Comparing Tomato Planters... which is better? My First Video Series

Everyone loves tomatoes. I know my family is no exception. But, tomatoes can be very expensive at the store. Here in Olympia, I pay $1.99/lb (on sale, usually they are $2.99/lb or somewhere in that neighborhood) for Roma tomatoes (or plum tomatoes) which is my favorite, I use them for everything. It is also better to grow your own, not only because it is cheaper but you know what pesticides or no pesticides, you know what fertilizer, what soil, you know everything about what you grow.

Have you heard of Topsy Turvy? I am shocked if you have not, it is all over the TV with short commercials advertising the newest sensation in growing tomatoes. What is the hype about? I have no idea, which is why I thought I would do an experiment. I am going to compare 3 different ways to grow tomatoes. One is the Topsy Turvy, the second is my homemade upside down tomato planter, and the third way (and is the control group) a regular pot growing tomatoes the right side up, which is what I am used to utilizing tomato cages the old fashioned way.

The main claims of Topsy Turvy are these:
- World's Easiest Way to Grow Tomatoes (we will see...)
- Simple to set up and maintain (I did not think so at all, and I have to get a stepstool to water it because the watering hole is so high, does not seem easy to me so far)
- Vertical grow bag heats the plant like a greenhouse so the root system explodes (so far I have found that it is so heavy that I wonder if it is not crushing the root system of the plant)
Eliminates weeding, caging, or staking (that is true since it is hanging up)

I am pretty new to the video game as you can hear in the video (I was sort of nervous and I wasn't even showing my face, unless you count seeing my reflection in my slider glass door). I am not that experienced at videoing anything, but that will change the more I get used to it and when I get a new camera. I thought it would be fun to do a weekly video series here at Cre8tive Kitchen. So kick back, watch the video, and learn to see if Topsy Turvy is better or a load of bull. Stay tuned weekly to find out! Welcome to week 1!



To make my own planter, I used an old hanging pot from my garage (the hanging part is lost so I had to improvise), some strong twine, 2 metal rings (I found them on my keyring, not sure why I have so many extra rings on my keyring, but cool for me for this project), 1 kitchen sponge cut into a circle with one cut halfway through the circle (it holds the plant in place so it does not fall out the hole in the bottom). Very easy to build. Building instructions on next week's installment of this video series.