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Jard's Garden + hanging tomatoes

15K views 43 replies 31 participants last post by  AT&T 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Well I've started my garden from seeds. This is my first year, and I'm just going with the flow trying to learn as much as I can. That is what it is all about, right?

Anyway, this year I'm growing two different kinds of peppers, some tomato, beans, carrots, watermelon, cucumbers, and some potatoes.

I started them in the Jiffy "greenhouse" and it took about three days to see some sprouts. I have since started moving them to bigger pots, most of them in Jiffy dirt pots. I plan on putting all of the surviving plants into a 12 x 6 x 1.5 foot raised garden, I'm going to build that in the next few weeks.

Here are some pictures of my seedlings.







I also have read about hanging tomato plants upside down, and I want to give that a shot. I have three five gallon buckets with lids that I'm going to build.

These are pictures of my first one.

First, drill at least a 2 inch hole in both the bottom of the bucket and the lid.




Then place some type of media over the holes to keep the dirt from falling out - I used a piece of screen that I had from when my dog ripped up my sliding door.



Note: The only thing better than duct tape is camo duct tape.



The 5 gal bucket holds about 1 CU of top soil. I would suggest you pack it down a bit before you get your plant in there.







A few mistakes I've made so far (and have learned from) is I didn't feed my plants soon enough, and I lost about a dozen from that.

On this bucket I can already see that I should have planted deeper.

Once the plant is about a foot tall, I'll hang it upside down from the handle of the bucket and watch my food grow.

NOTE: I'll also be planting several plants in my garden to compare yield.
I will be doing two more buckets soon.

I will also be growing potatoes with the trash can method. I'll get pics of that too, once I get it done.
 
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#3 ·
Your best bet for posting pics is to go to Photobucket or Image shack and have thenm hosted. Once this is done go to the icon in the tool bar when posting a reply that has a pale yellow back ground and a mountian in it. Click on it and copy the image link into this and then hit okay and its a done deal.

Im sure there is a thread here somewhere that explains it much better than I have.
 
#4 ·
Jard,
First of all, seems our software don't work good with Picasa pictures. But i think that will be solved. Until then, i move the pictures to my Photobucket account, until that issue will be solved. Jard, will be good if you will make a Photobucket account, and host there the pictures. After you put the pictures there, tell me and i will change the links from my account to yours.
I fix also thread name, but please check if my spelling is OK (i am not a native english speacker and i made speeling mistakes :D)
The thread become sticky and you can come later with informations about your garden ;)

Bogdan
 
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#6 ·
I was gonna do EXACTLY THIS. But.... how does the tomato grow through the screen? Like.... why do you even need it? Couldn't you just drill a smaller hole and then wrap a little cheese cloth around the base of the plant? Then it can grow.
Please explain the screen more. it just doesn't make sense to me on where it go's and how it isn't totally in the way of the plant.
 
#8 ·
Well I thought about a smaller hole, but I had to have it large enough to fit the seedling through. I cut the screen to get the plant in there.

The screen is also there to keep the dirt from pooring out when I flip the bucket over. Remember that there is a hole on both sides of the bucket.

Here is where I got the idea. These guys used a coffee filter.
http://www.minifarmhomestead.com/gardening/tomato.htm
 
#9 ·
Well I had my plants out most of the day two days ago, and it appears to have hurt my plants. Most have some brown on the leaves, and are not looking to good. I'm disappointed, but I'll see how they turn out. Maybe to much to early. This is all a learning process for me.
 
#11 ·
An update - I have had poor luck with the buckets. All of them have killed the plants, I think it is due to the wind twisting them about as they hang, crushing the stock. I've built the raised bed, and am now waiting on dirt, it should be here this week.
 
#12 ·
Jard
I tried the upside down planting with 4 tomato plants last year and was disappointed with the results. The plants grew okay, went thru a bloom cycle and set some fruit. Not enough to warrant the time and effort put into the process so after a month and half I took them down, removed the lid and just set them down in the garden. Not much better so I added them to the compost pile. I started tomatoes in the conventional way this year.
 
#14 ·
I saw an upside Tomato planting thing in a Skymall magazine on a trip a while back, through Hammacher Schlemmer. I built my own, out of cedar and made a stand for it out of scrap 2x4s. In the HS description, they listed herbs you could plant on the top, which I did.

The plants are growing, though it did take some time for the tomato plants to find their way into the sun. On the top are Thai basil and sweet basil plants along with a rosemary plant. There are three tomato plants coming through the bottom, though I don't know the variety. My sister gave me a couple and I bought one plant. I'm not really a green thumb, but I thought the concept was neat.

(Ignore the junk in the background in the garage! The pic of the plants is from a week ago, but they were planted about a month ago.)
 

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#16 ·
Nope, I haven't tasted one grown in this way. It's an experiment. Heck, I'm not even much of a green thumb! I do have some itty bitty green tomatoes forming, though, so, they're not dead yet.

The dimensions of the box are roughly 7" h x 12" w x 30" l. From what I've seen so far, it might be wise to make it deeper. It seems to dry out really fast.
 
#21 ·
The upside down tomato plants works best if either you grow the tomato from seed and subject the seedling to some stress or you buy the plant from someone else who does. Upside down tomatoes need a very thick, healthy stem and those that are grown inside don't get those. How I do mine is I put a fan on the seedlings-on for twenty minutes, off for a half an hour. A cheap timer can do this for you. The plant responds by making its stem stronger. the stronger the stem, the better it works in an upside down planter (or anything else for that matter). Most tomatoes are grown inside as seedling (mine are) and then put outside with a minimum of hardening off. They don't get the stress they need to make them form a strong stem. If you grow your own, you just need to subject the plant to some sort of stress, a fan is your best best. If you buy your tomato plants you need to buy from someone who puts a bit of stress on their plants. Look for the thickest stem on the tomato plants you buy and even then you might want to subject them to a bit of wind, lightly at first and then a bit more as they get stronger before you plant them upside down. Any tomato plant, upside down or not, will produce a great deal more if it gets a bit of stress when it is young.

squirrel
 
#20 ·
Jard, you can also use a coffee filter instead of the screen to keep the soil from coming out of the hole. This allows water and air to pass and allows the stalk of the plant to grow without cutting into it.

you could also place a plant in the top. this will shade the soil to keep it from drying out so fast, plus give you more growing space.
 
#30 ·
I bought 2 of the upside down tomato planters last spring . I used one for grape tomatoes and the other for early girl.

They worked great , the plants grew very well. had lots of grape tomatoes , and the others also , but have not had enough sun this summer to get them all ripened.
 
#31 ·
both my mother and my grandfather have given this method a chance but my mother, following the instructions to a T., had all three die on her, and my grandfather had the tomatoes that are supposed to be realy big grow to about the size of the cherrie tomatoes (isnt that the proper spelling?)


hahaha you say
potato
I say
potato
lol YOUR WRONG (sorry guys I couldnt help but go there.)
 
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