Hanging tomato plants

[pastorp]

Anyone ever use these? I see them advertised on tv.

I've never had much luck gardening but I love fresh tomatoes and they are hard to get in southeast Alaska. And expensive.

Any advise?

Regards,

[keith44]

I'd recommend starting them inside.  Tomatoes need lots of direct sunlight to ripen properly.  Also look for short season hybrids.  Maybe get a grow light set up to help extend your growing season.

As for the hanging planters, I've never used one.  A few friends (who live where they cannot have a garden) have grown tomatoes with them, but we have long growing seasons compared to some in more northen climates.

Good luck,

Keith

[longwinters]

I'd look on the internet for northern tomato or tomatoes that grow in AK etc....get the seeds and start them in your house under a good grow light.  Some tomato varieties claim 52 days to maturity....I have yet to see it that quick, but maybe.  Then use grow boxes (from Garden patch) or raised beds covered with clear plastic.  Make hoops (like a green house) out of plastic electrical conduit ( here you can buy 10' lengths for 1.00 a stick).  Make the raised beds 4' wide and the conduits will work perfect.

Long

[zoner]

if you're talking about the topsy turvey upside down hanging planters yes i grew one plant in one of those last summer......it worked excellent. Mike

[Bugflipper]

You can drill a hole in the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket and it does the same. As for short growing season. I think the black russian tomatoes would taste the best. Black krim and black from tula are a couple that come to mind. In the taste tests they always beat out caspian pink and brandywine as the best tasting tomato.
http://oldfashionedliving.com/tomato2.html

[keith44]

Don't be dissin' my Brandywines now. 

[reliquary]

Pastorp:

I was stationed at Fort Richardson from '75-'78 and grew tomatoes, but not easily. 

Find the shortest production time seed you can find (~55 days is the lowest I've seen lately), start them in some kind of hothouse/cold frame, transplant to some kind of hanging thingy and bring them inside if they're not finished producing by frost.

We mostly used 5-gallon buckets with holes drilled in the bottoms, hung from a wire strung up in the basement under a growlight.  I used Porter and Black Cherokee seed and they worked out fairly well.  Since my wife doesn't look at this site, I'll also confess to experimenting with some of her old pantyhose as a hanger thingy.  That worked pretty well; wish I'd had the foresight to market the idea of the "topsy-turvy".

[bilmac]

When I lived in Tok, we grew maters in small greenhouses. Didn't need to be much, just a visqueen leanto against the south side of a building would work. We grew early girls, and now there is a variety called subartic plenty that would probably work. I don't think we really had a 55 day growing season, but the nearly 24 hrs a day sunlight makes up for it.

[Lon371]

Hanging baskets work. As mentioned, 5 gal bucket with holes cut in the bottom a couple in the sides, set you mators. I have a buddy been doing the buckets for 15 years. He loves his garden, but the mators all hang     If you have a Big Lots store check them. One down in town had them for $2.50 the other day.
 
 As to breeds and which grow quick sorry cant help with that one.
 
Lonny