upside down

it all started sometime last summer, when matt and i found ourselves in a tangled mess of tomato plants in our garden, desperately trying to prop them up and keep them secured inside their cages. it seems that no matter what, tomato plants love to just go crazy, and by the time the plant is full-on producing fruit, you're battling it's size and the weight of all the tomatoes, and you're risking damaging the plant when you're really just trying to prop the sucker up and keep it from breaking.

so check it out: we are growing our tomatoes upside down this year. 

a quick trip to lowes for some supplies:

and the rest is pretty simple. you just need some large buckets, and a spot in your yard that gets a nice, full day's worth of sunshine. of course you'll have to figure out how you're going to hang them... i've seen people use a laundry line pole, or even just hang them from a hook on the deck. matt pulled out all the stops and built an official upside-down-tomato-grower's-structure of sorts... but really, you can keep it simple if you're limited on space or tools or whathaveyou. anyhow, you just want to cut some holes in the bottom of the buckets to plant the tomatoes:

and hang them in your sunny spot! the rain will water the tomatoes from the top of the bucket, and you can easily water them yourself if the weather is not cooperating.

so not only do you save on the cost of tomato cages/stakes and the time spent tying + propping up the plant, you're practically eliminating the issue of ants + slugs coming along and snacking on your plants. from all the pictures i've seen online, the plants seem to love it. the plant produces a TON of tomatoes and they ripen so nicely. i don't know about you, but in my world, there's nothing better tasting than a home grown tomato. i'm just thinking of all the fresh salsa i'm going to make, all the yummy slices sprinkled with salt that i'll be snacking on, all the mozzarella, basil, tomato salads i'm going to eat. YUM. hello summer!

Comments

[tricia]

mmm, TOMATOES. god, i love them too. so delicious.

the other day i had a pretty amazing salad from whole foods that seems like it would be pretty easy to reproduce:

-tomatoes (they used little grape sized ones, but i'd guess it doesn't much matter)
-grapes (green)
-kalamata olives (pits removed of course)
-mozzerella (little bite sized pieces)
-basil, i think...can't remember :)

and it was all bathed in a nice olive oil/ balsalmic vinegar dressing.

MMM. supposedly a spanish recipe for spainish food month, but whatever. it was sooooo good.

[kate]

Can you really do that? Wow... I never would have thought, obviously I am not as creative as I thought!
Good job though, can't wait to hear updates of how it is working out... We're growing tomatoes too, but stickin' to the traditional methods, have fun and good luck with that!

[ameliab]

Cool!

~amelia

[kara west]

I've totally seen fancy products for growing tomatoes upside down- good for you guys getting all McGyver with it! Please update us on how it works!

[Erin]

What an excellent idea. I'll have to try this. Thanks for the instructions.

[mj]

wow- that's a super cool idea. now i'm thinking about how i could make that work in my yard. i love the thought of not having to weed them! i live in virginia too, so i know how out of control the plants get when it starts getting hot here.

[Erin O.]

great idea! I'm going to have to try that.

[Christine]

Hey Jen and Matt,
I am so excited to try this upside down tomato thing...we are only just starting our tomato plants now, but last year I had all kinds of trouble with the yard, grubs and cats! so I am trying your suggested trick. How do yours look now? Anxious to know if it is working.

christine

[Katie]

What a great idea!! I've included a link to this on my website today, along with several other DIY Vegetable Garden ideas.

Thanks so much for sharing!!!