Growing tomatoes upside down
Seems like a strange thing to do, right ? But here is this great article about hanging 5 gallon buckets and letting tomatoes grow from them, instead of growing tomatoes with the roots going into the ground. There are many advantages of this approach, and getting 5 gallon containers is a fairly easy task.
The articles goes through the preparation of the containers for the task of growing stuff in them, including making sure that the containers / 5 gallon buckets are totally clean. Next, holes are made in them, and then the holes are covered so that the soil will not fall out.
The article then moves onto preparation of the bucket with the soil mix, and finally planting a tomato seedling. When the plant starts growing, the bucket is then hung up from a place that can take the weight of the container and the soil.
Read more details, including some photographs at this link.
Jim Appleby from Iowa has discovered several benefits to hanging his tomatoes in buckets. First, the air can circulate better so the plants have almost no disease problems. Second, the fruit doesn’t rot as quickly as that on the ground. And finally, some critters that eat tomatoes have trouble getting to the ripening fruit.
Here’s another post on the same topic (link)
