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General discussion regarding the techniques and methods used to successfully grow tomato plants in containers.

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Old June 17, 2015   #1
User 636
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Default Deck Garden

I container garden on the back deck of my town house. It's gone rather well. Better than I expected.

I have a lot of tomatoes up here and I have plenty of fruit on my plants. I've even had my first ripe tomato which was a lemon boy. Now I'm waiting for more to ripen. However, I wanted to share a bit since i think I'm doing pretty good for a newbie and hopefully to encourage people that have limited space that containers can make it work.

While my space is tight I tend to have regular breezes since we are twenty feet up. My plants are not getting wet or staying damp. I'm not doing many things right but the plants seem happy.


My lemon Boys, yellow pears, and black krim over on one side.


My indigo rose. It has at least 40 tomatoes on it at the moment. The purple areas are jewel like in the sun.


The Big Boy. We have a mix of yellow, black, purple, and red tomato plants. I also have cherry tomatoes in another pot. Just waiting for them to turn colors. Everything has tomatoes on it. The yellow pear are just draped in tomatoes. Eventually they will ripen and I can decide if I like them or not.

I also have other veggies up here. Squash, zucchini, more squash, potatoes, lettuce, sugar snap peas, jalapenos, cucumbers, melons, carrots and some more stuff. I had to give some away to the neighbor yesterday.



The cucumbers and zucchini seem to triple in size over night. Its a pretty tight fit up here and I feel like I'm wading through a jungle every day. It has been worth it however. I'm doing a lot of measurements and daily tracking of how fast some of this stuff grows and gets ready to be plucked.

Its pretty fascinating stuff. It takes a lot of time and attention but its been worth it. I water in the evenings when I get home from work. I'm out the house by 0530 so I don't have time to water in the morning. My mother has been staying with me so she will water them in the morning on hot days. I get wilt from the yellow pears almost every day but considering that they are now taller than I am we're doing quite well. The straw mulch was a life saver and keeps the dirt from drying out in these hot, hot days we've had since the start of may.

I'm in Northern Virginia and started almost everything here from seed on my windowsill at the end of March.
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Old June 17, 2015   #2
Kikaida
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Wow! That looks great! I hope I'm half as successful as you next season.
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Old June 17, 2015   #3
greyghost
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I think you've done a great job! Beautiful plants!!
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Old June 17, 2015   #4
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Great job.....nicely done.

Rick
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Old June 17, 2015   #5
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what zone are you in? I can't believe you are harvesting already! How big is your balcony?
Great work!
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Old June 17, 2015   #6
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I'm in zone 7A I think? Northern Virginia looks to be 7A per the USDA map. The balcony is maybe 10x20 or so?

I started the seeds in March, kicked them outside mid April. I dragged them in a night or two that it got down to about 38 but everyone is fine including the Jalapenos who are fruiting now.

We've been eating lettuce since the start of may. I've been getting zucchini and yellow squash since the end of May. The cucumbers started about ten days after the first yellow squash. The first Acorn squash I harvested a few days ago since they are dark green and hard and the plants started putting out new female squash buds.

I figure it has been this hot, dry May and June weather we have had here. Only one ripe tomato so far but I'm hoping for more soon. I found another giant cucumber earlier this afternoon. I swear they are appearing over night. I was sick two weeks ago which is when that giant zucchini grew to 12 inches over the weekend when all I could do was water. We cut it up and froze it because what do you do with that much zucchini? The sugar snap peas are also needing to be picked every other day.

I have no idea what I've done but it seems to be working out so far.

Last edited by User 636; June 17, 2015 at 11:03 PM.
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Old June 17, 2015   #7
RomanX
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Wow! I'm impressed. . . . and envious! I'm a newbie, too; zone 7a and also growing in containers. More similarities: 8 different varieties (one is big boy), started from seed and planted them outside May 1.

And there the similarities end!

I THOUGHT my plants had lots of fruit on them. . until I saw your beauties. And not a single tomato to eat for 1-2 weeks yet.

You should be very proud; all your plants look so green and lush.....they;re some very happy plants!

Kudos!!!
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Old June 27, 2015   #8
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Wow, Congratulations and enjoy the fruits of your labor !
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Old June 28, 2015   #9
pauldavid
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Very nice User 636! You have a green thumb, for sure!
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Old June 29, 2015   #10
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Gorgeous plants!! Definitely feeling some jealousy over here!
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Old July 11, 2015   #11
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How does the deck garden grow? It is insane. Less yellow pear next year. I don't like them that much and I have several of them. I had to move the Black Krim and Black Prince because they were invading with their height. They are now trying to invade my lemon boys and one of the plants may just get the axe to save me some room. It depends on the watermelon.

Next year maybe one yellow pear. Keeping the Black Krim and hopefully have a better season. Lemon boy can stay. Red Current Cherry can stay. Indigo Rose is pretty but bland but my mother loves the health factor so they can stay. Black Prince looks to maybe be a keeper. Heatmaster and Better Boy are okay. Waiting for the Mr Stripey to catch up. It had a rough start but is now catching up.

I have blight that I am battling but none of the plants seem to care due to the growth and fruit production. All the cherry types are around seven feet tall.

I'm giving them away to everyone I can find.

Some of my harvests for the last two weeks. I go out picking every 2-3 days. Each bowl picture is unique.









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Old July 11, 2015   #12
luigiwu
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Okay, you must share your green thumb secrets. What are you fertilizing with? How much and how often.
I can't believe how early you kicked out your seedlings, alpril you said? And they were left outside uncovered unless it was going to be less than 38degrees??
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Old July 12, 2015   #13
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I really have no idea what I am doing or why they are so happy. I'm doing a lot of things wrong but they seem to be super happy. I used miracle grow soil which I learned to late wasn't for containers. It drains well and they grow well so I'm fine with it. I used straw to mulch.

I didn't harden anything off. I didn't cover them. I put it all outside and figured that they were lower then the top of the container so it would provide wind protection and hoped it made it. The Jalapeno's took the slowest to start but since I have so many Jalapeno's hanging from my plant that I'm somewhat frightened, they got over it.

I have some pink powdered miracle grow tomato fertilizer. I also have vigoro for tomatoes with calcium that seems to do the best. I also got a fish thing but it seems fairly useless. I dump a few tablespoons of vigoro on them once a week and use the miracle grow if they look pale. I water once a day when I get home from work. If they are wilty my mother (who lives with me) waters them mid day on super hot days.

I have 10 gallon containers mostly. They are crowded because the deck doesn't have much room. I get full light from dawn till mid afternoon. I barely pruned anything so my cherry tomatoes have turned into these monsters that try to steal all the light. My cucumbers have taken over my raised bed my squashes are creeping everywhere. I'm drowning in cucumbers as well.

I had some blossom end rot with the first tomatoes for a few plants but we've moved past that and they all seem happy. I've had almost no cracking and splitting. A few of the lemon boys got a few tiny cracks at the tops but that was from a bad period where the weather was weird and I could only do evening watering for a few weeks.

This is my year of figuring stuff out. Next year I hope to be more organized and sensible with fewer crazed levels of yellow pears. They seem thrilled with life. This is one of my black krims and possibly the most delicious tomato I have ever eaten.


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Old July 13, 2015   #14
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Very nice output I am just starting to see tomatoes growing here on my plants in central PA. I have a few cucumbers starting as well. Your neighbors must enjoy your visits
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