Growing tomatoes upside down is becoming increasingly popular - although still much more common in the United States than in Europe.
Being someone who cannot live without her tomatoes (and an avid gardener), I naturally wanted to find out about this method myself and give it a try. I urge you to do the same if you love the taste of home-grown tomatoes.
But I'm jumping ahead here! What is an upside down tomato? Well it's not actually the tomato itself that's upside down - but the whole plant. The upside down method involves up-ending and hanging a container, planting the young tomato plant in the bottom, so that the plant emerges through a hole you have made in the bottom and the root system has to grow upwards through the soil above.
One of the very obvious benefits of the upside down method is that the joys of cultivating tomatoes can even be enjoyed if you live in the city and don't have soil space. As long as there is somewhere you can hang your tomatoes you'll do just fine.
Setting yourself up with an upside down plant is very easy. If you want to buy a specially made container it's even easier and these are widely available. I think though it makes much more sense to use a bit of ingenuity and make your own, by making a hole in the bottom of a plastic planter, a bucket or a large paint or oil canister. You'll need a sturdy hook to hang it from as the weight can be substantial - especially once the plant is loaded up with big healthy tomatoes!
One thing city dwellers may want to consider is combining this with a floral display. Just pop some petunias or other bedding plants in the top of the planter instead of putting a lid on. If you choose a variety of small tumbling cherry tomatoes this will make a very attractive display with the red tomatoes tumbling out of the bottom and the flowers spilling over the top. Make sure you give it plenty of water though as tomatoes are very greedy for moisture.
>> Find out more about making your own upside down tomato planter
