Growing Vegetables Upside Down

nytimes ^ | KATE MURPHY

[JoeProBono]

IF pests and blight are wrecking your plants, it might be time to turn your garden on its head. Growing crops that dangle upside down from homemade or commercially available planters is growing more popular, and its adherents swear they’ll never come back down to earth.

[JimRed]

...all the roots in my planting were crowding the bottom of the containers.

Starting the root ball high up in the container would give the roots lots of room to spread, wouldn't it?

[AGreatPer]

The ad says you can put 9 plants in that one Joe (#5).
Just ordered one. Will try 3 plants in it.
Did the topsy turvey yesterday.

If nothing else, looks like fun.

I live next to a farm. Stritesorchard.com
Son runs a tractor sometimes.
Gets paid in store credits (no witholding tax) and we eat pretty good at harvest time.

[kevkrom]

I may have to try this. If for no other reason than to keep our new dog out of the plantings (she tore up my son’s school project plants that we transplanted into traditional containers outside).

[Always Independent]

I have one growing now. Plant is growing very nicely and am getting many flowers but no tomatoes yet.

[JoeProBono]

[Oatka]

In Italy, the used to grow their dictators that way as well.

Hoot! It was the first thing I thought of. :-)

It might come back into vogue:

[JoeProBono]

[Constitutions Grandchild]

I got an upside down planter — not the Topsy Turvy, but it has a planter at the top (about 8 inches deep and 1’ square. The tomatoes go out the bottom and lettuce or herbs on top — I chose lettuce. My little lettuces are sprouting up, but the tomato plants (room for 2) are “Big Boys”, so I don't imagine I'll have a large harvest, but it was a Mother's Day gift so not a lot of investment. I just love homegrown tomatoes here in Missouri, so I hoped I'd get at least a pound or two. We'll see. It says to keep it well watered as the upside down planters tend to dry out faster. Fingers crossed

[BenLurkin]

Ping!

[Husker24]

You grew corn upsidedown?

[Jewbacca]

Small tomatoes and bushy plants do VERY well.

[mad_as_he$$]

lol...That is not me!!!

FWIW I think the cold nights here slowed it down. The ground tends to stay warmer at night. It is a real pain having a garden at 5400 feet and only a 95 day growing season. We had frost last night and three out of the last five nights. Oh and it snowed last Friday night.

[Jewbacca]

Yes, I ripped off about 1/2 of the leaves and planted it very “deep” (er, high). Worked like a charm.

[csmusaret]

Square foot gardening is an excellent method when space is limited. You can grow spreading vines like melons straight up.

[mewzilla]

Speaking of tomatoes...

Rosemary Clooney & Gene Puerling - "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off"

[LomanBill]

What varieties of Tomato did you have success with?

[gundog]

Tomatos will root all along the buried stem. Strip bottom leaves off and bury ‘em deep.

[rochester_veteran]

What varieties of Tomato did you have success with?

Grape tomatoes. We used the topsy turvies the first time last year, so we don't have a long history using this planting method, but it yielded a pretty good harvest.

[Neoliberalnot]

All well for certain areas, but I live in the midwest and the violent thunderstorms bring strong winds—see what happens when 60 mph winds hit these suspended plantings.

[pennboricua]

The way you “plant” in this type of container, the root ball is at the bottom.