Along with all our fancy flowers, we did finally get our vegetable garden planted. We don't have a very big area to work with--just a 20 x 20 patch between the garage and the storage shed that gets more shade than we'd like. Still, it's nice to be able to have some fresh veggies come harvest time, so we grow some tomatoes, peppers and squash along with a raised bed strawberry patch. This year I decided to try some Upside down Tomatoes. So far they seem to be doing quite well. We've got six different varieties going in buckets hung from a metal frame and the whole contraption is hooked up to a drip watering system set on timers so there is essentially no maintenance. Besides, since the plants aren't on the ground the fruit will be less subject to end-rot and I won't have to bend over to pick them - just walk up to the plants and fill my baskets. Works for me!
Of course my dear husband had to plant HIS tomatoes the old fashioned traditional way just to see whose would do better. He says that plants are "geotropic" meaning roots naturally follow gravity and want to grow down rather than up. I say the roots will go where ever the dirt and water is and if that happens to be up, so be it. We'll see how it turns out as they get going...so far he's finding he has to fight with all kinds of grass and weeds and I don't at all. That all by itself would make it worth growing in buckets if you ask me. I'm wondering what else I might be able to grow upside down next year. Cucumbers maybe?
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