Farmer Wolf

My wife got one of those Topsy Turvy planters for her birthday. Somehow this gift to her turned into a project for me.

So, i think i'll blog about my experience with growing tomato plants upside down.

Step one. take the whole thing out of the package and read the instructions. They're in spanish. Hmmm.... is this telling me something? Are the producers of this thing thinking that only the spanish speaking folks in our country will actually use one of these things? Not sure. Well, the pictures that went with the spanish are mildly helpful.

Step two. go online and find someone else that has used one of these things and get some instructions in english. Phew... this is actually pretty easy, and the word on the street (or web in this case) is that these upside down growers actually work. Well. that is that this blog is for. I am one of those "have to see it to believe it" kind of people. I'll believe that this works when i get my first tomato.

Next step. after reading online about what i need to get, i put together my list of things to buy and head off to Home dePOT. My list contains the following. 1 big iron planter hook (the kind you put into the ground, is about 5 or 6 feet tall and ends in a kind of shepherds hook. perfect for hanging a topsy turvy pot on. 2. dirt (get whatever strikes your fancy 3. tomato plant. I was tempted to get the beefsteak or big boy tomato... but i envisioned some huge set of tomatos growing so big that it broke my big iron planter hook (see item #1). I went with the standard tomato.

Step 4. get all the stuff home. put big iron hook into the ground. or in my case firmly wedged between two boards of my porch. I live in a condo with a small porch on the second floor. I'm sure the condo association will appreciate my efficient use of the gaps between the boards of the porch.

Step 5. put the tomato plant into the upside down planter. This wasn't as difficult as i thought it would be. basically you "thread the needle" with the plant. push the leaves and stem through the hole. be gentle. this tomato plant is supposed to bring you sustenance soon. put the small sponge like stopper around the stem so that only the stem shows through the hole in the bottom of the planter. sounds odd, but if you could see the spanish noted pictures that accompanied the planter, you'd know what this looked like. basically the stopper keeps the dirt from escaping once the planter is turned upside down.

Step 6. turn the planter upside down and hang it on the previously mentioned iron hook.

Step 7. start filling the planter with dirt. WOW this thing takes more dirt that I had envisioned. And dirt is heavy. Good thing I went with the iron hook. Nothing is breaking that. Bend - yes. Break -no.

Step 8. put the top on the planter. it is a neat little top with a hole in the middle that actually is a bit concave so that when it rains it collects and funnels water into the planter. very clever.

Step 9. Act like rain and water your new plant. Actually you will be watering the dirt in your planter until it gets all the way to the bottom of the planter to water the plant. you'll know you've put enough water in when it starts to leak out the bottom. if your plant could speak it would be saying... splutter..spkekj.. enough water!

Step 10. stand back and admire your handywork

Step 11. have wife come by and critique her present and ask if stuffing the iron hook into the porch slats was a good idea. say 'yes honey" and then go inside and play some bioshock 2.