Choose The Right Material Considering Several Factors To Make Cheap Tomato Planters

Irrespective of how small your garden is or even if you do not have any space garden space at all apart from your patio or balcony, you can still grow tomatoes in small boxes and pots. Now, there can be a lot of questions arising in your mind at this point such as:

• What should be the depth of the planter box

• How large the planter box should be to hold the tallest tomato plant

• Whether to buy a planter box or make it at home

• Whether to build it with stacked slate or not and lots of others.

Well, there are a large number of factors to consider and a variety of options to choose from when you want to make a proper decision between homemade and readymade planter boxes.

Choosing the material

Ideally, it is the different types of material that you can choose while making a planter box. However, while making your choice of material you will need to remember a few essential points such as:

• You can choose any type of material as long as it is non-toxic to the plants. It is important as this will prevent the material from leaching any toxic material to the tomatoes or Solanum Lycopersicum.

• Choose enough material of any kind to make a box that is 2 feet square at least and

• Make sure that the material is good enough to hold the soil as well as the water necessary for the growth of the tomato plants.

You may choose a raised box as planting tomato plants in it because of several good reasons such as:

• It will make it easier for you to weed

• It will give gives you better control over the soil mixtures and the nutrients

• It will help you to increase the depth

• It will facilitate better drainage and

• It will generally produce more in a less space than any conventional for of gardening.

The first type of material that is commonly used and chosen is plastic. If you have any old plastic storage bin lying around in your house, your task is cut down as you have already a ready-to-use cheap tomato planter. Make sure that you:

• Always choose sturdy bins so that it will not bend or bow easily when it is full of soil

• Drill a few holes in it to facilitate drainage

• Add potting soil or any well-rotted compost before you plant the tomato plants

• Have built-in handles to make it easy to move

• Write the name of the tomato variety on the side of the containers or on the handle for easy identification and

• Use plastic bins made from polyethylene or polypropylene if existence of phthalates in plastics bothers you.

Always use a food safe planter box material especially a plastic material that is marked 1, 2, 4 or 5 in the recycling code or symbol. This will enable you to ensure that the tomatoes that you get at the end of the season are fresh, healthy and free from any contaminants.