Tomato gardening is just about the favorite type of vegetable gardening going. Almost anyone will enjoy fresh tomatoes. But many are without access to a garden, so in order to get those fresh tomatoes they need to try something a little non traditional. The most popular is a hanging tomato planter. Let’s look at the advantages.
If you live in an apartment or townhouse, and still want to enjoy fresh tomatoes, probably the easiest way is to use a hanging tomato planter. Hanging planters can be put on a porch, or a balcony, or even a patio. They make it easy to get to your tomatoes even if you have a vegetable garden. And it’s become increasingly popular over the last several years to grow tomatoes upside down, which has a lot of the same advantages as the traditionally hanging planter. Let’s look a the pros and cons of using growing tomatoes in a hanging planter.
No Staking – The tomatoes are hanging from the planter, you have no need to stake them, or bother with any other types of support other than the planter hanger. For some indeterminate types of tomatoes, you may find you need to trim them to keep them off the ground, but no stakes. This is a real advantage, and it makes getting to the tomatoes that much simpler when they are hanging free in the air and not lying hidden on the ground.
Soil Borne Pests – With the tomato plants hanging in the air, you have almost no problems with slugs and other soil borne pests.
Soil Borne Disease – In a planter the soil is replaced often, often with a soilless mix, so problems with diseases carried over in the soil are eliminated. One other source of problems with disease is that normally it’s common that the water splashes the soil up on the leaves of the plant when you water and the disease gets to the plant this way. With the bulk of the plant hanging down from the planter the possibility of water splashing up is largely removed.
Improved Air Circulation – Since the tomato plants are suspended in the air, you get a lot better air circulation. This results in improved pollination, fewer disease problems and higher yields.
Weeds – Basically, with fresh soil and a small surface, weeds are pretty much eliminated. In addition, for an upside down planter the surface where the weeds would grow is opposite the surface the tomato plant sticks out of.
Location – The beauty of container gardening is that you can do it almost everywhere, like the porch, patio, or apartment balcony. It’s great to have your tomatoes right outside the kitchen door even if you have a vegetable garden out in the back yard.
There are a few potential problems with hanging tomato planters. You want to make sure you are using the right varieties of tomatoes for the planter size you are using. They can be a little heavy, so there are some tips for filling them. In addition, some things like watering need special attention…

There are several important things to know when you are gardening tomatoes. First of all, you want to make sure that you have plenty of room for your tomatoes. Then, you want to be sure that each plant has enough room to grow straight up, and that you have provided them with frames or other things to grow on. Also, you want to keep the pests away from the tomatoes, and be sure to harvest them when they are perfectly ripe.
Room
When you are gardening tomatoes, you are going to need to be sure that you have plenty of room. Tomatoes need to be planted about a foot away form each other, or a little bit less or more. Check the type of tomato to be sure that you are doing it right. Also, each tomato will be growing up but will be very willowy and fragile.
Therefore, you need to make sure that you provide your tomatoes with tomato cages or with other things that they can grow on. This will help you give your tomatoes a great start, and make gardening tomatoes even easier. If you can use a tomato cage to help guide your tomatoes, you’ll find that it is much easier for you to be able to garden tomatoes.
Pests
There are many things that will try to get your tomatoes that you must plan for as you are gardening tomatoes. Be sure that you have protected them with cages which will help them grow but which will also protect them from animals that might try to eat them. Insects and small animals will still be a bother, so protect your plants with a safe and effective pesticide. This will help you keep the bugs off of your tomato plants. Also, use a rabbit fence or another garden fence to protect your gardening tomatoes as well as your other plants from animals.
The last thing that you must be sure of is that you are harvesting your gardening tomatoes at the right time. You want to pick the tomatoes when they are ripe, but you do not want to leave them very long. You want to be able to let them finish ripening after you have picked them, so that they will be good for longer for you.
If you enjoy gardening, you will love gardening tomatoes. They are easy fruits to grow, and a few plants can provide you with all of the tomatoes that you need for sauces, eating, cooking, and canning.