First, let me personally welcome you to Allstar’s brand new Topsy Turvy® Garden Club website. We hope you’ll come back often and participate in our on line gardening community. Vertical grow-bags are the wave of the gardening future and we want YOU to be part of this exciting movement.
Let’s talk about tomatoes! It’s the time of year to start thinking about those delicious summer tomatoes. Oh, the incredible LUXURY of biting into a ‘just picked right off the vine’ sun-ripened tomato. Your tongue says to your brain, “My goodness! THAT’S GOOOOD!!” Just lean back and savor in your mind that fresh tomato sweetness mixed with a slight acidity that can come ONLY from a true home-grown tomato.
I’m from Tennessee, not exactly deep south but close enough to appreciate a true southern delight, the “mater sandwich”. Just lay yourself out a couple slices of bread, slather on some mayonnaise, add a half inch of fresh home grown tomato slices, shake on the salt and pepper, maybe add some sweet pickle slices, close ‘er up and enjoy some culinary heaven on earth. There are so many ways to prepare fresh tomatoes, it would fill a book. We’re going to give you a ton of great tomato recipes on this website. And we welcome YOUR recipes, too. We’re all about sharing, so send those recipes in.
First things first! Now, you’ve got to GROW your tomatoes the right way! Here are some tips for getting started so that in a few months you will be savoring those delicious tomatoes!
- Timing – Start your Topsy Turvy® tomato plants as early in the spring as possible – right after the last frost in your area.
- Buying the right plants - Be sure to purchase healthy plants with a stem the diameter of a pencil, at least 4 to 6 leaves, but with no blossoms. Avoid plants that are yellowing or are otherwise showing stress or disease.
- Planting for success in theTopsy Turvy® - Be sure to leave as much of the plant stem as possible inside the grow bag; the stem inside will develop new roots providing a bigger root system. It is very easy to bend or break tomato stems so plant with care! When you add the potting soil, keep the root ball centered in the bag as you fill. Never pour soil directly in from the bag as you may damage the seedling. For more tomatoes, you can plant 2 seedlings at once.
- Watering - Watering regularly is the most important thing you can do to get beautiful tomatoes. This is very important in using the Topsy Turvy® tomato planter! There is no ‘ground water’ available in a grow-bag. You are the ONLY source of water to your plants. Early in the season, when the tomato plant is small and the weather isn’t too hot, you should water every other day. When the plant gets mature, and the weather gets hot, you should water every day. To test if you are watering enough, lift the grow bag slightly upward by hand. If the bag is heavy, it is well watered; if it is very lightweight, you need to water more. If the leaves are beginning to curl and/or look wilted, you need to water immediately!
- Feeding- Add ½ cup of vegetable time-release fertilizer to the Topsy Turvy® Tomato Planter as you add the potting soil when first planting your tomato plant. This will feed your plant for the first 2 weeks. After that initial feeding, we recommend you use water-soluble fertilizer formulated specifically for tomatoes. Ask your local garden center to recommend the right fertilizer Add ½ cup of properly diluted fertilizer every 2 weeks while the tomatoes are very young.
Feeding and watering your Topsy Turvy® is an absolute snap, using our special watering/feeding port centered in the lid. How easy you ask ? I personally use an empty gallon milk jug, put a teaspoon of water soluble tomato fertilizer (available everywhere) in the jug, fill it with water, then pour the combined water/fertilizer mix through the top of lid port. I do this every ten days or so. It takes about five minutes tops. Once the plant is more mature, you can fertilize this way every time you water.
We’d love to hear any tips you have - send them in through the link on this tips page so we can share them with our other gardeners. And feel free to send in a question – I’ll try to answer it on our Ask Bill page.
Be sure to check back in for my next column as the growing season moves into summer for more tips on growing perfect tomatoes in your Topsy Turvy® tomato planter. See you next time!
Bill