Many gardeners want to grow good tomatoes, and growing tomatoes in a barrel can help them achieve this. One of the main reasons for using a barrel for planting is a lack of soil. In this case, the device becomes a key solution to the problem.
By growing tomatoes in a barrel, you can easily achieve a high yield of fresh, juicy tomatoes from a single square meter. An old barrel makes an excellent replacement for a raised bed.
Why a barrel?
One of the peculiarities is that almost every summer resident or homeowner has a barrel. In a pinch, you can always borrow one from your neighbors, saying you're "growing tomatoes." An alternative is regular buckets.
Standard barrels with a volume of 1x1.5 m are capable of producing approximately 30 kg of ripe tomatoes.
The barrel creates favorable conditions for tomato growth. The metal surface accumulates heat, which subsequently warms the soil more quickly and significantly. Warmth is the main stimulus for rapid growth and a bountiful harvest.
How to plant seedlings
So, how to grow tomatoes in a barrel? First, prepare the barrel itself:
- Fifteen to twenty holes, each approximately 1 cm in diameter, are drilled in advance. These manipulations allow oxygen to enter the structure.
- The bottom is removed. An open bottom throughout the tomato growing season allows free movement for the worms, which will create natural channels to remove excess moisture.
To prepare the soil, the earth is mixed with a small amount of humus and poured into a container.
One common option is to mix equal parts compost, turf, and regular soil. A 10-cm layer of urgasa is placed on the bottom.
The first seedling should be placed directly in the center of the barrel in May or early June, in 5-7 cm of soil, and covered with plastic. This provides protection from the cold at night. It's a good idea to use the strongest of the seedlings as the first one.
Remove the lower leaves and side shoots. After 2-3 hours, cover the seedling with a ten-centimeter layer of soil mixture.
Subsequent treatment is carried out when the plant reaches a height of 10 centimeters, and requires regular repetition until the soil mixture consisting of turf soil and compost fills the entire barrel with a small mound on top.
At this stage, the plastic film can be removed, since the root system has reached a certain level of development, and the tomatoes of the upcoming harvest have become capable of withstanding any temperature changes and other negative factors that arise.
Simple rules for caring for tomatoes
Growing tomatoes is impossible without proper care. Abundant and regular watering is especially important. Tomatoes require a lot of moisture, and prolonged periods without rain can lead to plant diseases.
It's important to monitor the soil mixture's moisture content in the barrel; it should be 60-70%. This can be easily checked without special equipment: take a lump of soil and gently squeeze it; liquid should be released.
Don't worry about overwatering the plant, as the excess water will drain away anyway since the barrel has no bottom. This is how "tomato trees" are grown.
An excellent method for watering is to use a special hose with a rigid metal tip. When inserted into the soil to the required depth, water flows directly to the root system.
A good option would be to build an irrigation system in advance:
- Insert a pipe with holes along its entire length into the center of the barrel, the end of which should remain free after filling the device with earth.
- Pour water into this pipe, and from the holes it is distributed over the entire area of the barrel.
With the onset of summer, it's time to stop pinching out side shoots. The main goal is to form well-developed clusters. A good number of 20-30 clusters, each with 10-15 ovaries, is a good result.
For growing in a barrel, this volume will be the norm, and the tomatoes will definitely have enough nutrients.
By July, the barrel's nutrient supply is depleted. Therefore, it's time to begin feeding the plant with a compost mixture. It's important to note that regular compost shouldn't be used, as it won't fit into an overflowing barrel.
As a top dressing, take the soil mixture and fill it with chlorine-free water, letting it sit until completely dissolved for about a day. Also, during the growth of the plant, it is necessary to remove leaves that block the fruits’ access to the sun.
With proper care, tomatoes can produce a harvest until about mid-October. At this point, the plants should again be covered with plastic wrap to protect them from the cold or wrapped in burlap at night.
Benefits of growing tomatoes in a barrel
The main advantage is that using this method of growing tomatoes, there is no need to install a greenhouse, and you can save a significant amount of space on your land.
The yield of a "tomato tree" with a strong root system and numerous clusters increases threefold. A single barrel can yield up to 30 kg of fruit. Freshly grown tomatoes can last until the New Year holidays.
A small disadvantage of this growing method is the impossibility of obtaining early tomatoes, since the first fruits usually appear only with the onset of July.
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This is the first time I've seen tomatoes grown this way. I think the yield will be a little smaller because the tomatoes aren't getting the minerals they need. I would recommend using the product "BioGrow" to get rid of this problem.