Tomato roots

Winter is over, the weather is starting to warm up and I finally cleared out my dutch buckets ready for the new growing season. An early start will mean that I can experiment with more types of vegetables and different growing methods this season.

My courtyard does not get enough sunlight in winter to grow throughout the year but I thought it would be interesting to show how the root structure from last seasons tomato plants. The roots are very fine without a strong taproot and spread throughout the vermiculite and pearlite mix. Initially I thought my buckets might be a bit small for tomato's but I am going to reuse them for tomato's again this season as well as other plants. Surprisingly the mix was still moist despite having not been watered for a couple of months which shows how effectively vermiculite retains moisture.

Things I struggled with last time include powdery mildew, red spider mites and poor accessibility to the plants. Planting too close together resulted in pests and disease spreading very quickly and the poor access meant that I could not treat the plants with spray effectively.

Due to the low height of my greenhouse roof I am going to grow my tomato's in the open courtyard this time where height and access to the plants is not restricted. I will be covering the buckets with lids to stop and excess water from entering the system rather than the layer of stones I used previously.