Planting Tomatoes in a Hanging 5-Gallon Bucket

Grow healthy tomatoes from a 5-gallon bucket.

Planting tomatoes in a hanging 5-gallon bucket will keep away invasive weeds. The tomatoes grow upside from the bottom of the bucket, and they allow you to grow them without digging up your landscape. Find a location to hang your bucket that will provide an adequate growing environment for your tomatoes, including plenty of sunshine. Once you prepare the bucket properly, you will reward yourself with healthy tomatoes.

Things You'll Need

• 5-gallon bucket (with handle)
• Drill
• Tomato plant
• Thick rope
• Screw eye
• Peat moss
• Potting mix
• Fertilizer

Instructions

1. Turn the bucket over so that the opening of the bucket faces the ground. Locate the center of the bucket, and then drill a hole 3 inches in diameter.

2. Trim the tomato plants to fit in the hanging bucket. Remove the bottom leaves, but keep the top leaves on the tomato plants.

3. Flip the bucket over. Attach a thick rope to the handle of the bucket. Tie a secure knot, and hang the bucket from a screw eye inserted in a ceiling or post. The location where you hang the bucket will need to support at least 60 lbs. of weight, and you will need to hang it at least 8 feet from the ground to give the tomatoes plenty of room to grow.

4. Remove the tomato plant from its pot. Place the plant into the drilled hole so that the root stays inside the bucket, and the plant hangs from the bottom. Hold the plant in place, and place peat moss around the plant's stems and roots.

5. Pour potting mix into the bucket. Mix in fertilizer to give your tomatoes food. Leave 1 inch of head space in the top of the bucket.

6. Water the bucket to keep the soil moist. Continue to water the tomatoes periodically to prevent the soil from drying out.

References

• Old Fashioned Living: Growing Tomatoes Upside Down
• TomatoGardeningGuru.com: How to Plant Tomatoes
• 3Mutts.com: Growing Tomatoes in 5-Gallon Buckets