Being a lover of coconut (more green Thai curry than Bounty Bars)  I also like to think of the tomatoes being protected by their own refashioned husk.

And they seem to have thrived. Whereas the plant with room to grow….hasn’t.

Something or nothing … I don’t know. But interesting……….

That’s pots as opposed to pegs and holes….

I’m in a bit of a tizz ‘n’ tangle today so just a quick post on a tip to make sure your plant roots don’t end up the same way.

In a round pot the roots of the plant just keep growing round and round and if not repotted will form a dense mass. However the corners of a square pot prevent the roots behaving in this way, so their route around the pot is less tight and therefore they form less of a tightly wound ball.

Has anyone else come across this tip or know from experience if this is the case ?

Photo by H Dickens

With spacing Tomato Plants there are two different distances to consider:

• The distance between each plant in a row.
• The distance between each row.

There are also some differences to consider between Cordon (Indeterminate) and Bush (Determinate). Bush tomatoes sprawl further sideways and will require an additional 6 to 12 inches between them .

However it’s difficult to find a standard recommendation as the starting point.
For the spacing between each plant in a row the minimum distance is 16 inches whilst some recommendations are for up to 4ft. The most frequently recommended distance though is 24 inches (2ft).

Again the recommended spacings between rows varies between  2ft and 5ft. There must be some tomato lovers with a lot of garden !  The most frequently recommended distance is 30 to 36 inches.

Recommended spacings are made for the grower planting their tomatoes directly into the ground, either outdoors or in a greenhouse border, in mind.

Getting the spacing right between plants is about making sure that each plant will have enough access to water and nutrients and that there is room between plants for air to circulate.

For plants in pots (one plant per pot ) sharing water and nutrients does not have the same consideration. However air circulation and therefore how far apart the pots should be placed does need to be thought through.

Grow bags are in that hybrid ground in the middle ! Sharing resources and by the nature of the container they will be at a set space from each other. However that space doesn’t look like enough.
I measured how far apart the tomato plants are in the giant tomato planter. It is 12 inches.
It will be interesting to see what the impact on their productivity is. I have a feeling I know the answer and I don’t like it!

Have you arrived through trial and error at your own spacing ?

Photo by zizzybaloobah

Since seeing the spiral stakes used by Living the life in Saint-Aignan over in the Loire Valley I have been hankering to try some. I held off as I wasn’t sure how to secure them in pots. However having got some larger pots (Diameter 39cm, Depth 28.5 cm)  I caved into temptation and bought 5.

They are held at the top by the lip of a fence panel which may or may not work but otherwise I like them. It’s early days and the plants don’t have enough height to twirl round them but I can see how it’s going to work and that should be well !

In the Super U in France they cost less than a Euro each and 20 were purchased. I got 5 at £2.99 each from Wilkinson. But we won’t dwell on that  !

Has anyone else given them a whirl ?

Diameter : minimum of 9” and anything up to 14”.
Volume : minimum of 9 litres but greater is better.

So what have I used ?

My first plantings are in 30cm/12” diameter pots from Asda. Buy 2 for £3.  I’m not recommending them as they didn’t have drainage holes and I had to make them. Not pretty! ( Language or holes.)

The pots are 24cm/9” deep but taper.
Counting the number of tomato plants I have challenges my maths, so even with no taper I couldn’t work out the pot volume. But as 8 used 75 litres of compost they must be about 9 litres.  So the diameter is ok but greater volume would be preferable  for some of the taller cordons.

My second plantings are in 32cm diameter pots from Wilkinson. I prefer these. (I got the last 7 and felt very guilty when a lady asked where I’d got them and I had to point to the empty shelf.) £ 1.49 each. Ready made holes. The Grecian fluting may be a bit high falutin for tomatoes but otherwise fine.

No taper and 24cm deep. From the amount of compost used, I think they hold about 11 litres.

As you may have spotted from the photos I didn’t follow my own advice and stake the plants when putting them in their new pots as I couldn’t get bamboo canes. Shopping karma was clearly in operation as Wilkinson who when I was last in had lots, had sold out.  I’ll need to look elsewhere for plentiful cheap canes.

I used Multipurpose compost. Some from last year, bought from the farm shop but not opened and some bought this week from Asda. 2 x 70 litres for £6.

I remembered the advice re letting compost warm up in your garden before using it. Last years’ unopened bags were doing just that and the Asda compost sat in the car for a day (because I couldn’t park near enough to home to be within lugging distance) but I’m happy to pass this off as part of the plan.

Feeling bad about the lack of canes I also adhered to the tepid water advice (that I had previously been planning to ignore) and added 1 litre of boiling water to a 10 litre watering can of cold water to provide a tepid first watering .

I’m now excited to see the plants grow to fill their new pots.  They were ready for that extra wriggle room. This is a photo of the roots of one sown 16 March and transplanted 21 May.

This week is the big tomato plant out week.

I’m going to use a mix of pots and grow bags.

With the pots, what I want to know is what size I need.

These are the answers I could find:

Most recommendations refer to the diameter of the pot.

The minimum recommended size seems to be 9” (23cm).
A lot of recommendations are for 10” (25cm) or 12” (31cm) in diameter.  A couple were for 12”-14” (31cm-36cm).

Some recommendations refer to volume rather than diameter.
(Some of these were in gallons.  If this is the case and you want to work in litres then according to the back of my Nutri Tomato feed bottle: 1 gallon = 4.5 litres.)
One recommendation was for a 2 gallon pot so 9 litres. Some were for 10 or 15 litre pots.  For tall cordons one recommendation was for a minimum of 15 litres.

All of which meant I was confused by the Sankey Tomato Pots that I found on line that were 9” in diameter but only 5 litres in volume. Perhaps they were for smaller plants earlier in the growing season?

I will keep my eye out for more info!

I will also be posting on which pots I used and posting on growbags as well.

If you grow your tomatoes in pots what size would you recommend ? And do you think it’s more helpful to think in width or volume ?