Second Upside Down Tomato Plant

I decided yesterday that I would plant another tomato plant the same way as the last one, so I went to Lowe’s and bought what I needed.

I got an empty 5-gallon plastic bucket from the Paint section and then a 2-inch hole saw, to cut a hole in the bottom of the bucket. I also purchased a “Big Boy” tomato plant and two packages of herbs, Chives and Basil.

When I got everything home, I immediately went to work. I cut the 2-inch hole in the bottom of the bucket with the hole saw, then pulled the plastic wrapper off of the tomato plant. I purchased a Bonnie’s brand plant which had a fiber pot that you plant along with the tomato plant. Supposedly it deteriorates and allows the plant to continue growing its root system throughout the pot.

After that I filled the bucket with a bag of topsoil that we had purchased at Wal-Mart. It only had one pot of dirt removed from the bag, so it was almost a full bag of topsoil. I then planted the Chives and Basil in the top of the 5-gallon bucket.

Here’s the new tomato plant:

Notice how the plant is already curled. I took this picture about 30 minutes ago. The tomato plant has been planted for about 17 hours and it’s been cloudy and raining most of the morning. But look at how the plant is already curling and reaching for the sun.

I hung the new tomato plant on the same clothesline pole as the other plant. Here they are:

I didn’t have any chain or decent rope to use to hang the bucket, so I just hung it from the handle. The plant on the right, the first tomato plant that I planted like this, is a Better Boy plant, a hybrid of the Big Boy I assume. The second plant, the one in the bucket, is a Big Boy plant.

The Better Boy plant was planted last Friday, and today is Tuesday. It has the makings of four blooms already. Here they are:

You have to look really close to see all four, but they are there.

I’ll keep you posted on how the plants are doing and I’ll also keep posting pictures so you can see their progress.

When I was at Lowe’s yesterday, the guy that showed me where the buckets were asked what I was doing, so I explained the whole thing to him. It blew him away. In the end, he was so intrigued by the method that he vowed to try it himself. Before I had left the store, he was already telling others of what I was doing. LOL They were blown away by the idea too. Everyone is when they first hear about growing tomato plants upside down. I know I was and the idea so intrigued me, that even though I’m not a huge fan of tomatoes, I had to try growing my own this way, just to see how it would turn out! LOL

Keep coming back to check the progress of my upside down garden.

Gary

Tagged as: growing tomatoes in hanging planter, growing tomatoes in hanging pots, growing tomatoes upside down, how to grow tomatoes upside down, upside down tomatoes