By Obiabin Onukwugha
For the past two to three months, Nigerians have had to pay more just to have a few seeds of tomatoes in their pots. The increment is attributed to a tomato blight that resulted in low yield.
Fresh tomatoes can be eaten raw (for lovers). Fresh tomatoes is also great for cleaning the gums of a newborn and toddlers. But it’s mainly used to cook stews and sauces. Some persons also add tomatoes to egusi soup and it adds taste and flavour to it.
Well grown and nurtured, tomatoes can produce hundreds of fruits depending on the variety, and that includes even when grown in containers.
So, whether you have a farm garden at your backyard or flowers on your balcony and walkway, some of the flower containers can actually be replaced for tomatoes. This will help reduce expenses on buying tomatoes and at the same the desired aesthetics for your compound.
Growing tomatoes in containers comes with lots of benefits, such as the ability to relocate the plant to meet sunlight requirements or to provide shelter from an incoming storm.
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Container-grown plants are space-efficient and offer an earlier start to the growing season by allowing you to start them in pots when outdoor soil temperatures aren’t quite ready.
However, tomatoes have different species, therefore it is important that you understand the species that best suits your environment in order not to record low harvest.
The two major varies of tomatoes are the “determinate” and “indeterminates”.
The determinate’ tomatoes plants, are bush-type plants that don’t require pruning and usually don’t need support. This compact variety grows to a predetermined height and width and tends to produce its fruit all at once. In order not to lack tomatoes for a period of time, shifting cultivation techniques can be applied here.
Indeterminate tomatoes, on the other hand, are vine-like plants that bear fruit continuously throughout the season.
However, because of their ongoing growth, managing them at times is challenging in small spaces, and they require sturdy supports, with some growing as tall as 5 to 10 feet tall. Planting this specie of tomatoes need time and care so as to achieve maximum harvest.
