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My upside down tomato garden was a bust. |
| By Molly Snyder Edler OnMilwaukee.com Staff Writer E-mail author | Author bio More articles by Molly Snyder Edler |
| Published Aug. 31, 2009 at 5:20 a.m. |
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There are two Topsy Turvy tomato planters in our yard, and although for a while it really seemed like they were on the verge of abundance, we ended up with only one large tomato in one of the upside down planters and two smaller ones in the other.
In general, we have good luck with vegetables. We share a garden with our neighbors that -- year after year -- produces carrots, radishes, lettuce, peppers, herbs, chard, onions and yes, even tomatoes. But these Topsy Turvys have us wondering if we suffered a momentary amputation of our green thumbs or if the contraptions just don't really work.
On the Web site, they cost $19.99, but at most garden stores, they were $9.99. Still, for 10 bucks each -- plus the cost of soil and water -- three fruits is a pathetic yield. Especially when the Web site boasts they give "up to 30 pounds of deliciously ripe tomatoes per plant."
We might give them a whirl again next year if we can figure out what went wrong. They got plenty of sun, which is key to the process because it's supposed to work like a small greenhouse, and they got plenty of water. (Could they have gotten too much water?)
It's perplexing, and I would love to hear how your Topsy Turvys did this summer. Were they tomato challenged like mine or is it Bruschetta City at your place?
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11 comments about this article. Post a comment / write a review. |
Posted by Captool73 on Sept. 1, 2009 at 6:51 a.m. (report)
We have one--and planted cherry tomatos. Now, we have an abundance of them, all riprening and in good shape.
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Posted by karebear on Aug. 31, 2009 at 4:34 p.m. (report)
I live in a condo with a tiny yard, so these seemed like they'd be ideal for me. But I read a number of reviews on it first, and none of them were good. So needless to say, I never bought on. And as far as too much or not enough water. It's mostly not enough, as it all drains out and doesn't retain the water long enough. So definitely blame the topsy turvy, not your green thumb.
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Posted by Jimmy_Jones on Aug. 31, 2009 at 12:26 p.m. (report)
I have a raised bed with 4 tomato plants that I can't harvest fast enough and I have 1 topsy turvy with lots of green growth, but not one ripe tomato yet. They plants are 5 feet away from one another and were planted within a week of one another. It's the topsy-turvy, not the weather.
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Posted by Crash on Aug. 31, 2009 at 10:54 a.m. (report)
Nothing wrong with Topsy Turvey - it was the weather. We had plants in our topsy turvey as well as planted upright, and we got the same degree of growth in each. Plenty of stalk and foliage, but poor yield. It's not the planter, but other factors such as weather and care...
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Posted by doc40mike on Aug. 31, 2009 at 9:27 a.m. (report)
We have three planters and put cherry tomatoes in two of them and pepers is one. Pepers are doing fair, tomatoes are not doing so good. Looks to be a bad product.
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