My heirloom tomatoes grow in containers this year

This year all my heirloom tomatoes grow in containers. As it turns out it doesn’t need justification, because they are doing pretty well, but just one word justifies it. Slugs. Cohorts. True plague this year. I was afraid my tomatoes seedlings will disappear in the deep throats like all other veggies I have tried to grow this year.

Maybe slugs don’t like tomatoes, but I didn’t want to check - these were my last seeds of Silver Fir Tree heirloom tomatoes, so taking a risk to get out of the variety was not an option.

Considering very late sowing, I am surprised with amount of tomatoes that are on the way. As they say ‘it’s never too late’! I sow the seeds in May – one month later than the latest recommended date in our zone (6B). “It’s going to be miracle if I get any tomatoes this year” – I was thinking while transplanting the seedlings to the containers in the garden, angry on myself for this stupid oversight.

There is one crucial element for success if you ask yourself:

How to grow tomatoes in containers?

Potting mix – is the key to success. Tomatoes are great gluttons, they need to be fed properly. I usually mix compost with manure and this makes yummy potting mix for tomatoes – it looks they are happy, I haven’t get them additional fertilizer, thou. By the way - I never use artificial for my veggies, they always are organic.

Second key to success in growing tomatoes in containers is water. Soil in the pots has the tendency to dry much faster than the ground soil – water it every day and in hotter days even twice a day.

This year I grow two heirloom varieties “Silver Fir Tree” and “Black Seaman”.

Silver Fir Tree – mid size plants, determinate, tomatoes fist-sized, red. This variety despite of being utterly delicious is particularly stunning, because of the ferny, delicate, sometimes silver-toned  foliage. The color of the tomatoes is between red and orange, very tasty, bit sour, with pretty strong skin. I will eat them all fresh, no drying.

Black Seaman – is still on its way, as the size of the fruit is bigger, it takes longer time to grow ripe.