Using a Ring Culture to Grow Tomatoes
A ring culture is a novel and effective method of growing both indoor and outdoor tomatoes. It combines the best advantages of pot and soilless culture and is becoming increasingly popular with allotment and garden owners.
You need a nine-inch diameter bottomless pot (the ‘Ring’), filled with about 14lb of compost on top of aggregate. Make an aggregate layer in the bottom of the Ring, made up of gravel and coarse sand mixture in equal proportions and then press the compost down into the Ring so that it makes close contact with the aggregate layer. After planting the tomato, keep watering the Ring and aggregate layer until the roots penetrate into the aggregate. Then, stop watering the Ring and only water the aggregate layer daily to keep it completely damp.
You must feed the tomato, starting when the fruits begin to swell. Apply two to three pints of bio plant food every seven days to the soil in the Ring. This is a simple way of getting some really good tomato yields, and can be done just as well in a window box if you don’t have a garden or allotment.
