Here We Go Again!

Not content to produce a handful of 3/4 sized tomatoes, I have decided to go at it again. However, this time around, I have made a few (meaningful I hope) changes:

• Changed my hanging planter model.
• Planted about 5 weeks earlier.
• Opted for an indeterminate "grape" sized tomato variety.
• Also planted green bell and 2 different strawberry varieties.

Now, the bullet-points in more detail:

DIFFERENT PLANTER MODEL

Last season, I had the classic hanging bag that I hung under the eave at the back of the house. There were a number of problems with that. First, it was in the shade for all but about 3 hours so it did not get cool morning sun. It got a little of the hot later-day sun. Second, hanging it so high up made it inconvenient to water.
This year, I stayed with Topsy Turvy but I opted for the Tomato Tree model. Its still a bag, but the plants go in sideways and it hangs on a 5' tall pole that has legs at the bottom.

 I am hopeful that being able to get it out into the sun earlier in the day and improved ease of watering will help. I am a little concerned about the sideways planting but we'll see how it goes. In the picture, you are looking straight at the tomato plant.

EARLIER PLANTING

Last year I didn't get around to planting until early April. This year I planted on the 25th of February. In Central Texas, by March 15th, we're pretty much out of freeze danger. I chose to take a bit of a chance by planting in late Feb. We hit 38 or so the other night with no ill effects. Forecast is for a few more mid-upper 30's lows but no freezes. Yet.

SMALLER TOMATOES

Since I am planting on the side, and not hanging (which worked quite well last year), I opted for smaller tomatoes. I seriously thought about some 2" patio plants but since everyone at the house likes the cherry and grape tomatoes I thought I'd give those a try. Its convenient to toss some in a salad instead of having to slice or chop them up.

CULTURAL DIVERSITY

I wanted to try my hand at bell peppers so I opted for the standard green variety. I also wanted to try growing Strawberries. I bought a nice Quinalt plant and had a Chandler that my daughter had picked up from a nursery tour back in November. I kept the Chandler too near a window back when we had like 4 straight nights of sub 20 degree lows and all of the branches and leaves died off. The core appeared to be still green, so I figured I'd stick it in the Topsy Turvy also and see how it responded. Here's all there was when I planted it:

At about "12:00" you see just the smallest hint of some leaves. The entire sewn in green portal is about as big around as a baseball. Also know that about 2 days after taking this picture (from Feb 25th) I was adjusting the plant and pulled off those leaves! So I was back to nothing but roots and a core stalk. Would it produce leaves? Would it finally breathe its last? I'll have some more pictures up this weekend and we'll all see.

This time around I planted with Miracle Gro Moisture Control Potting Mix and Medina Hasta Gro liquid fertilizer. Its nitrogen is on the low end of fertilizer options. The plants, other than the Chandler strawberry) were from Bonnie Plants and were purchased at a local Home Depot.