Think this will work?

[Paper Roses]

A friend gave me 6 tomato plants and 2 green peppers plants.
I really have a small yard and no longer have a place for an in-ground garden. I have 3 big clay flower pots and 1 medium pot. Can I put 2 tomato plants in each? There pots are quite large. I don't know what types of tomato these are. In fact, I think there are 4 kinds.
I can stake them well when they get big enough. I am curious if they will choke each other. The peppers will go in one pot and I won't worry about them.

I used to have a great garden and I do remember pulling the plants at the end of the season. The roots were quite shallow. Never went the "pot" route before.

Thanks for any suggestions.

PR

[wildeyed]

1. Maybe the two peppers could go together,

but 2 tomatoes in a pot will probably be too much unless the pots are ginormous. Put some waterwise crystals in the potting soil. Keeping tomatoes on pots watered in hot weather is difficult. The crystals hold the water and begin releasing it as the soil dries.

[beac]

2. I accidently ended up with two tomatoes in one pot last year, although didn't realize it until late

in the season. I bought what was supposed to be a "Mr. Stripey" at a plant sale, but when it started fruiting, I had little red grape tomatoes. Late in the summer, as the grape tomato was slowing down, large tomatoes starting appearing, but they never got going. I think the "parasite" grape tomato took all the nutrients.

I wouldn't plant two to a pot.* Do you have Freecycle in your area? (freecycle.org)? People are always giving away pots on my local board. You can also post a "wanted" and see who might have extras to spare.

Home improvement stores sell 5-gallon buckets for a couple of dollars, if you don't mind drilling holes in them and their less-than-pretty look. Sometimes chain restaurants will give away the 5-gallon buckets things like potato salad and pickles come in (again, hole-drilling required.)

I had some great bookmarks on growing tomatoes in pots, but my laptop died, taking all my last year's research with it. :(

Here are a few I've recovered so far:

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art19000.asp
http://organicgardening.about.com/od/vegetablesherbs/a/tomatoescontain.htm
http://www.tastefulgarden.com/store/pc/Growing-Tomatoes-In-Containers-d9.htm

Hope they help.



* And remember that clay dries out faster than plastic, so you'll need to water them more often.