attosa Diamond Post Medal for All Time! 1,246 Posts
July 3, 2012
Reuse your plastic milk container by making an upside down tomato planter. This is great for people with limited space. Not having to grow them on the ground eliminates the need to keep your tomato plants well staked.
Advertisement
Materials:
cleaned plastic milk jug
scissors
tomato plant
rope, if you do not have a branch or something similar for jug to hang off of
cloth or duct tape if it's going to be sitting in direct sunlight
Directions:
Cut a 1/2 inch hole on the bottom of the milk container, this will be where the stem of the plant will come out.
Cut four slits out from the center of the 1/2 inch hole to make it easier to insert the plant into the container.
Place tomato plant in through hole and fill the jug the rest of the way with potting soil.
If you don't have a branch of something to hang the container from, secure with rope and hang.
Water the soil from the top of the milk jug for several minutes. It will need to be moistened all the way through.
In the pictures, one has reflective cloth wrapping because it was in a very sunny area.
Source: My mother showed me how to do this after I showed her a commercial tomato planter I spent $8 on.
It's not my post, but I'd guess the reflective cloth is to keep it from heating up and drying the soil out too fast. I have a cement patio that gets sun all day long, and it is hard to keep any container plants moistened under those conditions.