I soaked some unused adult diapers in miracle grow water - boy do they swell up- and they’ll hold about a gallon. Then I tear open the diaper and remove that gel that formed and mix that in with the potting soil in the biggest pot, foam cooler or tub I can find. I planted tomato vines in there, burying 2/3 of them with just the tops sticking out. The gel reduces drought stress between waterings. So far they look awesome and husky. Did eggplant that way too.
This is Florida, I use fresh soil mixed with rabbit and chicken manure and lots of old eggshells rather than waste time with our sand. Fresh soil with manure - to avoid the nematodes that plague us. Haven’t tried baking old soil, usually I just use the old soil from last year’s tomatoes to grow Swiss chard.
My parrots’ used wood pellet cage bedding goes on top of the soil like mulch to hold in moisture and provide a little fertilizer.
See, this, I would never do. The gel in diapers has harmful chemicals. I don’t think that would be good soil as basically we eat soil when we eat vegetables, and that is what makes them healthy. Good soil bacteria in our guts working our immune system, minerals strengthening us and making our internal housekeeping run smoothly. I would NOT want to eat tomatoes which include whatever toxic things are inside diapers.
Hi! Gardening definitely gives an opportunity for creativity, doesn’t it?
Did you check on the gel’s contents before you used it in your potting soil? I would be worried that there would be additional chemicals added to reduce urine smell which could be absorbed by the tomato plants and into its fruit.
Professional grade vermiculite or coconut coir are not expensive and they would work similarly to the gel, but be able to be naturally decomposed and benefit the soil. The gel might also have a negative impact on the soil microbes and worms, which over time would cause larger problems.
I’ve also used a wicking system for watering tomatoes growing in containers - tearing a thin towel into strips, lining the container with them, filling with soil and planting. The ends of the towel then are draped into a water container and the plant sucks up the water as needed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSrJjxxIvTs
However, growing in the bags was by far the easiest method I’ve done over the last 15 years.