Cher's Hanging Tomato Experiment

July 27, 2006 - This picture shows the top of my hanging tomato experiment.  These are two large window boxes on a 9-foot terrace. I put these tomatoes in a bit late on purpose.  I like to have plants bear fruit at different times.

Above the window boxes is my fenced-in garden, which has 11 raised beds and a cold frame surrounding a pool. Only a few tomatoes are growing up there this year, as I wanted to try this experiment. The tomato plant growing up there is a "volunteer" that I didn't have the heart to pull up.

All of these are heirlooms that I started with seed obtained from the Tomato Fest in California.


Finally, on the far right, is the burlap-lined hanging basket that I demonstrated how to make earlier >>.

 At left are the various types of planters with which I'm experimenting.  Far left is a simple hanging basket with a coir liner. Next is a purchased container made specifically for hanging plants. The third one is something I came up with myself and it appears to be one of the better ones because it keeps the soil evenly moist. Here's a close up of it after I made it in March:
<< At left is a close up of the tomato in the coir basket.

Below are a few tomatoes in pots. There are three total. The idea with these is to see if the hot asphalt on which the pots are place has an effect on them.

At right is the burlap-lined container.  The tomato vine you see in the bottom half of the photo is actually coming out of the bottom of this container >>.

I put composted cow manure on all of the tomato plants. In addition, I've used Messenger on them. Once in awhile, when watering, I add some tomato food (Ortho--yech, I hardly ever use their products, being organic).  As of this writing, there are a number of green fruit  and many flowers.  No ripe tomatoes yet, but normally I will get my first tomato in the first week of August..