I have limited space in my garden and have decided to not grow garlic to save about 1/8 of the garden space. I also decided not to grow tomatoes in the raised beds since they take up so much space too. Probably another 1/8 of the garden. Both decisions recovered about 1/4 of the space for other items. In 2009 I purchased several deck “pots” and tried to grow tomatoes in them but did not have much success. I’m sure it had more to do with my inability to maintain watering. I found this while searching the Internet this afternoon…looks like a possible solution to allow me to grow tomatoes on the deck and not take up the precious raised beds. Includes a PDF and a video of how to build a self-watering tomatoe system from basic household items.
http://earthtainer.tomatofest.com/
You’re the second blogger this week that I read that was at one point thinking of not growing tomatoes next year. I wonder how many people make that resolution during the winter only to be tempted by seed catalogs and plant sales in the spring to break it.
I’m probably not going to try to grow any in my garden since they did so poor. Although, I think I will grow some again next year in the community garden where they did so well.
I did it last year. It worked great. I built two of the big rubbermaid tubs…..But you can also make single plant SIP’s out of food grade 5 gallon buckets. I got the wicking pots from Brew and Grow in Roselle (It is a hydroponic/Beer brewing shop) on Irving Park Rd. I get my buckets from a local Hot Dog stand. The whole thing ends up costing under 2.50 a pot. You can add Cages on top to the lids for another 5 bucks. I had 10 going last year with peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers growing from them. They all did great. I will send you some pics to your email. I am making about 10 more this year because they worked so well and they were much cheaper.
This year I’ve been growing all my veggies and flowers from seed. My seedlings are growing well and hope that I’m successful. Tomatoes are difficult by I love them.