Porch tomatoes, slow but thirsty

At last I am getting a moderate supply of cherry tomatoes from the planters on my third- and fourth-floor porch landings. It has taken the longest time. July was so cool and rainy, I didn't get even a 'Sun Gold' until the first week in August. I've had only only one 'Black Cherry' ripen so far.
Here is it past the middle of August, and I am growing a great crop of green tomatoes.

Mostly the eating has been 'Red Robin,' and thereby hangs a sad tale. Last year I got a pair of so-called "self-watering" window boxes (a misnomer, but we'll get to that after a while) from Gardener's Supply Co. and mounted them on the third-floor porch railing, where I filled them with herbs and a couple of container-variety cherry tomato plants I picked up on impulse somewhere (don't recall exactly). I had a very satisfying harvest of flavorful little red tomatoes, and was determined to repeat the planting this year.

So back in January, I hunted up and down for seeds of 'Red Robin.' Couldn't get them from Tomato Growers Supply, where I got the 'Sun Gold' and 'Black Cherry' seeds. Searched all over the internet. Twittered my despair. Finally found them at Reimer Seeds three weeks after I got the other tomato seeds started. Was all worried I wouldn't get the 'Red Robin' seedlings to a decent size in time. This did not turn out to be a problem, since spring was so cool and due to various other disruptions I was late planting. Then, when I finally got around to it, I was digging some fresh organic fertilizer into the soil in the boxes and I found the tag from last year's plants:



Oh.


Well, but there I was with 'Red Robin' seedlings in which I had invested a good deal of time, fuss and aggravation, so I planted them in the window boxes. I had a couple of good plants extra, so I decided to experiment with making my own self-watering containers out of some good-sized plastic pots (I'll do another post about that when I get the strength) and potted them up. Where I got the notion that last year's tomatoes were 'Red Robin,' I'll never know. I must have read one too many catalogs.

The plants have been producing pretty darn well, I must say. The flavor doesn't seem to be quite up to the standard of last year's window-box tomatoes, though. I can't tell if it's because in regretful memory I have romanticized the flavor of the 'Tiny Tims,' or if there has just not been enough sun to fully develop the flavor of the tomatoes. Or maybe it's because of the growth habit.

'Red Robin,' being bred for container growing, is very dense, as you can see in the top photo. The intervals between the leaves and stems are very short. The plants aren't a foot high, though they trail a bit over the sides of the containers. And a lot of the fruit is hidden deep within the thick foliage. To harvest, I have to comb through the leaves as if I were checking a dog's fur for ticks or a kid's hair for head lice.

My theory is that the fruit is so shaded by the dense leaves that it just doesn't get enough sunlight to fully develop the sugars that are needed for a really flavorful tomato. But that might not be true in a sunny summer. Here's what I do know: Imperfect though they may be, my four 'Red Robin' plants are producing tomatoes a far sight more flavorful than anything you can buy in a store.

They don't come cheap, though. As a friend said the other day, "Low-maintenance tomatoes don't exist." Mainly it's the watering.

All my tomatoes--the four 'Red Robin,' one 'Sun Gold,' two 'Black Cherry' and one 'Bonito Ojo'--are in self watering containers.

Of course "self-watering" containers don't really water themselves; they have a reservoir at the bottom that you fill with water, so the soil can wick up through a soil full of organic matter to provide the roots of the plants with as much water as they need. The Earth Box is another variation on the theme, but my big ones aren't Earth Boxes. I chose the Organic Tomato Success Kit from Gardener's Supply Co. because I like its sturdy cages better than the staking system provided with the Earth Box, and boy, was I right about that. The tradeoff is that the Tomato Success Kit doesn't come with the tight-fitting black plastic mulch cover that stretches over the Earth Box; it just has a sheet of red plastic mulch that sort of lies over the top of the soil, and this is a defect. It lets a lot of water evaporate from the soil.

Some of the little plants are in the long self-watering window boxes from Gardener's Supply, sharing the space with a lot of herbs. Another couple are in those do-it-yourself self-watering containers that I scrounged up from stuff I had on hand. I've also got some greens growing in pots that I converted to self-watering using a gizmo Gardener's Supply sells for the purpose.

During June and even July, me and all the tomatoes were cruising. With all the rain and coolth, it was no trouble to keep the reservoirs filled with water (although the water level indicators vary widely on these devices and some work better than others). I'd fill them up every three or four days.

Once it hit August and got hot and dry, though, and the big indeterminate tomatoes started burgeoning out of their cages, they became thirsty as camels at the oasis. I'm watering those things every day. Now, without the self-watering containers I'd probably be watering three times a day, like I did with those idiotic upside-down tomato planters I tried last year. But clearly my fantasies of going away for a week while the tomatoes took care of themselves were fantasies indeed.


The big tomatoes just have so many thirsty roots now. And they have a lot of leaf surface.
Plants cool themselves by letting water evaporate through holes in their leaves. That's how they create the water pressure that keeps them upright and gives structure to their stems and leaves, like a fire hose that plumps up when the hydrant is turned on. It's that water pressure that moves nutrients into the leaves and fruits. Plants also need water for photosynthesis, to create the food they break down for energy to make leaves, stems and fruits.

More leaves, more evaporation. More heat, more evaporation. More evaporation, more exercise I get hauling watering cans from the kitchen sink. And all for, mostly, green tomatoes so far.

The 'Red Robins' are not so thirsty because they have far fewer leaves. And they are giving me edible tomatoes. So I forgive them, grudgingly, for not being 'Tiny Tims.'

Is "self-watering" a snare and a delusion? Not entirely. It reduces watering. It doesn't eliminate it. But I wish that the terminology was different. I wished they had started out calling these things "reduced-watering," or something, and not encouraged foolish fantasies of low-maintenance tomatoes. And one overlooked benefit of these systems is that they have an overflow for the reservoir, so you can't overwater the plants, which can kill them as effectively as underwatering.

I don't even the slightest regret my porch tomatoes, despite the expense (no, we will not discuss the expense, because I don't care to think about it). But next summer, when it might be far hotter, I will be mentally prepared for all the water hauling.

Got a garden question? I recommend you call or e-mail the Plant Clinic of The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, the Master Gardeners of the University of Illinois Extension or the Plant Information Service of the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe .

All contents of this post are copyright Beth Botts. Feel free to link or share a brief excerpt with a link, but please do not reproduce photos or any other part of this blog without my express permission.