By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

Gardening in recent years has become a popular hobby and a way of stretching the food budget.

But items used for gardening sometimes can be gathered for free by reusing or re-purposing but normally they require money.

Below is some of my money saving tips that I have learned through many years of raising tomatoes.

Containers

Assorted containers are any tomato gardener’s friend. These can be as varied as buckets, hanging baskets, planters, and bags of soil to name a few. Discount stores, at the end of the season sales, and peoples’ refuse are great places to look for containers.

Another technique to save money is by creating your own Topsy Turvy planter. This type of planter requires a container with a hole in the bottom and a means to hang it with such as a handle or chain. But Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

Read Part 1

Containers allow the non-gardener, urban gardener or just the time-restrained gardener to have a “garden bed.”

They can come in all shapes and sizes from ones made of plastic or terra cotta, potting soil bags, to Topsy Turvy planters that can be homemade or store bought.

But regardless of what container you choose cleaning is an essential part of successful gardening.

Cleaning containers

Supplies

• Containers
• Bleach
• Bucket
• Water
• Scrub brush

Steps

1. Mix in Read the rest of this entry »

By Vanessa Richins

Upside-down tomatoes continue to be a garden trend.

This week we have two questions from readers about this growing style.

From Kacy:

“Can one plant 2 tomato plants upside down in a 5 gallon bucket ? Such as 2 holes in the bucket, will there be enought room to grow both?”

Hi Kacy! Yes, you can do 2 tomato plants. It would work better if you drilled both a 2″ hole and smaller drainage holes in both the bottom and the lid to plant one at each end. You will need to watch carefully and add soil as needed. You will also need to make sure to use fertilizers as needed since there will be 2 plants competing for all of the nutrients.

From JimQPublic:

“I’ve been thinking of going to containers for tomatoes because the best spot in the yard has seen Read the rest of this entry »