Jan
17
Growing Tomatoes in Raised Beds
Posted by Brian in General Growing Advice, Selecting a Location
There are several advantages to growing tomatoes in raised beds, many of which are similar to growing tomatoes in containers. If you think about it a raised bed is a form of container, it is just a container on a slightly grander scale, a little like a growbag or a large pot.
The main advantages of growing tomatoes in raised beds
- You can more easily control the mix of the soil and utilise compost specifically suited to growing tomatoes
- The plants are generally easier to access for staking, weeding, watering, pruning and pest control
- The soil tends to warm up more quickly than non-raised beds
- Its easier to apply a mulch to aid contamination prevention, supplement feeding and keep weeds down
- You can avoid standing on the soil causing it to compact
- raised beds tend to be free draining and do not get over saturated
- the soil can easily be dug out and replaced should any contamination occur. This should be done on an annual or bi-annual basis in any case
- Feeding the tomato plants is much more targeted and effective, follow the instructions on the feed of choice or as a rule of thumb you can apply a high nitrogen liquid tomato feed around once a fortnight
- Pests are less likely to infiltrate a raised bed but when they do they are easier to deal with
If growing tomatoes in raised beds doesn’t appeal then you might want to take a look at how you can create a lasagne garden which is another option for growing tomatoes.
Growing tomatoes in a raised bed does indeed have many advantages over growing in a normal bed. Before I read this post I really hadn’t considered that a raised bed is really just a large container.
Yes there are many similarities between growing in containers and using a raised bed. I would personally consider the raised bed option to be even better than actual containers because it gives you the best features of growing tomatoes in containers and growing tomatoes in the ground.
[...] signs of disease or pests. It is much easier to do this if they are planted in a reasonable sized raised bed that gives you access from all sides. It doesn’t have to be a raised bed, containers can also [...]