- 1). Water your healthy tomato seedlings before you set up your hanging planter so the roots are moist.
- 2). Turn the bucket upside down and drill or cut a 3-inch hole in the center of the bottom. Turn the bucket right side up and lay a cover made out of landscape fabric, cheesecloth or a coffee filter over the hole. This will keep the potting soil from falling out the bottom. Use a sharp knife to cut a 3-inch slit in the middle of the fabric so you can insert your tomato seedling through the fabric.
- 3). Mix the potting soil and the sand and fill the planting bucket two-thirds full. Add about 2 cups of dried manure or rich compost in the center of the bucket, then continue adding potting soil and sand until the bucket is full. Moisten the soil lightly, then firmly attach the lid to the bucket and turn it upside down.
- 4). Strip the lower leaves from the stem of your tomato seedling, leaving just three or four leaves at the top of the plant. Tuck the seedling, root-end first, gently through the slit in the fabric and down into the soil in the bucket. Leave just a couple inches of stem with the top leaves protruding from the soil. Set the roots and stem deeply; new roots will soon grow out from the buried stem.
- 5). Water the seedling well, but do not add fertilizer. Leave the bucket upside down with the seedling sticking out for at least a week. Keep the soil moist, and keep the bucket in a sunny spot. Wait till your tomato plant is at least 10 inches tall before you turn the bucket upside down.
- 6). Hang your upside down tomato planter. Lift it up and carefully turn it upside down. Remove the lid and water the plant lightly if the soil on top is dry. Plant companion seedlings in the top of the bucket; good choices include peppers, lemon cucumbers or herbs such as oregano and rosemary.
- 7). Rotate your hanging pot every couple days to keep the tomatoes growing evenly. The plants will try to right themselves and grow toward the sun; turn the pot 90 or 180 degrees occasionally to keep the plants even.
- 8). Pinch off any suckers---the tiny shoots that emerge between the main stem and the branches of the plant. Trim the longest shoot of the plant if it gets longer than 3 feet; topping it off will encourage faster ripening and better production.
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