Growing Tomatoes Upside Down in Hanging Planters
You’ve seen those Topsy Turvy tomato planters, right? Here’s how you can make one of your own with a 5-gallon bucket. It will take you less than half an hour to put together, and growing tomatoes upside down is a good way to get the most out of your space.
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Yield: 1
Equipment
- Drill
- 1.5" hole saw
Ingredients
- 1 5-gallon bucket
- Potting soil
- Perlite
- Coconut coir
Instructions
- Combine two parts potting soil, two parts peat moss, and one part perlite for a lighter potting mix.
- Drill a hole in the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket using a 1.5″ hole saw.
- Cut a piece of scrap fabric roughly the size of the base of the bucket.
- Cut a slit to the center of the fabric and place it in the bottom of the container. This will help hold the soil and tomato seedling in place until the tomato plant gets rooted in.
- Set the bucket up on blocks of some sort. This will allow you to place the tomato seedling into the hanging planter without smashing it.
- Place the tomato seedling in the hole, with the leaves hanging below the bucket. Pull the edges of the fabric slit together, snug around the tomato stem.
- Gently add soil around tomato roots and continue adding soil until the bucket is nearly full.
- Hang the planter in a spot where the plant will get full sun for (optimally) 8 hours a day.
Notes
- Because the amount of space for root systems is limited for container plants, opting for a dwarf tomato variety is a good idea. (See full post for link to some good options.) These plants produce tomatoes as usual, but on a much more compact plant.
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