Should I try hanging tomatoes or not?

I've never tried growing anything in hanging planters. When I was an apartment dweller, I just had a few pots on my porch to plant a little bit. like maybe a tomato plant (they do well in pots), or some herbs. Even though I have the space now, I still prefer my herbs to be in pots near my kitchen side door. They seem to do better in pots, easier to keep them moist and much more convenient to snip some when I need to for dinner.

jimtastic said:

I have a small apartment and although I will be moving soon (so I can finally plant a big garden ) I thought I'd try planting some veggies using the hooks I have on my balcony.

Any suggestions? Or perhaps I should just put my pots on the ground instead to get better results?

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With limited space I have found taht container gardening can be very successful. One of the best is your basic 5 gallon bucket, about two inches of rocks on the bottom, then 10 inches of potting soil. Choose an indeterminite tomato plant (aka vine tomato or stakeable), plant it and then grow it vertically, up a stake. Assuming you have full sun and remember to water appropriately, you should have a ton of success.

I have been happy with five gallon containers. Even used those large white containers that pickles come in. I have used Patio, Sweet 100 and Early Girl. I try to water them with warm water rather than straight from the tap. Also leaving the water set out overnight or so let's any chlorine escape. Good luck. I have even seen a local garden supply grow tomatoes right in the potting soil bag.

I grow hanging tomatoes every year and they do great. I find the best ones to grow are the cherry style tomatoes, larger ones get too heavy. Just make sure you hang them in the sun, people often hang them from trees since they are so heavy, but then they don't get enough sun. I use the 5 gallon buckets from WalMart and they work great. My husband drilled a hole in the bottom. Over the years we did discover that it was better to have a wire right under the rim and a hook through that for security. First couple of years we had the plastic break from weight of the plant. Topsy turveys are very cheap nowadays too and they are sturdy and might be easier to use.

Jimtastic, you said you have hooks already for hanging...If they are pretty strong hooks, and they are located where a plant can get full sun, give some thought to planting a inderterminate tomato plant in a 5 gallon bucket or very large pot, then tie a strong cord, (I use bailing twine) from the above hook, drill a couple holes at the top rim of the bucket, run the cord thru the holes from the hook above. you can train the vine to run up the cord. it will probably grow to the ceiling! In doing this way you will need to prune your tomato vine to one main stem.you will have huge tomatoes and plenty of them. just remember with a container to water more often and feed more often.