To grow a hanging tomato garden, choose the right plants, containers, and soil, and ensure they receive plenty of water and sunlight. Choose a variety that is well-suited to your climate and plant it in a container with a strong anchor point. Fill the container with well-drained soil, choose the right variety, use a balanced, all-purpose fertilizer, transplant and water, pinch and prune regularly, and ensure pollination.
Choose the right container: Choose the largest hanging container possible, ensure a strong anchor point, fill with well-drained soil, choose the right variety, use a balanced, all-purpose fertilizer, transplant and water, pinch and prune regularly, and ensure pollination.
Choose the right variety: Choose a variety that is well suited to your climate and plant your tomato plant into the soil. Water daily, or sometimes twice a day depending on the climate.
Line the hanging basket with coir and fill with compost. Add slow-release fertiliser and plant the tomatoes around the edge, facing outwards. It is essential to keep your tomato plants hydrated by watering regularly to prevent the soil from drying out and causing the fruit to split next time.
Sow your seeds: Choose your seeds, choose your hanging basket, line the basket, and prepare your compost. Growing tomatoes in containers or hanging baskets requires more watering than conventional planting methods, covering the entire plant with soil.
📹 Here’s How to Grow Tomatoes Upside Down
From Start to Finish! I grew a hanging tomato plant upside down in a 5 gallon bucket and the results blew me away! Merchandise: …
Is tomato feed good for hanging baskets?
To maintain a healthy basket, water it thoroughly when it’s dry, focusing on the soil rather than the plants. If your flowers need help, feed them with tomato feed. Water the basket regularly, direct into the soil rather than over the plants, even during rain. During hot summer days, water twice to prevent soil drying out. Ensure the soil gets a good soak and avoid watering when the sun is at its hottest to prevent watering too quickly.
Are eggshells good for tomato plants?
Eggshells naturally decompose, thereby adding calcium and nitrogen to the soil. These nutrients are essential for the growth and development of plants, including tomatoes, which are particularly susceptible to blossom end rot.
Do tomato plants like to be wet?
To produce a successful tomato crop this summer, follow these basic rules:
Water correctly: Avoid overwatering tomato plants during the first week, gradually weaning them down to 1 to 1. 5 inches of water per week. This prevents root rot and other soilborne diseases.
Wet the plant leaves when watering to prevent infections that can cause leaves to yellow and wilt before producing tasty tomatoes.
Water early in the day to allow the plant time to absorb the water before the sun’s heat increases evaporation, making the water application more effective.
How do you take care of hanging tomato plants?
In order to plant tomatoes in a traditional hanging basket, it is necessary to follow the same method as that employed for planting annual flowers. The container should be filled with high-quality potting soil, a slow-release fertilizer should be added, and the tomato plant should be thoroughly watered. In conditions of high temperature and low humidity, it is advisable to water the plant twice a day in order to maintain optimal growth.
What does an overwatered tomato plant look like?
Overwatering tomato plants can be identified by drooping stems and foliage, which can indicate soil excess moisture or the need for water. To address this issue, it is recommended to dry out the soil by withholding water, remove wilted plants, cut off mushy and discolored roots, replant in dry soil, and feed the plant a balanced NPK fertilizer. Other signs of overwatering include standing water around the base, soggy soil or foul odor, white, green, or dark crust on the soil surface or lower stem, drooping leaves and stems, brown or black roots, and raised bumps and blisters on leaves.
Why are my hanging tomato plants dying?
Tomato plants can wilt and die suddenly due to various factors, including lack of water, fungal wilt diseases, tomato spotted wilt virus, walnut toxicity, and stalk borers. Tomato plants require approximately 1 inch of water per week, and a thorough watering once a week during hot, dry weather is sufficient. If an overhead sprinkler is used, water the plants in the morning to reduce foliar disease problems.
Fungal wilt diseases, such as Verticillium and Fusarium wilt, can cause plants to overwinter as fungal spores in garden soil or on infected plant debris. These spores enter the tomato plant through the roots, blocking water and nutrient movement, leading to yellowing and wilting.
Plants can be infected at any stage of growth, with young plants wilting and dying soon after planting. Older plants show symptoms when leaves wilt during the day and recover at night, eventually becoming permanently wilted and dying. Stems of infected plants show brown streaking within the vascular tissues just under the green outer tissue.
There is no cure for fungal wilt diseases, so infected plants should be removed and discarded, but not placed in the compost pile.
Do you pinch out hanging tomatoes?
Tumbling tomatoes are a compact, bushy tomato that can be grown in full sun, moderately fertile, moist, well-drained soil, and can reach 25-30cm in height. They produce cherry-sized fruits and can be grown indoors or outdoors. They require no side-shooting or training and can be easily maintained. To grow, pinch out the growing tip once they reach 25-30cm. Water the tomato well and feed it with seaweed extract once flowers form.
Consistent water levels in the soil are essential to prevent blossom end rot and split fruit. This easy-to-grow and tasty alternative to trailing bedding is perfect for hanging baskets and patio containers.
Can tomatoes get too much sun?
Sunscald is a condition where tomatoes are exposed to direct sunlight without any protection, causing them to become sunburned. This is a common issue in the South, where the days are longer and the weather is hotter. Tomatoes require plenty of sunlight to produce fruit, typically around six to eight hours a day. However, too much sun and heat can cause tomatoes to get sunscald, which is the plant equivalent of sunburn.
Greg Key, a gardener and president of Hoss Tools in Georgia, explains that tomatoes can experience sunscald in all parts of the country, but it is more prominent in the South where the days are longer and the weather is hotter. Jennifer McDonald, a certified organic garden specialist and co-founder of Garden Girls, explains that sunscald occurs with “extreme heat coupled with direct sunlight”.
Do I need to pinch out tumbling tomatoes?
Pinching out is not necessary for plants that grow naturally bushy, as it slows down the growth process and may result in a smaller yield. Determinate tomatoes, like tumbling tomatoes, are examples of plants that do not benefit from pinching out. Monocotyledons, such as grasses, alliums, and most flowering bulbs like tulips, daffodils, and lilies, do not benefit from pinching out as they store their energies differently and the act of pinching removes the growing tip.
Monocots usually survive pruning and send up a fresh stem to replace the cut one. However, for chives, the stem must be cut to harvest and wait for the stem to regrow. To get a bigger yield, wait for the bulb to form offsets that become plants in their own right or plant more seeds. Pinching out can be used to intentionally stunt growth in some plants for controlled growth, but it is not recommended in most cases.
How many tomato plants can I put in a hanging basket?
Tomatoes can be planted in hanging baskets or containers once they reach 10cm tall. From April, they can be grown in containers and covered with horticultural fleece. Fill the containers with moist compost, bury the roots deeply and water well. Place the containers in a sunny, sheltered spot. Water regularly to keep the compost moist, especially in hot weather. As fruits start to form, feed the plants with liquid tomato food. Remove old leaves as they yellow to allow light and air in. The first tomatoes should be ready by the end of July. The fruits should be ripe before picking to maximize their taste.
Are banana peels good for tomato plants?
The banana peel is a rich source of potassium and calcium, which are beneficial for plants such as tomatoes, peppers, and flowers. Additionally, they inhibit the development of blossom end rot in tomatoes. The cookie policy of Yahoo, which is part of the larger Yahoo family of companies, is utilized for a number of purposes. These include the provision of services, user authentication, the implementation of security measures, the prevention of spam and abuse, and the measurement of user activity on the company’s websites and applications.
📹 HANG’EM HIGH Tomatoes! EASY Lazy Way to GROW at Home!
In this video, I show you a new easy way to grow tomatoes by hanging them high and letting the plants flop down. No staking, no …
G’day Everyone, I hope you enjoyed the article, and I wanted to give a big shout-out to all of you whom I’ve met out and about lately! It’s always nice when someone says hello, so thanks to you all for your support, and if you see me at the local nursery or wherever don’t be backward in coming forward to say G’day. Cheers 🙂
I’ve grown tomatoes this way for years and it works wonderfully. The natural tomatoe plant in the wild is a vine which creeps along the ground, upright/supported plant growing is a human thing. I also find that once the plants fruit, extra phosphorus makes far better tomatoes and a little extra calcium prevents blossom end rot. Excellent as always Mark 👍🇦🇺🇬🇧
Hanging baskets come with their own snap on tray in the bottom which save run off water. A DIY idea is to use two 2-gallon plastic buckets to make a self wicking bucket system. Double stack them and dill holes in the bottom of the top bucket, so the space between the two buckets become a water reservoir. You should adjust this spacing to get the desired size of reservoir you want, and use machine screws to hold the two buckets together. Also need one big hole drilled just below the top bucket so excess water in the reservoir can spill out. Currant-sized tomato variety are good for hanging baskets as they have a more sprawled out growth habit.
This article came at the perfect time Mark. I have about 100 10 litre containers from my daughters work place and I’ve been soldering holes in the edge and hanging them off my colourbond fence here in South Australia …I have many volunteers from last year and my two earliest ones are covered in fruit already. I lost one branch but it broke while repotting so I’m not blaming it on growing downwards . I’m trying cucumbers and zucchini as well to hang down. Last year I watched too many YouTube articles and cut off all my suckers and had so much less fruit so this summer im going to embrace wild growing more and see how it goes 😊
You have proven my designs for having raised platforms (quasi-flat kitchen step stool ladder platform). Put in 4 tall stakes, and put on a platform. Can put in cross bars for lower vegs needing growing trellises. Put these tomatoes on the platform and drop down. All of the flatlander gardening underground area of the platform can grow root vegs (carrots, beets, …), leafy vegs (lettuce, celery. …), bulb vegs (onions, garlic, leek), vine vegs (beans, peas, squash, melon, cucumber. armenian, bitter melon, kiwi, gooseberry, currant, (can also hang these down from platform), fruiting vegs (chili, pepper, broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant, okra, …) So a flatlander can actually have a double garden with stepped platforms throughout the grow area. And interspersing the different veg types with other veg types in this design, one can maximize their space with root vegs, shady vegs, full sunlight vegs, low vegs, high vegs, … almost to the point … far better than square foot gardening !
I also grow my tomatoes this way, hanging off of my balcony. I have 4 plants per pot, they do snap a little when they go over the edge as you have shown but the plant can heal it very well (none of mine died and I have about 20 plants). My experience was – the plants are very healthy, they have tons of fruit and very easy to care for.
perhaps adding on old bicycle wheel at the bottom of the bucket to the hanging vine has a bit more support could help reduce some of the stress on the main stem, whilst also helping the vine to spread out further! as for remembering to water, maybe just adding a simple sign at eye level as a reminder?
Two 55 gallon drums stacked. Two thirty gallon drums stacked inside to take up space. Filled with light soil. A simple cattle fence section cut to square on top with wood supports for a trellis. An angle grinder with a cutoff disc can make cuts in the side to hammer in for additional growing spots (think basil and cilantro).
That’s perfect timing! I’ve just planted tomatoes (and climbing beans) at the top of a 4 foot high retaining wall, intending to let them ‘fall’ down the wall so they are easier to harvest from below, rather than bending down from the path on the top side of the retaining wall. I’m in brizzy too (Logan) but on a steep slope. I’ve been coveting your tall birdies beds for years but can’t justify the cost of replacing the ones I have now. Yet. Thanks again for letting me know I’m not the only one with totally crazy ideas 😵💫😵💫😵💫
You could always rig up a 4inches pvc pipe as the post, have a water tray on which the post with holes at the bottom sits. A hole at the middle of the tray..to direct the water into the pipe. More pvc pipes, joined together with elbows and Tees would give the whole contraption stability from the wind . This is just an idea that popped into my head… I have not tried it!! Great website
Hello Mark, from here in Country Vic. Send a bit of warm weather down here. My Dwarf beans are a bit slow this year. I usually get 3 crops in the one bed (one, after the other). I’ve got 33 GROSSE LISSE plants in & 10″ tall. I am making a bed for another 50 GROSSE LISSE (cricket ball size) from seeds I saved. everyone needs 80 TOMATO PLANTS LOLOL.
A trick I learned is to train the stems to curve downward, by tying them to a stick leaning sideways, or even simply resting a piece of wood gently on the stems to encourage them to grow more horizontally, if that makes sense. Though the tip of the plant will still want to go upward, the main stem will be prevented from possibly falling over and breaking. Once they’re growing, the weight will keep them going down, but the stem will be strong and unbent. 🍅🤗
I’ve seen some evidence that nightshades like tomatoes do well interspersed with alliums like onions or garlic, that the alliums are great at repelling bugs and such that target the nightshades and that the two benefit each others growth in terms of soil contributions, something I’m looking to try myself once I’ve got my backyard established
Mark I’d plant the tomato plant sideways or diagonally across the pot even 2 of then. This way they would grow out and over the side which less chance of folding or breaking at the edge of the pot. Or another way cut two holes 1 each side just under the rim and lay plant acrocc the put under the dirt so you don’t have the rim to worry them at all. Happy experimenting.
I actually used the topsy turvy’s when they first came out. I planted cherry tomatoes in them through the hole in the bottom – had no trouble with any fugus or mold or anything. they did great. also tried eggplant. Did ok just not very big The problem was the pots themselves are not deep enough so I started making my own and had tomatoes out the bottom and strawberries on top. Like in the picture you have to have a deep pot so the roots can expand. Just an fyi
Mark, I’ve been unable to keep up with your articles (that whole world going nuts thing). I missed your style & smile. Greenhouse finished and I’m using this idea, with home made water jars (inverted beer bottles with punctured screw on cap – Mickey’s is my choice). I’m vertically challenged, so I use step stools / ladders often.
What a great idea Mark. I think a plank across two posts or on a fence might work well! And it’s nice to see you looking so healthy and strong again!! That flu didn’t stand a chance with all the nutrients and vitamins you grow in your garden!! Snow here in BC last night – first of the Okanagan season – so I’ll live vicariously through your website as I plan next years garden. Only pot and squash left to harvest.
That’s an excellent idea. I have a very small garden (18’x2′), and even so had a very successful go with Roma tomatoes this past year. Doing buckets on a board would give me more control, and get them out of the dirt (I tried to tie them up, but ended up with only a foot or so height). I think doing something like an A-frame, with a board on top and rebar stakes into the ground would give me the stability to not have it blow over in the Chicago winds!
I’ve just been considering large hanging baskets, something I could bring inside in case we were to get a hurricane. South Florida gardening can be tricky when you think about all the different things we contend with. Iguanas, hurricanes, humid hot summers, hail, monsoon season, and don’t get me started on the bugs lol. Would be nice to have something that simplified growing tomatoes a bit.
Always looking for better and easier gardening hacks. Thanks Mark for all your research and comprehensive reviews. Getting excited that my “prong” will be arriving soon. TX heat killed so many plants in my yard this year so it will be good timing for a proper workout. Thanks for your role in making that happen.
I tried some yellow patio choice tomatoes this fall and vastly underestimated how much they would sprawl. I really like the plants themselves – they’ve been fantastic producers – but I did not locate them well. I really like this idea! I would use a white pot (or paint the outside white) to help reflect sun. We can get some nasty hot days even during spring and fall. I have a long stretch of fence on the northern side of my yard where I can’t grow much because it’s pretty much 100% shaded; this might work for that area, because I could elevate them higher than the fence. Bwahaha. Hello from Houston Tx. Thanks for the inspiration!
Thanks Mark. I think the single biggest issue with growing tomatoes is high quality, or rejuvenated soil. They dont mind growing up or down or sprawling on the land like field crops here in California but if you dont have TOP quality growing medium, they will not like you!! Personally I like to grow from planters on my patio up into my trellis, my tomatoes dont mind growing “up”.
Hey Mark love ya vids, been perusal for a few years now Mate just wanted to tell ya that I take your advice a fair bit and I pruned for the first time on my tomatoes, just the lower branches as they were touching the ground, and it triggered a substantial growth spurt in them! Also they grew a heap of flowers on them
Plant training will go a long way. If you’re sticking to one container I would go oversized like a 30 gallon living soil container (if it can be supported) then build a frame from wood scrap if available and/or trellis from pvc. I would try to spread out the canopy as much as you can like those horizontal greenhouse trellis. If not just use the pvc as support/guides to move each plant away from the container before they hang down.
Your idea of having multiple plants on the post is something called Vertical Gardening, and I think it’s something to get into. Maybe do like a wide A framed structure with pots of tomato plants jutting out at a 45 degree angle so that you can have just this wall of tomatoes that takes up a fraction of the garden space that would normally grow that much?
Hi there I am wondering whether a pool noodle slit through the core and wrapped around the neck of your pot might give the stem something softer to lean over as it trellises downwards? You could possibly use a hole bit and cut the largest hole you can on either side of the outer edge of the pot and feed your tomato plant when smaller through the cut pool noodle and then into the side of the pot so that the actual plant roots of the tomato are further down in the soil to help keep the roots in the moisture zone? I think I might give that a try myself and see if that works. Cheers Theresa
I love your articles! I do have a question. I noticed that under your Birdie containers, you have some type of black covering on the ground. What is it? I have purchased some Birdie containers and need to cover the ground, and I like what yours looks like. I eagerly look forward to hearing from you. Thank you in advance.
Not finished perusal the article yet but I’m wondering if you can put another pot on the ground under the tomato and it will be watered. Maybe plant in a way the water doesn’t come straight down on top of the plant in the bottom pot. Or throw some weeds in it and you can get a compost tea bucket. Just uncover before watering and cover it after to keep the mosquitoes out.
I’m sorry if this has been asked before. What size pot are you using in this article? I think it looks like a 5 gallon/19 liter pot. I would like to use this method this year for my tomatoes and I want to make sure that my pot it big enough for 2 or 3 plants. Thank you for your help and the fantastic idea!
Interesting idea and experiment. Though I would not do something like this without an automated watering system. And I would install a horizontal board between two poles, like a shelf, and plant the hanging tomatoes in a container that is at least 1 meter (3 feet) long, like the ones that people put on their balconies for growing petunias. At 1:56 Mark said “indeterminate” tomato. Actually, indeterminate means that the growth of the plant is unlimited, and can grow more than 10 meters (30 feet) in one year, on the floor of the greenhouse. The majority of the tomato varieties are determinate, which means that they stop growing at a determined length, and these are the ones grown outdoors, also by Mark.
Fantastic idea; we’ve just moved to a place in Portugal and our garden has a tall wooden stake doing nothing. Plus, a Portuguese pal gifted us some tomato plants that she said grow wild in her garden, so we tried them in the ground. They are so abundant, little cherry tommies that are still producing now, but the plants have expanded to take over the paths and half the bed and I was wondering how to rig them to grow more off the ground. I’m just unclear from the article how the bucket fixes onto the post? But I think I have found my growing solution…thanks!
That’s a good idea for a cherry type tomato and I might try it next year. The big slicers would break the branches and I grow more of those for canning and fresh eating, I think tomato sandwiches are the best sandwich out there. From experience we eat things in the southern United States that people think are weird.
Oh I really enjoyed this article Mark! We very recently moved from the country into town and so container style gardening will be what I must do until we can find another smaller country property to buy in the future. I rent and there are some rules about gardening I must follow, but container gardening is fine! What a easy way to grow cherry tomatoes, wow!
I use large squared fencing wire about 2 meter high and 1meter wide grow 3 to 4 plant in the thing and fet the over hang. I need to invest in better system due to ageing wire as i had it lying around when not used for tomatoes it does beans and snow peas. My tomato on ground are growing incredible ran out of time to stake them 😂
Hi Mark. Love your work – thank you for everything you do. I’ve just joined a community garden with my partner and this idea is perfect to maximise our growing space. Quick question – how do you think a horizontal plank with several pots atop would cope with high winds? Have you had a chance to try this?
I was envisioning using a long trough planter with a rounding trellis attached to one side to prevent sharp bends. Then we could have our plants over the trellised side and water from the other side. We could also run the drainage out one end of the box and collect it to use again. The poles might be better at about 6 feet high, being long enough for the vines and low enough for easier work. Of coarse, the vines could be cut at about a third of the way down so that they will branch out.
the 5 times i used a upside down method i would use a waterproof foam disk, cut a slit to the center and slide it over the base of the tomato plant and another slit into a round container all the way down and create a hole at the center(half the size of the disk) on the bottom for growth. then with someone holding the container open, you slide the upside down pot over the existing pot(with a little bit of extra soil around the edges of the smaller pot) and then tap the side along the crap to keep water in and 1-2 times around the pot to keep it closed. then simply hand the pot with some hooks from a balcony or other raised structures and your set. i also add a drain mesh to the drain holes to avoid soil loss.each time i have done this(except one) i had wonderful results and i even had a large container of strawberries under the hanging tomatoes to catch excess water. the only time i had an issue was with the larger tomato variety(Big Ben). since the plant was mostly upside down the “elbow” above the fruit was facing the wrong way and resulted with the fruit falling way to soon as it got to heavy.
This article got me thinking. I have a physalis angulata weed growing in my backyard. It’s a native “weed” but it’s also a nightshade that produces edible fruit. They’re like tiny tomatillos. If that’s a nightshade and it’s doing perfectly fine sprawling all over the ground. I wonder if our tomatoes would do the same thing? I’ve seen articles of people who have tomatoes that self seed and grow all over the ground and the person will say “this is the best looking tomato plant in my garden”. So that makes me wonder if all this effort for keeping tomatoes off the ground is futile. I know there’s practical reasons like space of course. You can grow way more plants vertically than if you just have tomato vines crawling all over the place, but maybe I’ll section off a part of the garden for an experiment.
I can see a problem when it comes time to empty the soil out of the pot, since the screw holding it to the post are buried under the soil. We visited Fat Pig Farm a few years ago and they had their tomatoes growing up twine that was on a pulley system. When it was time to harvest, they just lowered the whole plant to the ground. I wish I’d thought of that when I planted our vanilla, as climbing up a ladder to hand pollinate the flowers was a real pain.
I am concerned with the clean up. That end of season when the pots are emptied and cleaned for the next crop. Seems like it would be more work taking everything down, clean and replant. I would rather trellis plants I think. Not sure if in the long run you are saving yourself time/effort with this system. But is an interesting concept, just needs tweaking. Instead of fastening to the bottom with screws, perhaps set into something so pots can be lifted out if needed? Lots to think about.
lower the post some and I would do 4 hoops holding containers off the sides like a basket ball hoop (18″) at the base the post could be shored in like a deck post and that would be enough. rope bins from the hardware store are usually about $10-15(US) and can be aerated and drained. they are standard 17″ in side so at the lip would be about 19 which would hit the rim perfect. if you did a base of rock on the first 1-2″ and a single drain flange (1′) you could tube down the water into more containers in series down the post. If you do only two hoops either side then bridge the tops of the posts of 2 or more for stability going off the non plant sides or use anchor stakes like a power line.
Tomatoes already easy…put em in a planter and watch them grow. I did some this year, didnt even water them or anything. Just put em in a planter and left em. Gonna go pull the last ones off today as we got a bit of frost finally so they will be bad if i dont. Also…slugs like certain plants more than others…give em what they want and they will leave your tomatoes and lettuce alone. Also…just thought i would mention…grapes were crazy this year in southern ontario, canada. I would say 10 times the amount of wild grapes as last year. I only mention them because they could also be planted to grow up these posts. They do take many years to start giving grapes though.
First off it’s not user friendly. You have to use a ladder to put plant food nutrition fertilizer into the container. You don’t say anything about that in your article I grow 100 hundred tomato plants in my backyard every year and needs fertilizer plant food designed for tomatoes plants every three to four weeks. When the water drains out you have to water more frequently. Who in the hell wants to climb a ladder to grow a tomato plant? 👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻