If you have been interested in trying to grow your tomatoes upside down you may have seen an innovative product sold by Hammacher Schlemmer called The Upside Down Tomato Garden. You may ask: “Will it work for me?” We will have a look at how the product works and look at customer feedback to discover the pros and cons.
The Product:
The Upside Down Tomato Garden is a square 4 foot tall structure made from plastic and pvc. It holds a plant bed at the top that is filled with soil/compost and a plastic base with supporting pipes that are filled with water or sand to keep the structure steady. The plant bed has 4 holes for tomato plants and can also grow herbs upwards. The attractive product pictures show a healthy crop of tomatoes growing down with a herb garden on the top. It typically retails for around $80.
2 Ways of Growing Tomatoes Upside Down:
There has been much interest recently in growing tomatoes upside down. It is a unique gardening technique and can be quite ornamental. It also eliminates the need for staking as the plant is off the ground supported upright by gravity. The most common method of upside down planting is to suspend a container with a hole in the base from a solid support. The disadvantage of this method is that you may not have a suitable support to suspend your container. The alternative method used by The Upside Down Tomato Garden is to provide a free-standing support structure for the plant container.
Customer Feedback:
Let’s look at what customers that purchased the product have said – starting with positive feedback. The good points raised have been that it has been a great space saver allowing multiple plants to be grown in one spot. It is also just the right height for planting and harvesting – no need to bend down or reach up. Many people reported that it was easy to assemble and sturdy when the base was filled with water.
Many of the negative points raised said that the plant bed at the top was too small for more than one or two tomato plants. There was also some concern over the price compared to the standard suspended planters that typically retail for around $20. Many people also struggled to grow healthy plants – this was often due to not being able to get enough sunlight to the plants due to the shadow from the plant bed and keeping the planter next to a wall.
Essentially the customers that were happy were the ones with lower expectations of fruit quality who bought the product for its ornamental qualities.
You can find more information on The Upside Down Tomato Garden at my site www.growingtomatoanswers.com including a more in depth review and other upside down planting solutions.
Mark Shelton is a keen home gardener with a special interest in growing tomatoes. He has shown many people how to grow better tomatoes with little effort and he can help you too! Check out his site at www.growingtomatoanswers.com
