That old timer on my balcony gave me some tough love about my tomato plants

A few weeks ago I was out watering my herbs and cherry tomatoes on the balcony, and my neighbor from two floors down, Mr. Garcia, shouted up at me. He's been gardening on his balcony for over 20 years, so I always listen when he yells something. He told me my tomato plants were too crowded in their pots and that I was being too stingy with the water. He said, 'You're treating them like houseplants, not vegetables.' I laughed it off at first, but then I checked and sure enough, the roots were all tangled up. I ended up moving three plants to bigger containers and now they're actually starting to produce fruit. Have any of you had a neighbor give you gardening advice that turned out to be spot on?

2 comments

2 Comments

jordan1341mo ago

That part about "treating them like houseplants, not vegetables" really hit home because I had a friend Maria who did the exact same thing with her balcony tomatoes. She bought these tiny little pots because they looked cute on her railing and she watered them every day just like her spider plants. Her neighbor, this old Italian guy named Frank, told her she was basically suffocating the roots and that tomatoes need to dry out a bit between waterings. She ignored him for like two months until all her plants turned yellow and she finally repotted them into big buckets. Now she's got tomatoes everywhere and Frank gets first pick of the harvest every year. Funny how the old timers always seem to have the right advice even when it sounds harsh at first.

the_nina1mo ago

Great pot size and proper drainage makes all the difference with tomatoes.