Want to grow tomatoes but don’t have a backyard?
You can grow your tomatoes on your balcony — upside down. Doing so eliminates the need for cages and decreases the threat of cutworms and other pests.
All you need to grow your tomatoes is a large hanging pot — the bigger, the better — and a place to hang said pot from.
To plant your seedling (or full-fledged plant from a garden center, since it’s late this season to start with seedlings), drill a hole in the bottom of the pot. Then thread the leaves and stem so that it hangs out of the bottom.
Hold the plant so that about 2 inches of its stem remain in the pot. Place sphagnum moss or a coffee filter torn halfway down the middle around the hole and then pack soil around the stem to anchor it in.
Fill in more soil all around until the pot is almost full. Place time-release fertilizer near the top before topping the pot with an inch of soil.
Once it’s hung, check daily and water as soon as the soil is slightly dry.
“It’s a little like having kids, you have to constantly check up on them,” said Victoria Anderson, one of Gethsemane Garden Center’s tomato experts. “Make sure you’re meeting the needs of the plant.”
