Wow, that's seems very clever. I bought one of those $10 planters too. Haven't planted it yet but hope to get it done soon. Have the tomato ready to go, though. I'm wondering if the tomato will dry out very fast in this sytem. It will be fun to try anyway. Good for you for thinking of a new, less expensive way to do this.

Sorry for all the bad info you were given and the wasted $$$ it has cost you and now the many problems you'll have to deal with. Is the Garden Soil a bad idea in containers? Definitely. It compacts badly, drains poorly and leads to plant root rot. Thus the warning on the bag. You'll find many discussions about the other problems it causes over on the Growing Tomatoes forum and the Container Gardening forum here. You'll also find many discussions there about all the issues of trying to grow upside down. It is a passing fad at best and a bad one. While the Celebrity 'might' do ok in a proper sized container of 10-12 gallons and right side up and the Big Beef will need a container of at least a 12-15 gallons for success, the Sun Gold is a HUGE plant - by far the biggest of the varieties you have as it often reaches 4-5' in width and 8-10' tall. It seldom does well in even a 1/2 whiskey barrel sized container without a great deal of extra work and care and feeding. Next year stick with varieties that are bred specifically for growing in containers. There are many of them available. Your plants are young enough and small enough that they can still be transplanted into a proper container mix and proper containers and do well IF you want to invest the money in making the needed changes. Good luck. Dave

I've got bunches of baby 'maters but Alison is right about the needing lots of water. My Stupice (picked up at the plant swap) was the first to set fruit, but I have since spied babies on the romas (from Bakemom), the Lucky Cross (plant swap) and the Big Boy (plant swap). I can't wait till I can make my first batch of nummy, nummy gazpacho!! Oooh, and bruschetta. And mozzarella/tomato/balsamic vinegar salad. Looks like I'll need a bumper crop in order to have enough! Fingers crossed. :) I do have three plants in the ground as well, just in case. Two of those have set flowers but have no fruit yet, and one seems to be very pouty. We'll see what happens there. How're your gardens growing? Did you ever get all of your plant swap goodies planted out? Is everything happy? Gina

I haven't done it and personally doubt it is worth the bother if you are actually wanting to grow many tomatoes. It is just one of those unusual, odd things that catches one's attention....sort of like the tree tomato or the aero-garden. People see the topsy-turvy tomato thing and want to try it for the sheer novelty of it. With a 5-gallon bucket, you'd need a really strong, well-anchored hook to support the weight of the bucket, soil, water, plant, etc. If it really were a worthwhile endeavor, everyone would grow them this way, and everyone does not. (smile) If you want to grow it as a conversation piece, or as a novelty or oddity, why not try it? Just don't have high hopes for a big crop. For what it's worth, if I were going to try it, I'd probably use a semi-determinate or determinate tomato (less total weight) and a small-fruited one at that (for better overall weight distribution). It will be really important to keep the thing well-watered, or any fruit it produces will be more prone to blossom-end rot than a tomato planted in the ground. (However, that is true of any tomato grown in any container--right side up OR upside down--as they tend to dry out more quickly.) Also, keep in mind that most places you'd hang a container might get too much shade and it will need lots of sun to produce ripe fruit. Good luck, Dawn