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topsy turvy (Photo credit: looseends)

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Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter - What is it?

I love to cook, and I've recently been experimenting with making my own homemade salsa and pasta sauces. Obviously, I've been using tons of canned tomatoes in the process. A friend at work recently brought me a few home-grown tomatoes, and I asked her how she possibly had time to grow tomatoes herself. She said she's been using a Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter. I was instantly interested in finding out more. I thought that would be a wonderful way to save money on buying tomatoes at the market, and have much better home-grown tasting tomatoes at the same time.

The Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter is a simple planter that allows you to plant tomato seedlings upside down. The roots stay in the planter and the plant hangs underneath. The sun warms the planter, which acts like a greenhouse. This makes the roots very happy. When you water, it allows the moisture and any tomato food you use to drain directly down onto the plant.

I bought this back in April, and I decided to plant cherry tomatoes in it. You can put three plants in each planter. You can even mix different tomato varieties, or even grow other vegetables or herbs. But, for my first try, I decided to stick with small tomatoes. A few weeks ago, my plants just exploded! My plants grew so fast, and then tomatoes started popping up- I have picked probably a hundred tomatoes so far and we probably have a hundred more ready to pick! The vines are almost touching the ground! I can't even describe how wonderful they taste!

Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter Issues I had
I have a small garden, and I wasn't sure where I was going to hang my planter. But, I have an old clothes line in the backyard (which I've been begging my husband to get rid of for years) which ended up being absolutely perfect for hanging my Topsy Turvy from. The only con has been that the planter does get pretty heavy with 3 plants, dirt, and water, so you have to have a good sturdy hook to hang it from. My clothes line ended up needing a bit of reinforcement, but it's working just great now.
For the first several weeks, I was afraid it wouldn't grow. I followed the directions and watered my plants twice a day. I noticed about midway through the first bloom that some of my tomatoes were splitting. I read that this sometimes happens due to over-watering, so you'll need to figure out how much water works just right for your location. I adjusted how much I was watering, and the problem went away. Very easily fixed.

Benefits of the Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter
Easy to set up and use Grow your own ORGANIC tomatoes Mix and match different tomatoes Works for growing fresh herbs or other vegetables Grow three plants in each planter (up to 30 lbs) Hangs on a deck or balcony for patio gardening

Eliminates:
Use of pesticides you don't get any normal garden pests Caging and staking like for normal tomato plants Digging, weeding and other hard garden work

Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter - Final thoughts
For me, this is the easiest way to garden. My Topsy Turvy tomatoes are growing faster and fuller than my other potted plants. I love the fact that I don't have to worry about pesticides or weeding. Since this can work for other vegetables and herbs, I can't wait to try some more kinds of plants. I have grand plans for having a whole garden full of Topsy Turvy planters. I think they even have a strawberry planter. I'm very happy that it has turned out this well, I'll have enough cherry tomatoes for ALL my summer salads, salsa, and pasta sauces. I might even try some canning so I can have my own home grown tomatoes all year long.

Diane English
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