I would bury, thank him and ask him to make a new plant sprout. Afternoons passed slowly and filled with the scent emanating from their stems and leaves.
I could not give a name to that perfume except Tomato Perfume. It was very good and impossible to compare to any other perfume I knew. As a result, I was able to recognise it everywhere.
Apart from eating them secretly, picking them was my favourite time: pulling them off the plants and filling the baskets gave me immense joy.
On my Milanese terrace, I have had great success this spring with the potatoes and garlic I sowed last autumn. From three potatoes and four garlic bulbs, I managed to get about forty small potatoes and a dozen new garlic bulbs that amazed me with their strong flavour. And all this in two pots.
At that point, driven by enthusiasm, I plucked up courage and went to see my friend the planter: that very grumpy gentleman who had sold me a very fragrant carnation a few years ago. All I wanted was planting tomatoes in pots.
With joy I discovered that he had tomato seedlings. It was cherry tomato. He called it a little heart because the fruit looked very much, as I later discovered, like little hearts.
Read also: Growing Tomatoes Properly | All You Need to Know
HERE IS ME PLANTING TOMATOES IN POTS
I bought two plants and immediately put them in a large pot about ten centimetres apart. Within a couple of weeks, lots of little yellow flowers sprouted and after a month, the first five green balls. Tomato perfume wafted onto the terrace; how I had missed it. Unfortunately, the first five tomatoes did not live long.
As I have already told you, my little terrace is also inhabited by other creatures besides myself, among them, that blessed blackbird of which I have already told you extensively. I discovered that, in addition to rummaging in the soil of pots, the blackbird likes round and colourful things; in this case, tomatoes. I had noticed that he was standing too much on my terrace, even in my presence, and for a while I thought it was just familiarity between us.
Instead, the blackbird was pointing at the cherry tomatoes.
As soon as the latter began to turn red - taking advantage of my distraction and ignorance of the blackbird's diet - he ate them all. Needless to recount my discouragement and momentary hatred of that bird, but despite this I did not lose faith and moved the pot inside my greenhouse. After this initial little incident, my little heart-shaped dwarf cherry seedlings gave me a lot of satisfaction.
I harvested about forty cherry tomatoes and even now that it is late September, the seedlings are still blooming. I really hope to have another harvest by the end of October. It is not out of the question that the seedlings will continue to produce even during the winter, as the pot is well sheltered inside the greenhouse; who knows, we'll see.
I remember that Grandma kept the tomatoes in the sunniest parts of the garden, because they are plants that need a lot of light and sun. I remember that Grandma watered often because they need a lot of water, but she was very careful not to get the plant and the fruit wet while watering, and she waited for the soil to dry out between one watering and the next, because tomatoes do not like stagnant water.
I too put my pot of cherry tomatoes in the warmest and brightest spot on the terrace.
I remember that Nonna sowed from March/April onwards, whereas I bought my seedlings already a little overgrown at the end of April. Since the root system develops very quickly, I used a pot of 40/50 cm in diameter and depth and fertilised the soil a lot because the plants need a lot of fertiliser, especially when the first fruits start to ripen.
Grandma used to do this too.
They require a fertiliser with a high potassium carbonate content such as liquid organic algae fertiliser or an organic tomato fertiliser.
Three types of tomatoes can be chosen for planting tomatoes in pots on terraces and balconies: each has many varieties and is suitable for slightly different growing methods. The choice will depend on which container we want to use for our plants.
