sephira, people used to grow tomatoes in a 5 gallon bucket... with the tomatoe sticking out of the bottom. Drill a hole about 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter in the bottom of the bucket. Hang the bucket so you can work with it. Stick the little plants root end through the hole...you will need something that will decompose like newspaper to wrap around the stem to hold in place and keep the potting soil from running out, also. Fill it with potting soil to whatever depth you think good enough...a 3 gallon bucket might work...you could try both. Water well and hang up... much easier picking and no tying.

No, the I found the 100 gallon tank basically free at a garage sale, and figured I'd just throw it in under my workbench for thermal mass. Then it occurred to me that maybe I could raise Tilapia in it? I'd probably have to heat it with some large aquarium heaters, but then the heat just escapes into the greenhouse right? We'll see how that goes... New question for everyone: I'm realizing now that I did not account for heat/air circulation within the greenhouse (when the vents are closed) and what a temp difference there is between the peak and the ground - I need to pull that heat down somehow. I don't really want to take up valuable roof space (I'm planning on hanging plants) with a large ceiling or even rotating fan for circulation, so my plan is this: Run a couple 6-inch round ducts/PVC pipes along the rafters, from the peak down to the ground on the opposite side (single-sloped roof - see pic link), and install inline duct fans in each to suck the air from the peak down. With each inline fan rated at 160 CFM (320 CFM total), and a greenhouse size of 1536 CF, this should circulate the entire structure in about 5 minutes (in theory). One day I'd like to perhaps dig out my planting beds and install a base of rock/gravel and run the heated air through that to better store heat, but that's not this year... Questions: 1) Where along the ducts/pipes is the optimal place to install the inline fans? Top (pushing air down), bottom (pulling air down) or middle? 2) I've thought it might be nice to instead of simply having an open end at each duct/pipe that simply draws and exhausts air at a single point, that it might be better to install a perpendicular pipe at each end, that ran the length of the greenhouse, and was drilled with large holes that would more evenly draw and exhaust the air. However, will this create to much airflow "resistance", and dramatically reduce the circulation rate? I suppose I could always up the duct/pipe size and fans to compensate, but you gotta draw a line somewhere... 3) Anyone ever done anything like this? Here is a link that might be useful: Greenhouse Photos

Hello grenthum, The first one is Zucchini, them an heirloom tomato and lastly a cuke. The cuke did very well with large fruit. If you are considering a cuke, I would suggest simply planting in a bucket and let it drape over the side. Why waste a good bucket by having to put a hole in the bottom?! IF you do want to slaughter that bucket then simply drill a hole in the bottom and do one of two things.... One is to place a seedling in the hole from inside the bucket and then fill with soil OR second way is to fill bucket with soil, put cover on bucket and flip over meaning onto the cover with the hole in the bottom of the bucket pointing up. Then start your cuke seeds in the hole. When they are a good size OR you cant stand it anymore, simply hang em up. They work, but more interesting to watch than productive. have fun, Tony

I can give you several reasons: There is the sheer novelty factor. "Gee, I didn't know you could do that. Let's try it." Related to that is the conversation piece factor. "Look, Susie! Granny is growing tomatoes upside down." Then there is limited space factor. If you live in an apartment and have only a small balcony, the chance to grow a hanging veggie is a plus. I have been in this situation in the past. In most cases though, I think it is the novelty/something-cheap-to-try-for-fun factor. I am starting 55+ items from seed this year. Unfortunately I find it hard to ruthlessly pinch off and compost extra seedlings. So I always run into the question of where to put all these plants. So I always have a shortage of cultivated places to put things. I always grow more tomatoes plants than I am supposed to and so I threw one of these into my cart, thinking I could put one of my extra tomatoes in it. I can't imagine that there would be any horticultural advantage to doing so, but it means I don't have to toss a plant I have fostered into the compost pile.