Ashley received a lovely gift in the form of a Topsy Turvy Tomato plant. What every gardener-extraordinaire needs, right? Well, yes and no.
You see, gardeners are do-it-yourselfers and generally like to get up close and personal with their vegetable plants. A Topsy Turvy simply hangs there, doing all the work for you. How much fun is that?
Not much at my house–worse, it’s one of those doggone things you must remember to water. Not a good match, Topsy Turvy and I. But Ashley’s a good sport and gave the contraption a whirl. She hung it from her tree and hoped for the best.
Things went well, for a while, but one stiff wind put an end to her tree-hanging tomato experiment and down it came. Crashing to the ground.
Now what? Re-hang it? Send it off to the compost pile? Or move it to better digs.
Ashley voted for the latter.
Doesn’t he look more comfortable?
I thought so and for each visit to her garden, I photo-journaled his progress. Growing alongside her raised planter, he seemed to prosper. Thrive, really!
Until something happened. I have no idea. Could have been the heat. Could have been the drought. Could have been anything. Whatever it was, as some of you may recall (from last week’s photos), he didn’t look so good.
But I told you not to lose heart. With a little love and care this pumpkin (term of endearment) would be back on track in no time.
Ashley was diligent and didn’t give up. Remember: she’s been bitten by the garden bug (a good bug, not one of those nasty beasts that eats you out of home and garden).
She moved the boy to the patio and continued to feed him. She watered and watched and generally lost sleep over the lad’s predicament like any good mother would.
And do you know what happened? That puppy produced! Look at those gorgeous plump and juicy red tomatoes just begging to be sliced and slipped between two pieces of bread or layered in fresh salad greens.
Any you slice them, these babies will be brilliant.
Absolutely brilliant. Can you believe it?
I can. But I’m plum crazy. (Make that tomato.)
I have seen those Topsy Turvy TV commercials and seen them being sold in some stores around here and was wondering if those tomato plants really will produce in our hot climate too. Now after reading your post I guess they do. Although I’m not much in vegetable gardening, I always would prefer planting my tomatoes in the ground or eventually in a container. I wouldn’t even know where to hang them up around here in my garden.
As Ashley’s experience shows, hanging them on a tree branch is not the best solution at all. I’m glad for Ashley her Topsy Turvy still produced after she planted it in a container. I might give that a try next season.
Happy Gardening
Paula Jo
Absolutely give it a try! Me? I’ll try most anything once. Besides, gardening is an adventure!
As to containers, they’ve always posed a challenge for me for the simple reason someone needs to water them. But does it have to be me? If only I could find a water fairy somewhere…
I’d be in business!