How to Grow Tomatoes From Hanging Pots
Most people grow tomatoes in the ground in traditional gardens, but growing hanging tomatoes has the advantage of you not having to worry about weeding, tilling up the ground, or bending over in order to tend to plants and pick tomatoes. Use a five-gallon bucket to create a sturdy hanging pot for your tomatoes that is secured to a strong hook or beam in your garden. Bush and cherry tomato varieties are good choices for this unique planter. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Five-gallon bucket
- Saw or utility knife
- Newspaper
- Scissors
- Tomato seedling
- Potting mix
- Drill
- Heavy duty nylon cord
- Water
- Fertilizer
Instructions
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Cut a three-inch hole in the bottom of your five gallon-bucket with your saw or utility knife.
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2
Put four layers of newspaper at the bottom of the planter, so that it covers the hole you cut in the base.
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3
Cut a slit in the newspaper so that you can pass your tomato plant's root system through it.
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Set the bucket on its side, and remove your seedling from its container, gently loosening its root system.
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5
Thread the root system up through the base of the bucket and the layers of newspaper. The newspaper will keep your tomato plant in place until it has enough of a root structure to keep itself in place.
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6
Fill the bucket with potting mix, ensuring that it is packed well around the tomato plant's root system and comes within an inch or two of the top of the bucket.
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Drill four holes in the rim of the bucket and thread nylon cord through the holes.
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Hang the planter from the nylon cord on a sturdy support beam or hook in your garden, keeping in mind that each plant may end up weighing around 40 pounds.
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Water your tomato plant from the top of the bucket. As the soil settles, add more potting mix to bring the soil level back up to within two inches of the top.
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10
Keep your tomato plant watered and fertilized throughout the growing season. As the tomato plant grows, pick off the suckers and harvest fruit as it ripens so that the plant can focus its energy on new growth and fruit production.
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References
- Photo Credit tomato image by rlat from Fotolia.com
