Wednesday, June 16, 2010

The Upside Down Tomato Thingy Experiment

So, I mentioned in my last post that I was growing my tomatos (or is it tomatoes? I'll check with Dan Quayle) in those upside down thingy's this year. I got several remarks implying that I may be wasting my time. I decided to research the things.

I discovered that opinions seem to be split right down the middle. About as many people who swear by them, think they are a scam. But the nay-sayers think that the people who say they are wonderful are really secret employees of the company who are faking their positive reviews.

Whew! I didn't know what a hornet's nest I had joined up with.

I just want to pick a tomato/tomatoe for my BLT later this summer. I haven't had a lot of luck in our soil growing them in the ground. I have lots of hanging space on my deck. So I just thought I'd give it a try.

I planted the first one, a Roma variety, a couple of weeks ago. It has grown a lot which is impressive considering our weather has been so cold.
The vines do seem to be growing upwards that makes me feel a little bit sorry for it, like it is having to work extra hard or something. But it is about 4 times bigger than it was when I started.

I decided to expand my little experiment, so tonight I planted a BeefSteak variety. It looks a little scrawny right now - it's going to have to flex those vine-y arms and grow some muscle to live up to its name.



My research stressed the importance of watering every day. Apparently, the water drains faster which makes sense, since it is upside down and all. So far that hasn't been a problem since it has been raining about every two hours in this desert land for the last 3 months. I am also supposed to fertilize it regularly.

So stay tuned. I'll keep you updated with the progress of my experiment. I tell ya, if things get any more exciting around here, I'm not sure my heart can take it!

p.s. I am not an employee of the Upside Down Tomato/tomatoe Thingy factory and I am not receiving any compensation of any kind for this experiment.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm trying the same thing! My mother-in-law seemed to think it would work and I trust her because she has worked with lots of plants. I'm a little concerned about the plant attempting to grow upward...like what is going to happen when tomatoes start forming? But then I thought it would be a gradual process and eventually the plant would be pointing down when there's lots of tomatoes on it..maybe???!! It is kinda fun to experiment though...I really do hope it works! Beth eats tomatoes like they are candy!

Kathy Schwanke said...

You are so funny, I was laughing out loud...and then I saw that new plant~haha! It will be fun to see how they do. I just love your commentary!!!

Mrs. M said...

I've been wanting to try this myself. I guess the real test will be if it actually makes delicious "garden grown" tomatoes. Those are worth any amount of weird growing techniques I think.

Heidi Winter Tracht said...

Yeah! I want to know, too, how those hangy things work out! And, I am glad to know that the weather is abnormal because every time I check the Nampa weather it is raining! I am thinking, "Really?" I thought I was moving to a "high desert"....

Willow said...

My next door neighbor is growing a tomato in one of those thingies. She showed it to me the other day and it looked fine (note: I am not an employee of the co, either). This morning, I'll ask her how it's going, errrr, growing.

Dawn said...

Too funny! Isn't it amazing what gets us going on controversy?! Our newspaper call-in column is proof positive of that every single day.

I hope it works for you - I'm wishing for some tomatoes (yes, there's an e) that don't taste like styrofoam.

Dawn said...

Me again - I forgot to thank you for the very kind comment today!

Karen said...

I'm trying the tomato thingy this year, too, simply for the love of a fresh sliced tomato for my sandwich. So far, my plant looks like the one in your second photo. There is one little, teeny tomato on it. I also have a strawberry upside down thingy going. It seems to be growing more, but I have not seen a strawberry as of yet. I'll be interested to see how our experiments turn out!