Comments on: An Urban Tomato Garden

By: Christie @ abrilliantblue

Christie @ abrilliantblue — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 07:24:53 +0000

Thanks for your fantastic step-by-step break down here Kim, I relied on it today while creating my first Wine Barrel garden in my wee yard. I posted my progress on my blog if you’d like to take a look! Thanks again.
http://www.abrilliantblue.blogspot.com

Christie.

By: Barbara

Barbara — Sat, 22 May 2010 13:54:31 +0000

Same question as Patrick — is three too many? I’m just getting ready to plant my tomatoes in barrels and I’m not sure! Trial and error I guess.

By: patrick

patrick — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:30:25 +0000

nice how-to post (pics and instructions). however, 3 tomato plants per pot … did that end up being too much? those suckers can end up growing pretty big.

By: Tina

Tina — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:16:38 +0000

My mom planted everything corn cucumbers onions potatoes in her wine barrel.

By: Ann Abbruzzese

Ann Abbruzzese — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 04:45:10 +0000

I got rid of the movers dollies on my wine barrels because they looked so ugly & weren’t that easy to move. I’ve since bought 6 more wine barrels & screwed 4 inche casters on a board & then put the barrel on top. It makes the barrels higher than bolting the casters to the bottom. Lettuce works greater & so do other greens like arugula, radiccio & tatsoi. Bush beans & pole beans did fine but I didn’t like the toughness of the plants I bought. I have a dwarf Meyers lemon in one barrel & it’s doing fine.
Cherry tomatoes do fine but regular ones have only worked for me in the garden.
Let me know if anything else grows well.

By: Dave E

Dave E — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 17:50:03 +0000

WIne Barrels…If you go directly to the wineries it’s way cheaper than craigslist…We were looking on clist and saw the same $15 to $20 each for the barrels. Went to Kenwood in Sonoma and bought them for $9 each..(Actually $6 each with a discount I got, but still $9 beats $20 hands down).. I thought it would be more expensive from the wineries.

By: JP

JP — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:27:28 +0000

Wooden Planters Barrel half’s work great! Just remember to water properly I have used drip irrigation with a separate station just for my planters, it works great especially if you need to go away for a short vacation. I have a new green product, which you can use in a barrel half.
Rather then, use chemical pest-control for your veg. garden used Ladybugs, to learn more go
To my above web site: http://www.thebestladybughouse.com.

By: Ann Abbruzzese

Ann Abbruzzese — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:22:29 +0000

This is such great info. I live in Sonoma County, accessible to wine barrels.
I put them my driveway & wanted to be able to easily move them to follow the sun & in case I wanted to move my car in. I found a great deal at Harbor Freight on movers dollies for $15.99 & bought 2 to put my wine barrels on.

By: eric

eric — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:57:01 +0000

This is cool, city wise I just have a window sill , and 4 house plants.
and they aren’t doing well.

I just found this guy who like tomatoes , Alot , torn up his lawn.

check it out
http://www.patriotgoose.com/mike/

By: Stephanie R.

Stephanie R. — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 21:12:26 +0000

The pre-mixed stuff will work just fine Sara. I’ve been growing tomatoes in containers in San Francisco for a few years and started out gung-ho mixing my own soil and have shifted to the pre-mixed stuff myself. Depending on the plants, you will likely need to feed them at some point during the summer. It depends on the size of the container and quality of the dirt you put in. I would recommend that you dump out old dirt and put in fresh each year. I reused my dirt one summer and had to feed them continually which was a big pain. I’m not known for my green thumb, but found that through trial and error along with regular reference checks on Google I have gotten some great tomatoes even in our weird bay area eco-climates.

Pick the sunniest spot in your yard. The more sun they get the better tastin’ tomatoes you will have. I’m still experimenting on the various varieties, but find that the smaller cherry tomatoes do best for me. Not all tomatoes need the same amount of water. I planted an Early Girl tomato and a Sun Gold Cherry tomato my first year. The Sun Gold was *always* thirsty so I watered them both the same amount each day. The Early Girl wasn’t as big a drinker and I managed to get some weird sort of fungus. I let it dry out (a lot) and it eventually recovered. Keep posting updates on your various gardens. There is NOTHING better than a steady stream of fresh *cheap* tomatoes to make summer feel like summer. Which will lead to the eventual recipes of what to do with all these damn tomatoes!