Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Jaybees on June 11, 2021, 22:43
-
Hi
I was wondering if I can re-use empty multi purpose compost bags for growing my extra tomato plants. Ive run out of pots and don’t want to buy new ones. Ive read on blog posts where people have turned it inside out to grow potatoes so hoping the same can be done for tomatoes as well. Been using the bags to collect weeds and then throw them. But would like to make better use of them before I can bin them.
Regards,
Jay
-
Well you can buy tomato grow bags, so why not?
What are you going to fill them with?
-
There's an awful lot of mystery associated with growing toms, and much of it is down to
bunk personal preference, Jay, so I'd do exactly what you say, chuck in any compost/soil mixture, and let 'em go!
When I look around our garden about now, there are lots of tiny tom plants in with the weeds, because I chuck the old compost stuff everywhere after the season! One year, I found a clutch of over thirty plants, where one small tom had landed after clearing the GH, I got them all to develop into healthy plants and gave them to chums!
You can see that I like your idea!
-
Thanks, I had old compost bags which I had bought and had saved them as didn’t feel right throwing them away. And as I started composting last year, so I would be using that along with the leftover store bought compost.
Regards
Jay
-
Don't forget to skewer a few holes in the bottom of the bags for drainage. ;)
-
I grow toms against the house every year in compost bags. Stood on end with the tops rolled down they make ideal sized containers.
-
Nice one, Blewit!
There was a 'trend' for standing growbags on their sides some years ago, which I thought was a good idea if space was at a premium, on a path say!
-
I grow some outdoor tomatoes in old torn potato bags with the tops rolled down, they do not need to be as deep as they originally were.
Have grown all kinds of things in old compost bags including tomatoes with no issues, just make sure you have a few holes in the bottom for drainage.
-
Many thanks all for your input. I’ve made few small holes at the bottom once I turned them inside out so the black bit is on the outside. Fingers crossed now, hoping to get a good harvest.
Cheers :)
Jay
-
Just as an aside, we always wondered why 'growbags' were sold with such garish colours, so used to cover them with green debris netting!
A bag, turned inside out is a great option, so gets over that little conundrum nicely!
-
My father used to buy a new bag of compost, cut it in half, and then stand each half upright so that they resembled two "plastic" pots. So, crack on with your plan, I'd say! :)
-
Definitely go ahead it works well my brother even reuses old bags for life to grow potatoes they are easier to carry so when the potatoes are ready he moves them to any raised bed that needs a top up and empties the bag on the bed to sort his potatoes.
-
We have those reusable cloth grocery store bags that are made from recycled plastic. They wear out eventually, I wonder if the worn ones would make good grow bags?
-
We have old plastic fertiliser buckets, builders buckets etc., full of old compost in various (hidden) places for carrots, parsnips, rocket etc.!
What's not to like about a combination of tiny raised beds, square-foot gardening, and they're not too low down to harvest...! The veg area on the 'actual' garden is about a foot higher than the rest as we chuck all last year's compost on it every year! All sorts of things turn up - this year it's self-seeded carrots, the usual tomatoes and several marigolds...
Those plastic bags of yours are a real way to go!