Topsy Turvy for Your Tomato Plants

I had taken up gardening last year.  I helped my parents with their garden as a kid but then after I grew up, I had not done much gardening until now.  I didn't even think of gardening really until last year, I am now in a house that I am able to do gardening.  My yard does not get a lot of sun as I have trees that produce a lot of shade.  This can be nice on a hot summer day but I had to be a little more creative when I decided that I wanted to start a garden.   I saw many other people buying plants and seeds and I decided that was it, I was going to garden.

My deck is a nice size deck and the top level of the deck gets plenty of sun.  I did some thinking and decided to try a deck garden.  It worked pretty well last year.  I had a few problems with the plants but I then discovered that it was me taking care of them and not because they were on the deck.  I did not know how sensitive tomato plants are to tobacco.  Not making that mistake this year!

I used planters for my plants which worked quite well, using miracle gro potting soil.  I strolled through Home Depot looking at various things for gardening and came across a wide variety of tools.  One of the things I came across was called the Topsy Turvy.

I saw this Topsy Turvy sitting in a big display at the end of the isle, it looked like such a great idea! I decided that I was going to try it. It hangs, so it would be perfect for my deck garden. You hang the plant upside down and the Topsy Turvy acts almost like a greenhouse for the roots of your plants. It is a flexible material, like a plastic tarp. It feels to me like the same material as a tarp. The sun warms up the roots nicely and your plant gets plenty of sun on the bottom.

Last year I only bought one as I did not know how well it would work. It sounded like a strange concept for a tomato plant. I will be going back and buying more this year! You use whatever tomato plant you would like (it does not have to be a certain kind of plant) and grow it from a seed inside your house. After the 6-8 weeks it takes for the seed to sprout and really start to grow a little stronger, you plant it in the Topsy Turvy. You can start it out as a small plant, just make sure it is one with a stronger stem. Do not put a weak plant in it. I put mine in as I was transplanting the others outside. It was still a young plant. I would recommend putting it in there as soon as it is ready for planting outside. I think it would be easier to get the plant in if it is not real big yet.

There is not much to this, a piece that holds the plant in place around the stem. It reminds me of a sponge. It has a slit in it to put it around the stem. You then put the plant inside the Topsy Turvy, the sponge like piece fits into the bottom with the roots inside the Topsy Turvy and the plant hanging down. Just add the specified amount of soil, water your plant and it is ready to hang.

You want to hang it in a place where it will see a lot of sun, as with any other method of planting tomato plants. The roots will take up a lot of space inside as the plant grows so make sure you have enough soil added. Check to see if water is needed each day (probably not but it might depend on your weather.) It really was this easy!

The pictures here show the difference in plants. They were both transplanted on the same day and they also both started out the same size when they were transplanted. As you can see, the one in the Topsy Turvy was growing a lot faster then the other one was. It produced a good amount of tomatoes also. I am not an affiliate in any way of the Topsy Turvy. I only recommend it from my personal experience with it last year, I will be buying more this year so I have more then the one from last year. They are re-usable.  There are pictures on my Deck Garden blog from last year and there will be again this year once it is time to start transplanting.  I just started the seeds a couple weeks ago.  Looking for a way to start your seeds indoors? Check out one of my other hubs for a cheap and easy way: Starting Your Plants Inside From Seeds