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There are a number of reasons why you might want to grow tomatoes in bins instead of in the ground or in pots. Maybe you do not have room in your yard for a garden; you might not even have a yard to garden in. As to ceramic pots, they do work well, but they are heavy and can also be expensive. Sometimes that is not convenient.

You don’t need anything fancy to grow tomatoes; plastic container gardening is very easy. You just need a few large plastic bins — the same type that you would use for storage and organizing.

How do you do it? Well, your plastic bins for growing plants are going to need some drainage, so the first thing you will need to do is poke some holes in the bottom. This is another reason why plastic makes such a great choice for your tomato bins; it is easy to punch the holes. It’s a lot more difficult dealing with a material like ceramic.

Next, you will want to cut some mesh screen to line the bottom of the bin. This is an important step in planting tomatoes in bins since the mesh lets the water pass through to the bottom. After you fit the mesh to the bottom of your bins, you will want to fill them with river rocks. This improves drainage even more.

At this point, you can add your potting mix to your bins. While you are at it, you can get even better results by adding in a few extras: iron and trace elements, kelp meal, greensand, and soy meal. These will really give your tomatoes a boost, resulting in large, juicy fruit.

In the beginning, you will only want to add around six to eight inches of soil. You will then add tomato transplants to each of your bins. Wait for the tomatoes to start growing. As they do, you can trim back the leaves and add even more potting soil. Doing this will ensure that the root mass grows properly. It also allows you to plant earlier in the growing season.

As a final step, you should add netting around your bins. This will keep insects out (for the most part) and will also discourage animals like deer from chewing through your tomato plants. But you should still keep a close eye on the leaves, as the occasional moth may manage to make it through. If you see holes on the leaves, that is what is happening. You can apply insecticide through the netting to take care of the infestation.

Growing tomatoes in plastic bins is actually one of the easiest vegetable gardening techniques out there. The bins are lightweight, durable, versatile, and a cinch to work with. Once you start growing tomatoes with success, you may decide to start planting other vegetables as well. This is an excellent urban gardening technique which makes it possible to enjoy fresh homegrown vegetables no matter where you live, even if the only space you have is a small patio!