Topsy Turvey Alternate for Hanging Tomatoes and Flowers

It constantly amazes me how old-is-new-again.  Over 30 years ago my Grandfather showed me how to take super-duty garbage bags or landscaping weed block cloth and make a hanging basket.  Yes, they were crude looking and sometimes the plastic split open spilling the dirt and plants out but when it worked it was beautiful- the flowers would fill in quickly and make it look like there was a mass of plant suspended in the air.

Like many of our other projects we got a “grandma eye-roll” when he suggested we try it with tomatoes and squash.  His thought was that the water and nutrients in the soil obey gravity and flow down.  Even though he had a 17 acre farm with fruits and vegetables we were off to plant a few hanging bags with tomatoes and squash.

The experiment was quite successful.  Grandma was overwhelmed with tomatoes and had more squash than she could cook.  Now fast forward quite a few years- I open a Gardener’s Supply catalog and see an $80 tomato planter where the plant is placed pointed out of the bottom to- “allow for best water and nutrient absorption”.  Fast forward a few more years and you’ll find thousands of store displays, TV ads and even Internet spam touting the virtues of Topsy Turvey, the latest version of the hanging plant bag.  You can have your very own for $9.99 to $16.99 depending on the seller.  But wait…

I’ve found and use a much better and cheaper alternative.  A small German company- Bosse Gartenbaubedarf makes the “Plant-in-Bag” planter.  They have 2 primary designs- one with plant ports around all sides and the other with them only on the front.  They also offer different sizes.  The best part is they are much more durable and heavy duty than the Topsy Turvey and they are much cheaper!  There seems to be only one US distributor of the Plant-in-Bag and you can order from him using the link below.  All of the bags offered are under $2 each!

Stamped right on the bags is a web address to the planting instructions.  I currently have 4 bags planted and as spring advances I’ll be setting up more.  I plant them a bit different than the site suggests.  For soil I combine top soil and potting soil 1:1.  This mix holds moisture well without being too dense.  I add the soil to the bag while lifting and dropping the bag to pack the soil into the bag somewhat.  The site suggests watering the bag at this point but I skip that step for now.  Once the bag is full I use 2 or 3 fingers to drill a hole into the soil at the pre-cut holes in the bag.  I make sure the hole is a bit bigger than the plug I’ll be planting.  Then I insert the plant plug and give the bag a few small lifts and drops to pack the soil around the root plugs.

Once I fill as many of the pre-cut plant slits as I want (I rarely use the all) I give the bag its final lift and drop, top off the soil, add some mulch to the top and water thoroughly and hang.  Then its just a matter of watering from the top every few days and harvesting the bounty.

As I said- there seem to be only one source for these bags in North America.  You can buy from him using the link below.