Make A Topsy Turvey Planter From A Plastic Soda Bottle!

Today’s guest post is brought to you by Amida who writes at the wonderful blog, Journey Into Unschooling. Here she shows you a great way to re-use plastic soda bottles or juice cartons to create an upside-down tomato planter!

I’ve always been fascinated with growing tomatoes upside-down, but, $19.99 (which was what my local garden supply store was selling it for) seemed a bit steep to pay for what essentially is a bag you fill with dirt! So I decided to make our own using some very basic materials we had around the house.

Here’s what you’ll need:
* 2-liter bottle or juice carton
* Garbage bag
* Duct tape
* Tomato plant
* Utility knife
* Paper towel
* Cotton balls
* Twine

Step 1.

Using the knife, carefully cut off the bottom of your bottle or carton.

Step 2.

Roll up a garbage bag around your arm and insert into the bottle. Once inside, loosen the bag
and try to spread it evenly within the bottle. The reason I used the black bag was to keep the roots covered and hopefully warm in the sun.

 

Step 3.

Fold the top edge of the bag over the bottle and secure with duct tape.

Step 4.

Wrap a tomato plant with paper towel and carefully insert into the bottle and out through the spout. The towel will help keep the soil together.

 

Step 5.

Fill the rest of the bottle with soil.

Step 6.

Wrap some twine or string at the mouth of
the bottle, stretching along the length of
the body, and tape in place.

Step 7.

Stuff some cotton balls through the bottom opening to help keep water in.

Step 8.

Hang in a sunny spot and water thoroughly. Our plants have been growing strong for at least
three weeks now and appear to be doing well. Within the first week, the plant flipped around and started
growing upwards.

Another advantage I’ve noticed is that there that are no bugs on the plants! Perhaps in thisway, they will survive a little longer than our usual crop and maybe even provide us with some juicy tomatoes this summer.