Topsey Turvey!!

[DawnSuiter]

I just wanted to give another update because I'm so suprised! The pickle plants are already three times as big as they were in the last pic and the bell pepper is forming peppers! Tomatoe is growing happily and healthy looking.

So far it's really working out nicely! I'm really impressed! I can't wait to see if they will trellis along the wire wall, that will look amazing!

Regarding the soil I used. I bought 2 20# bags of cheap dollar store potting soil and 1 similar size bag of miracle grow soil. Used one dollar store potting soil with the half the miracle grow soil and added some top soil as a filler.

 

[karanleaf]

Bodyflight I hope you don't mind But I explained to DH how you had done your tomato and cucumber. He had said folks had been talking so much about the topsy turvy tomato that he wanted to try it. So here is his version.

We will wait and see. I tried to get him to put duct tape in it, but he felt the bag was woven enough it would be ok. So we will see.

Thanks :happy_flower Karan

 

[wifezilla]

I have some heavy duty bags from some mulch and other stuff I bought last week. I saved them to give that very thing a try.

 

[DawnSuiter]

That looks fantastic! Perhaps the pink duct tape was a little much.. but hey.. I'm a girl

SO my bags are coming along, although I think the pickles seem to be doing by far the best of the 3, but I'm a beginner so decide for yourself... Pickles are the left bag, a brandywine tomato on the right and around the corner is the bell pepper

Love seeing everyone's ideas... I'm guiding my pickles along the chicken coop and so far I'm most hopeful about those. The bell pepper is really just growing straight up.. so I don't think it's a good candidate for this type of planting... but pickles & tomatoes are working nicely for sure so far.

 

[DawnSuiter]

An Update.
3 Pickles still growing well
1 Tomatoe has started to flower
and the bell pepper looks the same in size and has 1 pepper growing.. I didn't bother to photograph it because it hasn't really changed. I don't think this method is good for bell peppers.

The pickles are going along the welded wire nicely.. just above the chickens reach and the leaves are shading the bag nicely from the sun

 

[vfem]

I think they look great... it still makes space for you, but I don't know how much you're going to be able to harvest in the long run. Especially if the pepper are so small and developing fruit already?

I think its doing pretty good though given the method (in comparision to growing in the ground*).

 

[DawnSuiter]

I think they look great... it still makes space for you, but I don't know how much you're going to be able to harvest in the long run. Especially if the pepper are so small and developing fruit already?

I think its doing pretty good though given the method (in comparision to growing in the ground*).

The plants in the ground are dwarfs by comparison.. Next year i will for SURE put one pickle plant per bag and run them along all the new coops I have, I think it's working out really well for the pickles.

 

[karanleaf]

They look Great Bodyflight :watering

We have cpoied your Dog food Bag version I call it the Poorman's topsy Turvey or I have called it the recycle version.

But our Greenhouse customers have been fasinated by it I told them where the idea came from.

We are planning on some Cucmbers and another tomato and a few peppers ourselves.

Thanks Body Flight for the insperation row

:happy_flower Karan

 

[chrissum]

Thanks bodyflight! I have been thinking all winter about an alternative to the topsy turvy and always have dog food bags and never even would have thought about them used this way! How was the harvest?

 

[DawnSuiter]

Everything did really well. For sure the bags are only large enough for 1 producing plant. While the bell pepper didn't fruit very much.. it continued to produce fruit late into the fall long after all the others in the ground had quit...

This year I have an A frame to use to suspend bags... but due to sheer numbers required I'll have to go with pickles in the ground. I'll be planting jelly bean tomatoes mostly in bags this year.

I think they are great honestly. What I don't know is if they are reusable next year... my bags have taken quite a beating and I think I may just have to do new bags each year.... but still... once I empty them.. they can become the bottom of a new raised garden bed!