Announcing a new Meetup for The FAN Alliance!

What: Upside Down Hanging Tomato Plant Class

When: Sunday, May 16,[masked]:00 PM

Where:
Tom D'Alimonte
4 Chadwick Circle Apt C
Nashua, NH 03062
(603)[masked]

Ever see those expensive kits on TV for those flimsy upside down tomato planters? They're cheap and don't hold up well. Ever want to do one on your own? I did and had great success with my system and got lots of great tomatos and cucumbers! (yup, works for cucumbers too :-) My tomato plant was probably 50lbs at the end of the season and my cuc plant 35-40lbs! I planted 2 types of each in each basket and also had peas and beans growing from the tops too! (provides nitrogen for the hanging plant, so no plant food!) I got plenty of stuff most of the summer, deep into October!

I _THINK_ the cold weather is over ;-), so I figured I'd show others how to do it at the same time, the way I did it. It should be good weather this weekend and we can do it out in back of my apartment on the grass. I figured I'd just show how to do it, but if everyone wants to do it themselves, I could put up a list of things needed.

I worked from several articles I found on the subject, but this was the main one I used:
http://www.instructables.com/id/how-to-plant-hanging-upsidedown-tomatoes/
From info in other articles, I switched to potting soil and put _2_ seedlings thru the bottom, but otherwise pretty much the same. I refined the 'planting' process to make it easier to get the seedling in upside down. :-)

My plants:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=87518

How I made them:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=181763

== Ingredients ==
I got everything from Lowes, back then and now. Home Despot just didn't have the stuff needed, at least at the time. I have
- 14"-16" hanging basket w/coconut lining (also check Xmas Tree Shop & Big Lots)
(get one with some kind of hole in the bottom! Circular holes are hard to find, but 1/2 hole works for 2 seedlings, but 1/4 holes I think will be too hard to feed the seedling thru)
(the baskets are galvinized, yet the chains don't seem to be, so watch for rust later in the summer, they snapped due to the immense weight of my prize tomato plant! replacements at Lowes too)
- Potting Soil 12qts per basket?)
(I got Miracle-Gro w/3 months of plant food - but Dollar Tree had generic 8qt bags for $1!)
- Seedlings (2 per basket)
(I wanted variety, so got 1 cherry and 1 Big Boy for sandwich-style, they got along fine)
(I did dual cucumbers too and I bet green peppers work as well)
- Pea & Green Bean seeds (1 package each)
(these provide nitrogen for the hanging plants)
- Strong hook or hanger to hang planter from
(look for a hook that is strong and comes around at least 2/3 of a circle, so the hanger can't blow off in a strong wind!)
- 9-10oz plastic/paper cup
(to form a hole to feed the upside down seedling thru)
- Bowl, cup, small shovel
(to put soil in basket :-)
- 12-15" wide cardboard box
(to support planter high enough to pass seedling thru and pack soil - pain in the a-- otherwise!)
- Mist sprayer
(planter tends to shade leaves close to it, so spraying every [other] day makes sure they get wet)
- Watering can
(water every day or every other day - can't over water, extra just passes out the bottom!)


Shouldn't take more than and hour or 2. If folks wanted to hang after for a little Wii on my projector while waiting for 3pm volleyball, that's fine too. :-)

Sunday May 16, Noon (rain date the next Sunday)
4 Chadwick Circle, Apt _C_
Nashua, NH 03062

Tom[masked]

Learn more here:
http://www.meetup.com/New-England-Friends-Activity-Network/calendar/13486074/