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Colorful, hardy tomato plants are a great option for container gardening. To successfully grow tomatoes this way, buy large pots for planting and cages to offer tender stalks a bit of extra support. Take your time preparing your pots and soil prior to planting. After you've finished planting, give your tomatoes plenty of sunlight and water. A tomato plant will usually produce fruit between 45-80 days post-planting.^[1]

[Edit]Steps

[Edit]Purchasing Your Plants and Pots

Buy healthy tomato plants or seeds. Go to your local garden store and look at the tomato varieties available. A growing plant will produce tomatoes quicker, but you may have more variety to choose from if you buy seeds. If you purchase a tomato plant, look for one that is a healthy green color with whole leaves untouched by pests.^[2]
- Both BushSteak and Patio Princess tomato plants do well in containers and produce ample fruit.
- If you are looking for a cherry tomato variety, try the Sweet Baby Girl plant.
- Some 'early' tomato plants will develop fruit within 45 days of planting. However, it usually takes a healthy plant 80 days to create fruit. If you plant from a seed, then you'll need to include an additional 20 days for germination and seedling growth.
Select a pot for each tomato plant. This is the minimum size necessary to give your plant adequate room to develop.^[3]
Choose plastic or felt pots for easier movement and cleaning.^[4] Sturdy clay pots may look nice, but a pot this large will get very heavy and you will not be able to move it without some strain. Whiskey barrel halves are another common choice, but they are almost impossible to sanitize. Instead, look for sturdy plastic pots with drainage holes and saucers.^[5]
- Some plastic pots are also fashioned to look like terracotta on the outside.
- Placing a dolly underneath a pot can help you move it around for watering or variable sunlight, too.

[Edit]Setting Up Your Pots

Scrub each planting pot clean with hot water and soap. Even if you've bought pots from the store, it's important to sanitize them completely before planting. Add a squirt of dish soap into each pot and then fill it up with hot water. Let it soak for a minimum of 5 minutes before completely rinsing it out with fresh water to remove all soap residue. Then let your pots dry completely before you use them.
- Cleaning your pots helps to reduce the possibility of harmful bacteria or insect eggs infecting your new plants.
- Repeat this process every time you plant something new in a pot.
Mix together potting soil and vegetable fertilizer. Purchase an all-purpose potting soil at your local gardening center. While you are there, buy a bag of vegetable fertilizer as well. Follow the directions on the fertilizer bag and mix it into the potting soil.^[6]
- Don't ever plant using soil directly from the ground. It could contain bacteria or pests that might damage your tomato plants or seedlings.
Place a fiberglass screen at the bottom of your pot. Get a small roll of fiberglass or plastic window screening from your local hardware store. Use industrial scissors to cut a piece out of the screen. It should be slightly larger than the size and shape of the bottom of your pot. Then, position the screen inside the pot.^[7]
- Adding a screen to the bottom of your pot will keep the soil from draining out with the water. This keeps more nutrients close to your tomato plant's roots, too.
Pour pebbles or river rocks into your saucer. Add them in until you've created an even layer in the bottom of your saucer. Then, place your pot on top of the saucer and rocks. Check to make sure that your pot is level and sturdy.^[8]
- The rocks create air gaps in between the underside of your pot and the surface it sits on, which allows water to drain out more thoroughly.
Fill your pot 1/3 full with potting mix. For a pot, you should cover the bottom with soil. This leaves plenty of room for you to place the plant and then surround it with additional soil. If you add too much soil initially, you may expose too much of your plant to the sun, which can harm it.^[9]
- If you are planting tomato seeds, add potting soil until you get from the top of the pot. Planting your seeds any deeper will prevent them from sprouting.

[Edit]Planting Your Tomatoes

Place 2 seeds in the center of each pot if you're growing tomatoes from seeds. Make a tiny hole in the dead middle of the pot. Then, put 2 seeds into this hole and re-cover it with soil. The seeds should be fully covered and hidden when you are finished.^[10]
- Planting both seeds at once gives you greater odds that 1 of them will sprout up.
- Plant the seeds at least 1 inch deep in the soil. This will allow for a sturdier stock growth and a better root system.^[11]
Place a single plant in the center of each pot if you're growing from plants. Grasp the plant firmly by its center stalk and rock it back and forth gently in the original plastic container to loosen the soil up. Then, pull up firmly. Place the plant in the very middle of the new pot. Fill up the space around the plant with soil until it is even with the current soil line of the plant.^[12]
- Be very careful when lifting the plant out of its original container or you could damage the roots.
- If the plant won't budge from its original plastic container, try watering it just until the soil is moist before transplanting it.
Give the tomato plant or seeds a thorough watering. Soak it with water once, and then wait another 10 minutes before soaking it again. The soil should be completely saturated. If you've planted seeds, take care to gently sprinkle water on the soil.^[13]
- Don't use enough force or add enough water to dislodge the seeds from the soil.
- After soaking it so thoroughly, your tomato plant may not need additional watering for an entire week. Constantly saturating your tomatoes will destroy them.
Insert a tomato cage once the pot is filled with soil. Carefully push the legs of the cage into the soil, centered over the tomato plant. Stop once the cage is firmly fixed in place. If you feel any resistance, pause and readjust the position of the cage before continuing. Pushing down too recklessly can damage the roots.^[14]
- Tomato cages are usually made out of concrete reinforcing wire. They are sold at gardening centers.
- If a tomato cage gets bent or damaged, make sure to pull it out carefully and replace it. Otherwise, it could pull down your plant.

[Edit]Caring for Your Tomatoes

Position the pot so that it gets 4-6 hours of sun each day. Your tomato plants need between 4-6 hours of total sun per day in order to grow and eventually produce fruit. If needed, place your pots on dollies and roll them to where they'll get sun. You can also set your pots in front of a sun lamp indoors.^[15]
- Keep the sun lamp at least away from the pots to avoid burning the plants.
- If you've planted tomato seeds, keep them warm at night by covering the top of each pot tightly with plastic wrap. Then, remove it at the start of each day.
Wrap nylon netting around the tomato cage. Position the netting so that it encloses the entire cage, including the top. Then, fold the netting over the upper cage rims. Secure the netting to the rims using clothespins or other sturdy clips.^[16]
- The netting helps to keep insects, such as tomato worms and stink bugs, away from the plant. It also helps to filter the sun's rays to prevent leaf burning.
- If you do find insects on your plants, try using a mild insecticide. There are both natural and manufactured options available, depending on the offending pest. Be sure to thoroughly rinse any insecticide-treated tomatoes before you eat them.
Water your tomatoes as often as necessary in order to keep the soil moist. If the soil is dry for down or if your plants look slightly wilted at the end of the day, then they need to be watered. Keep watering until you see water coming out of the pot's bottom drain holes. This means that the water has saturated the soil from top to bottom.^[17]
- Vary your watering schedule depending on the season and temperature. On hot days, you may need to water daily. When the weather is mild, once weekly might suffice.
- When you are finished watering, drain off any remaining water from the saucer. Letting the water sit in the saucer can cause root rot.
- Try to water your tomatoes during the daytime. Evening or nighttime water can encourage the growth of fungus.
Harvest your tomatoes one-by-one once they develop their red color. The fruits should almost be completely red with only trace amounts of green remaining. Ripe tomatoes can be plucked by gently pulling at the stem with your fingers. Or, use a pair of garden shears to snip them off their branches.
- Note that some varieties of tomatoes (check your variety) are naturally striped, green, or otherwise not like an ordinary red tomato when mature.

[Edit]Video

[Edit]Tips

It's best to plant your tomatoes after the possibility of frost has passed. They will grow better and produce more fruit in warmer seasons, like the summer.
When they start to grow, you may begin to repotting your plants on larger pots, and it's time to set them indoors. You may also insert support such as a tomato ladder or cage.^[18]

[Edit]Warnings

Before you eat any tomatoes that you harvest, wash them thoroughly with warm water. This will help to remove any fertilizer residue, dirt, or bacteria from the surface.