Tomatos Up, Tomatos Down

These are Big Boy tomatos, growing upside down in a Topsy Turvy planter. I bought it for my hubby as a gag Christmas gift, and we decided to give it a try.

This tomato plant was planted at the same time as the one in the red tomato cage in the side garden, and it's way ahead on tomato production. I think it's because the soil warms up more quickly in the Topsy Turvy planter than the ground outdoors does.

We used Miracle Grow potting mix, and we've added a little sprinkle of 'Mater Magic to the soil. My hubby waters the Topsy Turvy every day. We should have some ripe tomatoes soon!

This tomato plant is also a Big Boy, and it has one good sized tomato on it, getting ready to ripen. It's in the square foot garden, with one square foot all to itself.

Right next to the tomato are two squares of cucumbers. They have one red tomato cage to themselves to grow up, and they share one side of the red tomato cage with the tomato. I like having them close together, it makes it easier to train them up the cage, and encourages pollinators to find them. It takes less time and water, too. Can you see the little tendrils wrapping themselves around the red wire of the square cages?

For fun, I put one squash plant into the container with the zinnias I planted from seed. It's a little behind the other squash, not blooming yet, but they still have all summer to catch up and bloom later.

We liked the Topsy Turvy so much, I ordered three Sweet One Hundred cherry tomato plants from Burpee and my daughter got us two more Topsy Turvy planters. We put two Sweet One Hundred plants in the Topsy Turvey planters and hung them beside the shed, and planted one cherry tomato plant in the square foot garden. It's a race! Which ones will have tomatoes first?