We all know tomatoes. In recent years, supermarkets have started offering more and more varieties, colours and flavours, from large beef tomatoes to small, sweet cherry tomatoes. Of course, they all have that distinctive tomato flavour, but depending on the variety, some are a little sweeter while others are slightly fresher in taste. How fun is it to grow your own tomatoes and harvest unique varieties that you won’t easily find in the shops?
The good news is that you don’t need a large vegetable garden. Growing tomatoes in a pot or growing tomatoes on a balcony is easy and often results in a surprisingly generous harvest. Even if you only have a terrace, patio or sunny windowsill, you can successfully grow tomato plants. With the special tomato pot from elho, a tomato plant in a pot gets exactly the space it needs to grow healthy and strong.
Ready to get started? Below, you’ll find all the steps for successfully growing tomatoes in pots.
Step 1 // Start sowing
If you want to grow a tomato plant from seed, start indoors. Tomatoes are true sun lovers and thrive in warm conditions. At lower temperatures, the seeds barely germinate and growth slows down considerably. That’s why growing tomatoes indoors is the best way to give your plants a head start.
The plants need around eight weeks to become strong enough before you can move them outdoors and plant your tomatoes in pots. For sowing, you can use a green basics grow house, seed tray and saucer. Fill them with seed and cutting compost and carefully water the soil using a plant mister.
From March or April onwards, you can buy young plants, but growing your own tomato plant is even more rewarding. You’ll see the plant develop from a tiny seed into a strong plant full of fruit. Suitable varieties for growing tomatoes in a pot include the Pingpong tomato ‘42 Days’ and Tiny Tim. Compact varieties are especially ideal if you’d like to grow cherry tomatoes.
You’ll find more information about removing side shoots in step 4
Step 2 // Repotting
Once the seedlings have developed four leaves, it’s time for the next step: repotting your tomatoes. You may notice that the young plants start to become a little paler in colour. This is a sign that the nutrients in the seed compost are almost depleted.
Use small nursery pots filled with fresh universal compost and carefully remove the seedlings from the tray without damaging the roots. Repotting your tomato plants regularly when needed ensures they continue to have enough space and nutrients during the growing stage.
Place the pots in a bright location afterwards. The more daylight the plants receive, the better they will develop.
If you notice signs of nutrient deficiency again before mid-May, simply repot the plants once more using fresh compost.
Step 3 // Transplanting into the tomato pot
After 15 May, it’s time to transplant your tomato plant in the pot. Always make sure to plant only one plant in each pot so that it has enough space and nutrition to grow effectively. With the elho tomato pot, you don’t need to provide extra support for the plant, as the pot itself comes with supporting rings that the plant can lean against. If you choose to a plant a variety that stays small, it will never grow beyond the rings. To ensure optimal growth, we advise using organic potting soil when transplanting, as this contains enough nutrition for 3 months.
Step 4 // Care
Your plant needs extra care if you want to harvest tomatoes, so it must be pinched back and eventually topped when it reaches a certain height. But what exactly is pinching, and when should the plant be topped?
Pinching
This is the removal of the axillary shoots that arise on the main stem and side branches of the plant. If you don’t remove them, the plant will use up a lot of energy in growing new leaves instead of new flowers. The flowers will eventually become tomatoes that you can harvest. Make sure to check for these shoots every week, and if you see any, break them off with your thumb and index finger.
Topping
If you’ve opted for a large plant variety, you top the plants as soon as they grow higher than the rings of the tomato pot. By breaking off the top, you encourage the plant to use available nutrients to develop the fruit instead of creating new leaves.
Watering
Tomatoes don’t like a lot of water. The great advantage of plants in a pot is that you can water them very specifically at the base of the plant. Do this twice a week in spring and once a week in summer. By watering via the integrated saucer at the bottom of the pot, you stimulate its roots to look for water. The roots will reach deeper, and the plant will become much stronger. Moreover, the chance of disease is much smaller, and the plant will yield more fruit. If you water your plant on top of the soil, the roots will stay just below the surface and the plant will dry out more quickly. This is why you should give the plant more water when using the integrated saucer. The elho tomato pot has a handy water reservoir so that the plant can absorb what it needs.
Feeding
Over time, tomato plants in a pot need feeding. If you use new soil every year when you plant them, it’s sufficient to feed them just before the flowers start to grow fruit. I always use a liquid fertilizer that can be mixed with water. You can buy this at the garden centre or at the supermarket. Another option would be to use liquid concentrate from the compost bin or worm bin.
Step 5 // Harvesting
Tomato plants can take up to 6 months to go from seed to harvest. Leave the plant in the sun and water it every now and then. Remove the excess shoots and before you know it, it’s harvest time! Harvesting can be done in August, September, and October. Of course, the moment of harvest depends on the variety and size of the plant. This information can be found on the back of the seed packaging.
Step 6 // Taking the plant inside
Our climate makes it difficult to continue harvesting tomatoes outdoors for a long time. After October, fruit often struggles to ripen properly outside.
One of the biggest advantages of growing tomatoes in pots is that you can easily move the plants. Bring the pot indoors so the remaining fruit can continue to ripen. This is one of the great benefits of growing tomatoes in pots and one of the reasons so many people choose to grow tomatoes on a balcony or terrace.
Once the harvest is over, empty the pots, clean them and store them away until next season. That way, you'll be ready to grow your own tomatoes again next year.
