Tomato Update

As most of you know, I started my own tomato garden this year ~ my very first ever. I can't believe how well it's done. Click here to see the Spring planting. Check 'em out now. . . We're now experiencing the fruit of our labor with a handful of tomatoes each day. The kids love picking them and I love eating them.
I seriously recommend this method for anyone that loves grape tomatoes and doesn't like to weed. All you have to do is water them daily (a gallon jug works great) and feed them with Miracle Gro for tomatoes once a week. The banana peppers and basil that were planted on the top of the buckets have done great as well. But we got attacked by Japanese beetles this Summer (can I tell you how much I hate these bugs!) so a lot of leaves got eaten. I guess I'm just grateful they didn't eat my tomatoes too.

Garden Time

This is so very unrelated to handbags (as is most of my posts lately it seems!), but I just had to share. We started our garden for this year ~ grape tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, basil, zucchini, and banana peppers. I'm most excited about how we planted some of it. We've seen those commercials for the upside-down Topsy Turvy planter and thought it was such a neat idea, but our frugalness kept us from buying one. Well. . . we decided to make our very own version and they turned out beautifully. Yes, they do look a little tacky, but hey, don't knock it if it works. :) Here's the recipe:

My husband cut a 1 1/2" hole in the center bottom of the bucket. We then placed the tomato plant in upside down and filled the bucket with dirt. We also planted a different vegetable on the top of the bucket (pepper and basil). After just two weeks, these plants are all double the size of the ones we planted in the actual garden. I can't believe it!