You Can Grow Tomatoes in Small Spaces, Gardeners Say—6 Tips to Help Them Thrive

• Research tomato varieties before planting your seeds since some types are not ideal for tight spaces due to their fast growth rates.
• Think vertically when supporting tomato plants in small spaces. For example, tomato cages and stakes to encourage height.
• Improve your tomato’s health by choosing terracotta or plastic with large drainage holes and high-quality fertilizer.

When it comes to growing tomatoes, you don’t need to have a ton of ample garden space to have healthy and happy plants. From staking the plants (helping them grow upward) to growing tomatoes in small pots, there are plenty of ways to ensure the plants do wonderfully despite being in a limited area.

Here, we’ve supplied expert gardener tips on how to grow tomatoes in small spaces.

Understand Tomato Varieties

When growing tomatoes in small spaces, it’s important to understand the different tomato varieties. Indeterminate types—like Sun Gold or Juliette—are vining tomatoes that need a lot of room, Sara Rubens, a certified garden coach and founder of Seed to Sanctuary, says. 

They grow long, sprawling vines and require a sturdy support structure, making them less appropriate for smaller, limited spaces.

“They’ll keep growing sky-high if you let them,” Rubens says. “With the right support, they typically max out around 9 feet tall.” 

This is why Rubens recommends focusing on determinate varieties of tomatoes. These are often called bush tomatoes and are much more manageable in containers.

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Feed the Tomatoes

Tomatoes are heavy feeders, especially in containers.

“They need food from us at least monthly and possibly more often in containers or sandy soil,” Christy Wilhelmi, gardener and founder of Gardenerd, explains.

But the good news is you don’t have to use lots of fertilizer that might inspire the plant to grow beyond the bounds of its containers. All you have to do is know when to fertilize your tomatoes. Just put a pinch of organic vegetable fertilizer in the planting hole when you first plant your tomato plant in a container and mix it in well, she says.

Prune the Vines

One way to grow tomatoes in a small space is to practice pruning. Unlike other fruits and vegetables, tomato plants can withstand a significant amount of pruning and still thrive and produce a bountiful harvest.

If you prune your tomato plants to a single vine, you can conserve space and even use a cage to support its growth, Wilhelmi says. Think of vertical supports, like stakes or tomato cages, as must-have space-saving tools.

Provide Enough Light

Tomatoes are sun-loving plants and they need six to eight hours of sunlight a day to produce ripe, sweet fruits, Julia Omelchenko, resident botany expert at Plantum, says.

But in urban settings, especially in or near tall buildings, providing this much light can be hard. Hence, you will want to observe your space during the day and choose the area that gets the most continuous sunlight, Omelchenko recommends.

Opt for south- or west-facing balconies, windowsills, or rooftops, and be sure to arrange the containers to receive the most sunlight. If this isn’t possible, place the tomatoes on carts and move them to follow the sun throughout the day. You could also opt for grow lights if you don’t want to chase the sun around.

Use Good Quality Containers and Soil

Believe it or not, the best soil and container material can set your tomatoes up for the most success, even when planted in the smallest containers. This is because poor soil or weak drainage—like using pots without drainage holes, is one of many common mistakes of growing tomatoes in containers—can lead to root rot, nutrient deficiencies, and stunted growth, Omelchenko says.

She suggests choosing containers made of terracotta or plastic with large drainage holes. Also, when it comes to soil, use a soil mix designed for vegetables or seedlings. Next, if you wish, you can enhance the soil’s water retention and nutrient content by adding compost, coarse sand, perlite, or coconut fiber, she says.

Remove the Weeds

Weeds are never great to have in garden beds. But when growing tomatoes in a small garden bed, you will definitely want to remove all weeds and thoroughly till the soil right away, Omelchenko explains.

“To improve the bed’s fertility, add compost, and for heavy, clay soils, incorporate coarse sand to make the soil lighter and more porous,” she says.

Follow this advice, and you will have thriving tomatoes even when planted in a petite garden bed.