Look to see what is growing in my Garden!

Welcome to my Upside down hanging tomato garden! Have you ever seen those commercials that sell the 'upside down tomato kit' and it had huge tomatoes with the leaves all hanging down? Well the tomatoes do not grow down, they reach for the sky! The picture on the left does show my tomatoes looking like they are getting close to the ground though. I fed them coffee grounds, it seems they liked that. Not only did the root system get huge, the plant themselves have been growing alot of tomatoes. I planted peppers and eggplants on top. the eggplants do not have as many blooms yet, only three or 4, with at least one that I know got pollinated. I also planted Snow Peas for my garden from seed, and rather late so they are not far along. Seems the seeds rotted easy so I had to germinate them in a special self watering container I made. Once they got not only roots but leaf parts I planted them in a regular houseplant container. Two years ago I learned that squash did not like to compete with the tomatoes, so I grew some zucchini from seed, only three came up from the peat pots I used, so I planted them in a huge container that I got from Wal-marts along with a 'gift' squash I found growing in the ground under the area where I had the plants growing two years ago.

Two years ago I had also planted Marigolds on top of some of the hanging tomatoes, only decided not to do that this year. Instead

I decided to try to grow roses. I made self

watering containers for the plants to grow in. I think the plants will do better next year when

I have the chance to prune them. For now I'm interested in growing the hips so that I can try t

o grow roses from seed.

I do not

expect the seeds to grow roses that are identical to the bushes I have, if I'm able to get the seeds going they will be unique unto themselves. I did try to cross pollinate both the bushes I have, and will not know for a month or so whether it worked or not.

It turns out that the date both plants had 'loose' blooms blooming at the same time was exactly two years from the day I

met my boyfriend! I took him to my cousins wedding in June, and before we left we ate some very delicious mangoes. I removed the seeds from the husk and put them in a ziplock bag

with a damp paper towel while we were at the wedding. When we came back, roots had start

ed to grow!

I do not live in the tropics so the plants will have to be indoor plants.

I now have plans to turn my spare bedroom that gets the morning sunlight into a tropical growing room. I'll get a special grow light to add extra light, and get the fish tank hooked up and running to add extra moisture, I'll plant them in self watering containers and keep the soil from being soggy or dried out. The Mangoes growing so well has inspired me to do other tropical plants, I've got an avocado seed in water, kiwi seeds on a damp paper towel, and pineapple seeds as well. I'm also trying to grow the pineapple top. Did I forget to mention I also started some watermelon seed from a watermelon we had at mom's house? I broke the tap root on one, although two seeds have sprouted of the four I tried to germinate. I'll have to bring them inside once summer is over and they are planted in their final container since their growing season is too long for where I live. I've read where alot of people try to say that growing seeds from store bought fruit will not produce fruit, that only grafted plants produce. I wonder if those people ever thought of where the original plant came from that they are using to graft? The mango trees and the avocado trees do take a long time to mature, and with pruning can produce fruit, although not the same as what they came from, if they are given the correct conditions to do so. which I plan to try to do. I plan to plant more pits from avocados, maybe some I get when I next visit my boyfriend. Oh and if I can find some dragon fruit, I'll try to grow them as well, it comes from a tropical cactus and I so want to see what the red dragon fruit taste like, and try to grow it's seeds. I almost forgot to mention the peach and plum seeds I'm trying to get to germinate. If they grow I might plant them directly in the ground when they are big enough. They might make a good structure for the kiwi to grow on. I'm in zone 7 and think the kiwi will do ok outside in my zone. Well I need to go see if my Strawberry plants have any ripe Strawberries on them, they too will come inside in the winter, cause they are ever bearing.