By Elizabeth Spence
We heard through the grapevine that Charles Kennedy in Wallace was a whiz at growing tomatoes, so we had to go and have a look! Jennifer and I visited him to find out his secrets about producing these wonderful fruits.
The tomato plants are in the 8 x 24 lean-to greenhouse for the whole season – there is much more control over everything that way, and the system is set up to make all the necessary steps as efficient as possible. The self-watering arrangement certainly reduces the amount of work involved in caring for the plants.
Charles begins with 27-gallon totes.
He then cuts a 6” plastic pipe into six lengths, each 5” long and places them at equal distances in the bottom of the tote. These support the lid which goes in next. Before inserting it, Charles drills two 4” holes and one 1½” hole through the top.
The space between the bottom of the tote and the lid acts as a reservoir for water. Four inches from the bottom of the tote he drills an overflow outlet to the outside. Excess water empties onto the tile floor which has a drain in it.
The next step is to put a 1 ½” pipe through the smaller hole in the lid so that is reaches into the reservoir and sticks up above the level of where the soil will be. This is where the water goes in.
The basic self-watering system is now set up!
Next a layer of landscape fabric is placed on top of the lid with a hole for the 1½” watering pipe to pass through. Then the tote is filled with Promix to within about 2” of the top and it is amended with 10-10-10 fertilizer, lime and Epsom salts,
The trick, Charles explained, is to push the fabric with the Promix down into the four-inch holes that were made in the lid. This means that that soil will be in the water but contained by the fabric so it doesn’t float away. This will act as a wick to draw the water into the growing area.
Finally, stakes are placed at the back of the totes to support the tomato plants as they grow. Note how Charles drills holes in the stakes and pokes wire through to support the stems. Brilliant idea!
The final step is to water from the top for about four to five days to build up the reservoir and moisten all the soil adequately.
Charles starts his tomatoes from seed under lights in the basement and when they are big enough – about a hand high – they are transplanted into the totes. Ones he is growing this year are Roma, Beefsteak and Caiman.
As they grow, Charles nips out the side shoots, called suckers, so that all the energy goes into the main stem. This produces larger fruits, keeps many diseases at bay, and allows more light to reach the tomatoes to help them ripen.
When they reach the top of the poles, Charles pinches out the tops to stop them growing any taller. That’s at about eight feet. If he didn’t do this, they would fly to the heavens, but Charles would still be able to get them since in his professional career, he was a pilot.
Watering is done down the watering pipe about once a week using a weak Miracle-Gro liquid fertilizer. The signal to stop each watering is when the water starts running out of the overflow pipe.
Here are some pictures from previous years:
Charles also uses this system with buckets and you can grow just about anything in them as well. He is growing onions, peppers, garlic and various greens this year. Overall, it’s a very adaptable system.
Everything in Charles’ greenhouse is very practical, very tidy, very clean, very efficient and very productive as well. So many tomatoes result using this system that he produces more than he can use, so he donates the excess locally. It just goes to show – gardeners can be very generous people!
June, 2025
Copyright©2025 Elizabeth Spence
3 Responses
A treasure of very useful information. So simple when you know how. Many thanks.
You are very welcome, George. Amazing what information is out there when you start looking, isn’t it?
As Charles’ neighbour I’ll vouch for his growing system. His veggies are amazing and he shares them with others who are very thankful!