Growing Vegetables

Growing Tomatoes Upside Down may seem an unusual approach to growing vegetables but there are many  benefits to hanging tomatoes upside down.

The air can circulate better so the plants will have far fewer disease problems.

The fruit will not rot as quickly as that on the ground since they are not in contact with the ground.

 Animals that eat tomatoes have trouble getting to the tomatoes.

To build drilli a hole in the bottom of the bucket between 2 - 3 inches in diameter. thread the leaves and stems through the hole so that it is hanging out of the bottom of the bucket no more than 2 inches of the stem should be protruding out from the bottom.

pack the planting material around the stem so that the plant is anchored. Add the soil into the bucket,  untill the root ball is about 2 inches below the soil line. Add about 2 cups of compost, then fill the bucket with soil up to about an inch from the top.

When you water through the top the water will carry the nutrients from the compost down through the root system of the tomatoe plant. As the plantgrows larger the plant will begin to hang like a bush. This also makes harvesting much easier on your back as you can pick them at arm level.

USE LARGE CONTAINERS

 Tomatoes are large plants when they mature. For this reason, your container size should be at least 12 – 14″ in width or diameter. Any smaller container than this and your tomatoes will not last the season. With smaller pots, the plant dries out early in the season and the bloom simply doesn’t happen. The choice is yours. Whether you want to be stingy now or repent later. Pay for the bigger pot to ensure that you get great tomatoes in August.

GOOD QUALITY SOIL

Use good quality soil all the way to the bottom of the container. By using an artificial soil mix rather than the garden soil; you prevent the soil from compaction. Compaction stunts the growth of the tomatoes and kills them. The soil should also have the right pH balance for the tomato to thrive fully. The soil should be mixed properly and good quality fertilizer should be added at the time of filling the container this is why garden soil is seldom used. Tomatoes need lots of soil with constant watering. You should put in at least six shovels of soil in the container. Any less than that can spell doom for the plant.

LOTS OF FERTLIZERS

Tomatoes need lots of fertilizers, they need at least fertilizing once a week. This leads to great growth and great yield for the tomato plant. Use a good quality fertilizer that’s available. Both organic and synthetic fertilizers are available in the market. You can also use a liquid mix fertilizer, which assimilates quickly into the soil. (more…)