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Mothers day was fun, productive and just plain enjoyable! May 14, 2012
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sreece replied about 1 year ago
What kind of dogs do you have? And what's under the bucket?
JMTKMS replied about 1 year ago
We have a Shepard mix puppy, she in in the picture with the kittens.  We are not really sure what she is, as she was dumped by someone.  We also have a chihuahua mix and a red healer mix.
The 5 gallon buckets have tomatoes planted in them, and I am waiting for them to grow out the hole on the top (bottom) of the bucket.  I will keep adding dirt as they grow, then when the bucket is full and the plant is sturdy, I will flip it over and hang the bucket.  The tomato will grow out the bottom and hopefully produ... happily.  I am thinking of putting small peppers in the side holes.
Teregram replied about 1 year ago
Interesting...two questions, did you do this last year, and where are you going to hang them?  They will weigh a ton.
JMTKMS replied about 1 year ago
     I actually did these in Everett for a couple years before we moved.  I had a really cool cast iron stand, I think it came from a nursery, and it could hold four  5 gallon buckets.  It was really tall, I would have to have John help get the handles high enough to get them on the hooks.
     I would plant two with tomatoes and the other two with other things, like cucumbers.  They worked really well, but I would sometimes have a problem with watering them.  I really enjoyed them, and they make picking tomatoes so much easier.  Still just a fun thing I want to dabble in.
sreece replied about 1 year ago
@JMTKMS: So do you still have the cast iron stand? I went to a pick your own strawberry farm a few weeks ago and they had done this same thing and had a whole row of buckets hanging from their fence (which was a strong one) with tomatoes and peppers in each bucket. I don't have a strong enough fence to do this and the one year we tried, it was too hard to keep them watered and the ones in the ground did so much better.
JMTKMS replied about 1 year ago
@sreece:  I do not have the stand anymore, as I moved across states and figured it had to go.  But I sure wish I had it.  The buckets really worked well for me there, because I only wanted a couple plants.  Here I do it, just because it was enjoyable.  I actually was trying to figure out how to market them, when the Topsy Turvys came out.  I still think my ideas are better, but once one is out everything else is just a copy.  :(  Would have been a fun thing to try and do.  I liked the fact that no tomato stand is needed and the fruit never gets near the ground.  They are pretty, and just fun.  Watering, in Everett was not too hard, as it rains there all the time.  But I did also hook a sprinkler up to water them if needed.

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