An email from Dennis Ting:
Back in early November (around Cup Day) I got a couple of Tomato Plants – Tommy Toe and Red Fig varieties and a Chilli - Hot Red variety for my daughters to plant in pots. I cannot keep the dry soil in the vegetable patch evenly wet so have had heaps of disease in the plants the last couple of years so decided to use pots. Also probably need crop rotation as a build up of disease no doubt.
I used some 300mm plastic Terracotta coloured pots (like my fruit trees) and have not pruned out any of the side shoots at all. The principle here is that spreading the vigour over many branches results in a shorter plants (as with fruit trees – e.g. Cherries). I used Debco T&T and a Lucerne Mulch layer to protect the soil from the sun. As you can see they are all fruiting and looking healthy.
On the last couple of hot days I just filled the large saucers with water in the morning. The plants show no sign of wilting and have retained all the fruit on them despite being in the full sun on the hot days.
Not a sophisticated system but it works!
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