The Preferred Soil For Growing Your Heirloom Tomatoes in Containers
by John Yazo
Growing tomatoes in containers can be easy to do and very productive. The key to have a thriving crop is the soil you are growing them in. A lot of times when container planting, you will need a specific soil mix for the specific plant your are growing. Tomatoes are one of those times that you should design a mix that will benefit this crop directly.
To have a productive crop of tomatoes, the soil should be a well drained soil that will retain the water and nutrients needed for your plants to thrive. In containers you wont be growing your crops in a soil condition as you would be in the traditional garden. The soil in a traditional organic garden is full of natural nutrients supplied by natural minerals in the ground and the organic matter you feed the soils food web. This organic matter is turned into a nutrient rich humus by the microorganisms living in the soil, container gardening doesn't have this ability.
In a container garden you will need a loose soil that will retain moisture, drain well and retain the nutrients that you will be supplying it, these mixes are usually soilless or mostly soilless and don't have the ability to have this complex community of life living in it working for you. The use of peat moss, perlite and vermiculite are the top choices of soilless mix products. They are sterile, drain well and have the ability to retain the moisture along with the nutrients that your crops will need to thrive.
There are many container mixes that home gardeners use and just about all of them consist of a blend of peat moss, vermiculite or perlite, compost or composted manure and sand. Some mixes also contain some type of a slow release organic fertilizer.
A basic mix that will work for your container planted tomatoes is 2 1/2 gallons of peat moss, 2 1/2 gallons of either perlite or vermiculite, 1 1/2 gallons of sifted compost or composted manure and 1 pint of a fine clean sand.
When growing your plants in containers you will need to fertilize them regularly. This is because the nutrients in the soil mix will leach out of the pots every when you water. Using a water-soluble fertilizer every two weeks or add two cups of a slow-release organic fertilizer to your soil-less mixture will give your plants the nutrients they need.
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