How to Grow Tomatoes Upside Down in a Hanging Basket

'Tis the season grow tomatoes in our garden. Many people, especially these days, are planting a vegetable garden in order to save money, and also live healthier. Some of the easiest vegetables to grow are tomatoes. One tomato plant can produce dozens of juicy tomatoes, not mushy like the ones you get in the grocery store. Now, because you may have limited space to garden, or because you have had terrible problems with cut worms and pests eating away a tomato at a time, you may be looking for an alternative to planting your tomatoes in the ground. Two words, hanging baskets. Yep, that's right, just like the infomercial, except not. A little unconventional, but effective. This article will give you the easy steps to set up your hanging tomatoes.

Things You'll Need

• Hanging Wire Baskets
• Tomato Plants
• Coconut Husks
• Organic Potting Soil
• Somewhere in the Sun to hang your Baskets

Instructions

1. 

   First, you'll need to go to your local gardening store or big box store like Home Depot or Lowes. You'll need to purchase wire hanging baskets, each basket will usually hold a couple of tomato plants. If you don't already have your tomato plants that you have grown from seeds, pick some that are about 5-8" in height. The next thing you will need is coconut husk. Any good garden shop should have it, it will be in bags. You will need enough to line the entire area at the bottom of your basket. Finally, purchase organic potting soil. No reason to have anything other than the best and safest vegetable garden. Your tomatoes will taste even better!

2. 

   Once you have all of your supplies, go home and decide where you will hang your tomato baskets. It will need to be a place that has plenty of sun, and also somewhere the water, that may drain from your tomatoes when you water them, can go without damaging furniture, etc. This could be a mount on the side of the house, under the eaves of your roof, or at the edge of a covered patio.

3. 

   Take your baskets and cover the bottom with the coconut husks as tightly as possible. Leave a space for you tomato plants. Take your tomato plants and place them carefully through the holes in the basket and husk that you have left. of course, this will be upside down. Once you have your tomatoes in place, fill in the rest of the area with husk and then above that fill with potting soil. Now water your plants and you have your own upside down vegetable garden.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are having too much water and soil drainage through your baskets, you haven't put enough coconut husk down for the drainage. If you can't and don't want to disassemble your work, try using a Moisture Control Potting Mix.

• You will never need another tomato cage this way.

• Let me know what you think.

• There may be flying pests from time to time, if so just use an organic spray or take a look at my eHow article on killing aphids naturally. It will work on other pests and plants as well.