Friday, July 23, 2010

garden fail friday: you win this round, gravity.

no more upside-down tomatoes for me. the main stem of the vodka tomato snapped under its own weight, just like the topsy-turvy tomato stem snapped in the wind. i don’t understand how this can not happen, really. also, just like before, this one was growing *slower* than the other tomato plants--it didn’t even have fruit yet, just a few sets of flowers. pretty sure this marks the end of my inverted tomato growing career, and the death of my naïve, blindly optimistic, fleeting faith in infomercials. faaail.

and it's a bad day for topsy-turvy tomatoes...jessica's poor plant met a similar fate.

7 comments:

Goneferalinidaho said...

Aww, sorry to hear that. We did cherry tomatoes upside down last year and they did great, but the topsy turvy is not made for our climate, we had to literally water three times a day to keep them from drying out.

Shari said...

My topsy turvy is the only tomato plant I have that hasn't put out fruit yet this year. I have one stem with flowers on it -- that's it. I haven't given up hope yet.

Emily said...

goneferal--thanks, it's not a huge loss but it's kind of a bummer. and i noticed that, that i was having to water the containers constantly...it probably is better for milder climates.

shari--that's how mine was! actually i think i have maybe two other plants that haven't set fruit, but still, for a method that's supposed to make them grow faster, umm, not so much. i hope yours produces and doesn't suicide like mine.

Vetsy said...

The Topsy Turvy never caught on with me...

I see a lot of them around the neighborhood but growing things like veggies upside down just dosen't appeal to me..

P.S where did you find Liquid kelp?

I posted a comment on my blog about your cool little tomato stalk in that jar of water with the kelp' how is it doing?

Jessica said...

I don't know. My family says I'm stubborn, so as long as I grow more seedlings than I can fit in the ground, I may continue trying this. I have one that's doing ok. I think cherry tomatoes is the way to go. Bummer, though.

the Knottie Knitta said...

spoony, have i ever told you how much i heart your blog? it brings me joy and makes me want to have a garden and a better camera lol...

Emily said...

vetsy--i get my liquid kelp from a local organic nursery. you can also order it online. it's great stuff. and the little tomato branch is still doing good, looking healthy, the roots are extremely long and filling up the bottle--i should transplant it but i think it's now a science project. we'll see how long it will live and grow hydroponically.

jessica--having too many seedlings was one of the main reasons i wanted to try the upside-down technique, but now that i have two topsy-turvy fails under my belt i think i'll just get lots of large containers next year and find space for them on the ground. if i was in a situation where topsy-turvy-style was the only way to fit more in i'd totally give it another shot.

geekette--aww, spoony! i'm glad you heart it.