Sequim Garden

Topsy Turvy Tomatoes

I decided to try something new this year with my tomatoes and grow a few of them (4 to be exact) in the Topsy Turvy hanging growers. From talking to the ladies at my local Sunnyfarms Nursery, they told me to expect great results, they all love them and use them.

I have to say so far so good, all 4 tomato plants are doing extremely well in their Topsy Turvy growers.

It was a little cold when I first planted them, but the sun was out, and the Topsy Turvy grower made it very easy to move the plants inside at night to protect them from the cold. So basically I would put them out in the mornings, let them get the day of sun and then move them back inside at night. Now, it’s much warmer out, so they stay outside day and night. They are growing extremely well, and look very healthy.

Some Topsy Turvy Tips:

1) Use potting soil – Since the Topsy Turvy is basically a pot, it’s best to use potting soil rather than garden soil. I used Miracle Grow Organic Potting Soil.

2) Put the plant deep in the soil – This tip was given to me by the nice ladies at Sunny Farms. What you do is cut a lot of the bottom branches off so you have about 4″ – 6″ inches of bare stem. All those little bumps you feel on the stem will become roots. You do this to that your plant has a strong grip in the soil.

3) Keep it watered – Make sure you keep the plant watered.

So far I have only used my Topsy Turvy for tomatoes, but it says you can use it for other vegetables like cucumbers, etc. So maybe I will buy more and give that a try also.

A Photo of Kohl Rabi

Well I pull out all the spinach in Garden Bed #1 and planted some Kohl Rabi seeds in it’s place. The Spinach wasnt’ doing well, and some of it already went to seed, so I yanked it all out, threw it into the compost bin, tilled up the dirt to make it all nice and then planted some White Vienna Kohl Rabi seeds.

I had already started some Purple Vienna Kohl Rabi plants, and I also planted those in Garden Bed #2 in between the Broccoli and the Leeks.

If you have never tried Kohl Rabi, it’s really good fresh and uncooked, it’s very very and sort of like a mild turnip. You just peel off the skin, and then cut it into bite size pieces. Great in salads. I have never had it cooked, but I am sure you can cook it, and I’ve also heard you can use the leaves as well.

Well, I added some new soil to garden bed #3, Miracle Grow Organic Garden Soil, plus some compost, and used my Mantis tiller to mix it all up, then replanted some new tomato plants and a tomatillo plant as well. The weather has been a lot warmer and sunnier lately, so hopefully these plants will do much better than the ones pulled out yesterday. I planted a beefsteak hybrid, smallfry, & yellow pear. I have never grown the tomatillo before so no idea what to expect there. Hopefully the tomatillo, along with the peppers growing in the green house will make some good salsa verde.