Growing tomatoes in bags!
The first thing you need to do, is to purchase a good quality potting mix or soil. I like to use the 1 cubic foot size of Miracle Grow Organic Choice Potting "Soil". That's right, "SOIL", not mix. It works great for my tomatoes., but regular potting mix will work.
Now, poke about 10 broom handle size holes in the back of the back for drainage. Flip in over flat and cut an "X" in the face of the bag and tuck the flaps under; as seen in he picture above.
Carefully, plant your tomato. I like to use determinate tomatoes or the semi-determinate types. The tomato in the above picture is a First Lady Hybrid. Plant the plant as you would anywhere else and then water deeply.
Next, erect some sort of support for the tomato. A large cage or stake or as I prefer; a bamboo teepee. In the picture above, you can see I supplied a center pole, which will be the main support that I will tie the stalks to. Later I will build horizontal side supports on the teepee, to make in more cage like, which in in turn lessen the plant's need for being tied to the center pole.
I have anchored the teepee with "Tiki" Torch Holders, pounded into the ground, in a 2' square around the bag. I secured the top of the teepee with a standard security tie, available anywhere.
Since I planted early, I wrapped plastic around the base of all 5 of my teepees and secured with clips and weighted downed any excess at the bottom with bricks; to prevent blow away. This plastic will help protect against frost.
When you remove the plastic, cover the bags with a mulch, for cosmetic apperance, as well as to protect the bags from evaporation. Grass clippings work well too and dry to form a protective barrier around the bags. Use lots of grass! Through the summer, I will water the bags every other - to every 3 days, depending on the weather.
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