Garden Hack: Repurposed Upside Down Tomato Planter

9 by Becky Striepe on March 11, 2011

upside down planter

We love a good garden hack around here, so I was pretty excited when I ran across this video on how to make your own upside down tomato planter from a reclaimed five gallon bucket:

Upside down planting is a great way to make use of vertical space. The thing this video doesn't address is making sure that your bucket is anchored well. All of that soil and water is heavy, and you don't want the planter to fall! It's also a good idea to place a towel or another bucket under the planter when you water, if you're hanging this on a porch or deck. You don't want the water runoff from the planter to damage the wood!

You can snag a bucket from a local deli or restaurant. Just politely ask if any of their salads or veggies come in five gallon buckets and if they'd be OK giving you one. You'll have better luck if you try at a restaurant you frequent, but don't be shy about asking around!

Tomatoes aren't the only plants that you can grow upside down. Pretty much any vine will work. I've seen folks successfully grow cucumbers and strawberries upside down.

Have you done any upside down planting? I'd love to hear your experiences in the comments!

http://www.ecolandscapegroup.com/ Wells Rawls

I haven’t done any upside down gardening but I would suggest putting a swivel on the wire if it’s located on a porch. It might make it easier to turn. You’ll need to keep rotating it so the fruit grows on both sides. Your right about the weight. It could get heavy.

http://glueandglitter.com Becky Striepe

Oooh what a great idea, Wells!

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Nice and simple concept. What’s the lifespan on the planter anyone know if they last a second season?
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Thank you is post.
Pierpaolo Tagliola

Anyone of you know something about agronomy?
Did you harvest something?
The tomato roots’ like the other plants roots’ and you feels the gravity. Would you growing well upside down? I don’t think so.
I like this site, your green and pallets ideas but please don’t play with the plants and don’t promote the “impossible green”.

science nerd

People have been doing this for a LONG time. The plants like it, as the fruit has been cultivated to be impossibly large on them. It eases the strain on main stalk.

Also, roots don’t go by gravity. They grow where soil and nutrients are present. The way an upside down planter works, gravity brings the very thing the plants seek straight to their roots. There’s nothing terrible about giving a plant exactly what it seeks. Far better than genetic engineering to make something grow without those nutrients.

Not only is it a green project and good, but it makes sense in a physics and biological manner.

You know what happens when you plant a tomato plant the old fashioned way, then water it well? The nutrients are carried down, away from the plant. So the roots keep going deeper. The plant dedicates all of it’s energy to seeking out nutrients instead of producing fruit. A well fed, cared for plant produces a great deal of fruit.

This is NOT new. People with limited space have been doing it for ages.

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Good Job, i love DIY.
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Thanks for sharing.
gen81465

A good place to find plastic containers with covers is at the bakery section of your local grocery store. They have buckets in various sizes from 1 lb to 5 lb size. I use the ones that had frosting or donut jelly in them; they are 3 lbs and are perfect, as they are food grade containers. Just rinse them out and have at it.