Choosing patio planters for tomatoes is a little bit different than other planters. You may find different types of planters in gardening stores. But the right type of container with the right tomato varieties will make your patio more beautiful. So, consider the following factors before getting your desired tomato planter.
1. Patio size
The patio size helps to determine the right container size for your tomato plants. If you have a small patio with very limited space then you shouldn’t choose a large size of containers.
Besides, small planters heat up quickly and contain less water. Larger planters keep the soil cool for longer and hold enough moisture for your tomato plants.
2. Easily moveable planter
You find both planters on wheels or growing bags with flexible handle for your patio tomatoes. There are two major benefits of moveable planters. Such as –
- Get the sunlight available: Tomato plants need at least 8 hours of direct sunlight to make a healthy harvest. But if your patio location doesn’t get enough sun all day long you may need to move your planters to some other place where sunlight is available regularly.
- Protect from the extreme cold: Tomato plants don’t make flowers and fruits when the nighttime temperature goes down below 50° F. So, move your tomato planters indoors at night if there any chance of frost or being low temperature.
3. Right tomato varieties:
Usually, bushy type ornamental tomato varieties mostly suit to small fancy patios. So, you need about 1-3-gallon planters for growing them. Because the average height of ornamental tomato varieties around 8-24 inches tall.
On the other side, if your patio has enough place you may pick bigger planters with both bush and vine type tomatoes.
4. Planters Weight
Patio containers should be lightweight and easily moveable if you have frost problems and the sunlight is not available in your patio all day long. Besides, you should also choose bush type smaller tomato plants.
5. Self-Water Planters
You must have to ensure good drainage and aeration system in your potting soil. As a result, your planters soil dries out more quickly than garden soil.
Besides containers soil heat-up earlier than garden soil and needs a more frequent water supply to control the soil moisture. So, planters with a self-watering system work better for the patio garden.
6. Planters materials
Materials determine the plater’s overall performance on your patio. It controls soil moisture, porosity, planter’s move-ability, longevity, and other issues.
You may find different types of planters of different materials in the gardening stores.
Some planters like clay pot and grow bag have good drainage and aerate system with low moisture-holding capacity.
On the other side, ceramic and plastic planters have good moisture-holding capacity with less porosity or poor aerate system.
So, choose carefully the right planters with the right materials as you need.
