Tomatoes for Raised Beds & Containers

I love big, red, ripe tomatoes, picked fresh from the garden. Who doesn’t? But what I don’t like is huge tomato plants falling all over the garden pathways.  No matter how I caged or staked last year my Big Boy and Big Beef  tomatoes took over and blocked all the walkways. So…..I was determined to find small plants with medium to large tomatoes with big tomato taste this year….and I did!

Here are last years monster Big Boy & Big Beef plants.  I love them but the cost in space and mess was just too great.

Off to to garden centers! I looked through seed catalogs but in the interest of providing information on plants people could get locally that were ready to plant, I ended up purchasing my plants at Home Depot and Walmart.

I found three that were advertised as perfect for small areas and raised beds:

Husky (Home Depot)  Nice sturdy bushes, tomatoes about 10 in circumference, great tomato taste. Planted from 4″ pot 4/6/14. Harvested lst tomatoes 7/6/14. Plant 44″ tall. Needs some tying up to stay in a tomato cage. (Middle plant)

Patio (Home Depot) Smaller tomatoes about 6-7″ in circumference. Mild, less acidic flavor. Perfect size to quarter for salads. Planted from 4″ pot 4/6/14. Harvested 7/6/14. Plant 28″ tall. Fits perfectly in a tomato cage.

Better Bush (Walmart) Planted 5/11/14 from 4″ pot. This one is a little behind the others so I’ll add more later when it has ripe tomatoes.  Looks great so far!

These three fit well in one 8 foot by 2 foot bed, didn’t take over the walkways and are producing well so far.  From left: Better Bush, Husky, Patio.

I appears you can have tidy, container sized plants with big tomato taste without sacrificing too much space in a small garden!

And you can please your family….the Husky tomatoes would have spent a little more time on the vine but somebody discovered them and couldn’t wait!