DIY Network

Homegrown Hint: Hanging Garden Homegrown Hint: Hanging Garden From "Fresh from the Garden" episode DFFG-209

In this Homegrown Hint, Joe shows how even a hanging basket (figure A) can be turned into a miniature vegetable garden. He plants a decorative basket with a variety of cherry tomato called 'Tumbling Hybrid,' which is an excellent selection for containers that need a small, tidy plant (figure B). (Cherry tomatoes are always a favorite, because they're sweet and tasty.) Most tomatoes would grow too large for a hanging basket, but this one has been specially bred to grow in compact spaces.

Figure A

Figure B

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	Figure C
	Figure D
	Figure E

1. Begin by selecting a basket. A 16"-diameter metal wire basket with a cocoa mat looks good and is large enough to hold the tomato.

2. Fill the basket about three-quarters of the way full with a lightweight commercial potting soil mix, then add some time-release fertilizer (figure C).

3. Next sprinkle in some hydrogels (figure D). Hydrogels are man-made crystals that look like big grains of salt when they're dry. When they're moistened, they expand and absorb water, then slowly release the water as it's needed. Adding hydrogels to your potting soil allows you to water less often and gives your plants the steady supply of moisture they need.

4. Mix the fertilizer and hydrogels into the soil, then plant the tomato in the center of the basket (figure E). Add more potting soil as needed. To make watering easy, create a natural well by making sure the soil is 1/2" below the rim of the basket. If you mound the soil too high, the water will run off and won't get to the plant's roots.

5. Place the hanging basket in an area that will get at least four to six hours of sun per day, preferably more.

The tomatoes will fill out and cascade down as they grow, making for a pretty hanging basket as well as a productive one. In just a few weeks the first cherry tomatoes should appear.