These sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) are Tomato Success Kits from Gardener's Supply. You can see the bountiful success that a city dweller had this summer growing fresh tomatoes on a high-rise balcony. The balcony happens to be in Chicago and the photos are from Laura White’s blog, The White House.
Have I bragged about my tomatoes yet? I’m actually quite impressed with myself – in addition to adding fresh tomato to just about every meal since mid-August, I have 8 dinner portions of spaghetti sauce and 12 quart size bags of crushed tomatoes in the freezer already, with the last batch due to be picked and prepared on Friday.
Not bad for three plants grown in tubs on a balcony in the city. Read more...
We should acknowledge bloggers like Laura for doing what our horticultural and botanic institutions are currently not doing. There are hundreds of blog posts like this in my pending file. My objective is to post all of them. It will be an awesome database of SIP validation. It already is.
Just click on these categories (right hand column) D.I.Y Sub-irrigation, EarthBox, EarthTainer, Garden Patch Grow Box, Sub-irrigated Buckets, Sub-irrigated Grow Box and Tomato Success Kit for starters. The positive evidence is overwhelming and yet our botanic gardens are nowhere to be seen on the subject.
There is no question that essentially all SIPs work if you know how to use them. It takes a minimal amount of education. Our botanic and horticultural institutions however are stuck in some prior century and preach only drain-hole and dirt gardening.
It appears that change will only come when these institutions are forced to face reality. The blogosphere and then the mainstream media will in due time force them to do what they should be doing now. Were they private businesses they would not survive with this type of retrogressive behavior.
Hi, great to see you here. I have done some tomato growing, it was fantastic for cherry tomatoes but I was not that lucky for the other variations. I might start again, you fill me with confidence that this time I'll succeed
Posted by: growing tomatoes in pots | May 28, 2010 at 01:44 AM