The tomato plants in the picture are of the bush type. They were started from seed and grown in a Magic Garden® Kit. One of the plants was grown from seeds from Park® Seed Company, and the other was grown from Burpee® seeds. As you can see, the results are somewhat alike.

Watering is so much easier with these kits. The glass, in the picture is kept full of water, and then water goes from the glass, through the red yarn, into the growing pot, and down to the roots inside. After awhile, the water levels inside the pot and in the glass are the same. In a way, this is kind of amazing. This is because we cannot see the water level inside the pot, but we know what the water level is inside the pot because it is the same as the water level in the glass. So, as the plant uses water in the pot and the water level inside the pot goes down, the water level in the glass also goes down. You don't need to worry about how much water you need; just pour in more water and keep the glass full.

Seeds are planted in the kit on top of the sprouting material. Because the seeds are not down inside soil (or dirt), we can see the roots come out of the seeds in 2 or 3 days (instead of a week when grown in the soil). The roots grow down through the sprouting material into the water inside the pot. Because the pot holds water, it obviously does not have a hole in the bottom, it is dry on the outside, and can be placed anywhere.

The roots grow down into the water in the pot. Plant food, (as Magic Garden® Green™) powder is dissolved in the water in the pot. Pour one package of plant food powder into a gallon of water to make a "full strength plant food solution." Just call it "solution" for short. A plastic gallon container that was used for milk or drinking water is perfect.

The solution is clear and appears green in color. Every week or two the old solution is poured out of the pot and fresh solution, from the gallon container, is poured into the pot.

In about 45 days small yellow flowers appear. When the flowers fade, there is a tiny tomato growing inside!! This tomato gets bigger and bigger, and in about 45 more days, it reaches its full size. Then it turns from green to red, and it is ready to eat! The tomatoes in the picture are about 2 and 1/2 inches across.

Tomatoes like as much sun as they can get. To get the best sun, the growing plants can be moved from place to place during the day. As the tomatoes get bigger and bigger, they get so heavy that they need to be supported by string (or yarn) as shown in the picture. The white frame shown in the picture is made of wood with the corners connected with metal angles. A similar white frame can be made from plastic water pipes. By grasping the middle of the top horizontal piece, you can conveniently move the plants from sunny place to sunny place. Tomatoes can be grown outside when warm (above 40 degrees F.) or inside when cold outside (below 40 degrees F.) When cold at night but warm during the day, the plants can be put outside during the day and brought inside at night. The total light per day that tomatoes need is at least 5 hours of direct sunlight (casts strong shadows) or the equivalent from artificial lights when grown completely inside. By meeting the "at least 5 hour minimum per day," requirement, tomatoes can be grown inside or outside any time of the year.