Growing Tomatoes Frugally

Growing Tomatoes Frugally

(Tomatoes On The Deck)

Growing tomatoes is a common pastime, here, in the Northeast US in hot summers. Many people in rural areas are good at growing, so really nothing new can be added with this post. But, no, I do not want (and no sane person would do either) to grow a $ 60 dollar tomato at home. It makes no sense really. So, I give a bit of useful information for the beginners or gardening novices. I may still learn new things in this little experiment of container gardening. 

One summer we had seven plastic (1 gallon size) pots with old soil. These were from the previous year’s vegetable crop. They were used for growing eggplants. When I started, they still had the (old) dried eggplant’s stems. I removed the eggplant (with its root) and scooped up about half of old soil. Like many, I too am lazy, a bit stingy with materials and labor. Like a good housewife, like a crafty poet, you have to grow plants with what you have at hand. Always, be prudent; do not waste soil, fertilizer, or water. Good (particularly Organic) frugal farmers too follow such thrifty practices. Do not run to garden store for every little thing or gadget. 

I filled the pots with a mixture of compost and generic topsoil. Luckily here our village provides free compost for the local residents. Ideally I should have emptied pots and started all over again. But the seedlings (seven) had been sitting there, I mean languishing on the breakfast table for almost a week. They were going through rapid growth and periodic wilting. We bought a batch of six tomato seedlings for a dollar (please, do not ask me where I get things so cheaply, in this day and age!) in farmers market. We got one new variety free from a local hospital – as a green day gift. I planted all of them in the big black (unattractive one might say) plastic pots. They were left on the deck. I just let them soak up hot sun and rainwater. 

Within couple of weeks they all exhibited rapid growth. We were all surprised by the sudden spurts of big leaves and flowers. We had to go down the stairs and bring the old tomato steel cages for support. Obviously, these giant plants need more sturdy support. But then, you do with what you’ve at hand. Over the years we accumulated seven or eight (galvanized) conical steel tomato cages. To add color I sanded the steel cages and painted them with orange paint. You can order by mail and buy very strong steel cylindrical cages (Ex: Texas Tomato, costing $20.00 for each cage. Now you can see how you end up growing a $60.00 tomato!) 

This container gardening of tomatoes – is not for proving any point. Just for a bit of summer activity and for a little fun on the deck. Growing on the deck is a bit more convenient; involves less of back breaking bending to do the weeding, watering, etc. A small stool (a milkmaid’s stool) makes it very convenient to tend the plants. I did foresee certain troubles for these voracious tomato plants. They get plenty of intense sun on the deck; as a result on very hot days the plants go very dry. You can see severe wilting of leaves. I have to water them on such days twice a day, once in the early morning and once in the evening. If you want to leave them unattended for days, then you have to ask a friend to water them. Or seek help from rain god! Any way, what are friends for? You can also use plastic cans or aluminum trays with water. Used milk plastic cans come in handy for providing a slow drip to the container plants. It all depends how far you want to go with improvisation or ingenuity. One can try drip irrigation technique with a timer too.

So far I have not encountered any pest. Once I noticed a lone Japanese beetle wandering. That’s all. On the ground, usually I come across crawling caterpillars and other insects (slugs are plenty in cool wet grass patches). Roughly the harvest yielded about thirty- five medium size tomatoes. Most will ripen on the vine; the late ones may stay green till the early frost day. That is not bad for this small-scale venture; thirty fresh tomatoes for two dollars input and some sweat equity.  Besides watering, I have to keep a close eye on the fertilizer. For some reason, lower leaves turned yellow a bit prematurely. Apparently, there is not sufficient nitrogen for these mega plants. I used liquid fertilizer (ex: Miracle Grow) every week. On top of it, as a desperate measure, I put two fertilizer (Jobs) sticks in each pot. Container gardening is not like hydroponic growing. You lose a bit of valuable fertilizer (washed away through bottom drainage holes) during downpours. So, you have to time the fertilizer application properly. On ground, I have not observed this severe demand for nitrogen. 

From the garden, we can pick the tomatoes when they are a bit yellow. Indoors left on a sunny table, they will soon turn into dark red color. We do not discard the green ones in our household; they too end up in some tasty chutney or curry. 

When we grow vegetables ourselves, we have many options. We can pick and choose the right variety (even Heirloom type) and we get really fresh, clean, pesticide-free produce. The act of picking a ripe tomato from the vine and making delicious salad, tomato-dal, tomato chutney, tomato pickle, or tomato rice fresh is incomparable. Several years back, we gave bags (kilos) of home grown tomatoes to our friends. Even neighbors were awe struck at our harvest bounty. Things just happen in a well-tended garden, perhaps due to luck. Kitchen garden may not produce wonders, but it will introduce kids to growing things in a natural way. They get to see real vegetables on the vine. They can touch, feel, and smell fresh vegetables. At least you get to see the difference between naturally ripened tomato – and the other super market stony ethylene- induced flavorless tomato hauled from hundreds of miles distance. 

Yesterday, we tasted the first vine-ripened (Organic) tomato from the deck. It’s yummy, sweet, juicy, with a tinge of sourness. It’s worth all the trouble. In south India and Bengal, tomatoes are considered as the cousins of brinjal (eggplant). Both have the same first name as “Solonum”. Freshly made tomato soup (or rasam) is very nutritious for convalescing patients; it is more fortifying with rice broth (Kanji). The burnt ripe fruit is very easy on digestion and it is beneficial for the control of phlegm and obesity. Tomatoes mainly contain vitamin C with traces of minerals and other vitamins. The lycopene connection to health benefits has not been fully established yet. Finally a word about large scale “Tomato Farming. Often we come across farmers in India and other places dumping harvested tomatoes due to lack of proper returns (price). In the absence of canning and other supporting infrastructure (food industry) it is difficult to make huge profits with tomato crops. Even in the US we do see tomatoes rotting on the ground in the harvesting days before the cold frosty days. The modern Green House with controlled agricultural practices and Organic labeling attempts to reduce losses and labor costs. The final verdict is still not clear due to the recent extraordinary swings in natural gas, electricity rates, and fertilizer prices. The Sri Lanka economic debacle teaches many valuable lessons. Copyright 2022 by the author