• It is supposed to be in the upper 70's to 80's the next couple of days.
• I got off of work on time today because I gave blood (no gym time).
• The upside down plants have been rooting for a few days.
• The 4 plants I have sitting on the side waiting to go into the planter tops really need to be re-planted, getting a bit yellow.

Add it all up, what do you get? Time to hang the planters. Boy are they heavy! Try lifting 5 gallons of wet dirt over your head while trying to maneuver a safety snap clip with the other hand and guide the handle into the clip with the third hand and protecting the tomato plant in the top and the one in the bottom with your 4th and 5th hands. Almost forgot, these are hanging over a bed of onions and squash plants, to I had to reach out full extension. Wa, wa, wa, I know, whatever, just doing a little venting. I feel better now.

Then I took some peeks around the yard and UI see my Okra in one of the upsidedown Pepper planters is sprouting. Got to love it. There are 7 holes and 3 or 4 seeds in eacj=h hole. About half appear to be sprouted. It's a little hard to see in the picture, but look close.

I looked at the other planter but no sprouts. My experience is that the germination time of pepper plants is fairly long. I have some pepper plants in a planter in the porch and it's taken over a week for them to pop up.

That's enough for today. I need to work on something else before bed. I have more pictures from the last couple of days so I'll blog them out in a day or two. Please check out My Facebook Page on this subject for some more interactive talk about the subject. Let me know what you think about what I should be doing. I really want to hear from you. http://www.facebook.com/UpsidedownTomatoWorld

Until next time, Enjoy your Garden.

I got the plants in the planters last night. They are looking good, healthy plants. There is 1 Roma, 1 called 100 which I think is the cherry tomato one, 2 called Big Beef, and one called Beety B. I think those 2 were named by some porn movie producer and the last one was named by someone that worked on the Buck Rogers TV show in the 80's.

Since I have 4 planters and 5 plants, I put the Roma and the 100 in the same hole, and all the others get their own slot. Then I got 4 plants from a friend called Big Boy, so for lack of space anywhere else, they will be going into the tops of the planters after the upside down ones root for a few days. Then I'll plant come peas and beans around in the top and those will be gone before the tomatoes take over completely. Sounds like a plan, we'll see how it works.

One other wild card I noticed when I put the plants in. There is a colony of small ants in one of the planters. The planters sat on the ground all of last year un-planted, so I guess some ants moved in. I didn't really know how to deal with them, so I didn't. If they leave me alone, I promise to do the same. Think I should worry? What should I do to get rid of them without tainting the tomatoes?

Now, the people out there paying attention to this blog may ask, what about those seeds you planted, why don't you put those in your planter? Well, as I predicted when I planted them, they aren't going to make it. Just no way. The little tiny things are, well, tiny...

f you have any opinions about my Ants un the hanging planter, shoot me a comment or an email. I'd like to hear from you.

Until next time, Enjoy your Garden.

Julie, my darling wife, got the tomato plants for me at the WaukeshaFarmersMarket today. I got 4 more plants from a friend at the Wirth Park Brookfield Rummage Daze Flea Market , so we are all set. I will get pictures when I plant them, plan for tomorrow but that is a bit busy, so maybe later in the week.

Details at 10! (or whenever just before the worlds ends. That's not until the end of the year...)

Sorry about that. Sitting here at 4am watching the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame show on TV and GnR is playing Sweet Child of Mine, Rockin out a bit...

Just want to let you know I loaded the Upsidedown planters with some new dirt. I'm using about 25% Schultz Moisture Control and 25% Schultz tree and shrub soil because it looked like it was coarser and a bit lighter. Also 25% Schultz Flower and Veggie mix which is blacker and has more organic matter which is going on the top to help grow the beans and peas headed there soon after hanging. Lastly (As Paradise City starts booming) there is 25% whatever was in there when it was last used and a handful of leaves and rotted wood I have on the compost pile. I also added 2 of those Jobe's spikes to each pail. So to tie in the to the title, the Guns (Upsidedown Planters) are loaded for Roses (Tomatoes)...

I got the notice. The feeling that now's the time, so this weekend I am getting plants, 2 per planter, and they are going in. Plan is to get 2 Celebrity, 2 Cherry Tomatoes, 2 more pair of something else, Heirlooms or Early Girl or whatever strikes my fancy (or my Wifes, I ask her to get them from the Waukesha Farmers Market Saturday. We have a booth there but I will be in Brookfield at a different sale selling.

It must be time to stop talking and go to bed. They are talking to the Red Hot Chili Peppers who swear way too much and the music just wierds me out. Don't want bad dreams..., so until next time, Enjoy your Garden.

I got one other thing from the Dollar Store last weekend for my Tomatoes. I forgot these were in the bag. 3 packages of Tomato Fertilizer Spikes. Supposed to have 6-18-6 fertilizer in there, slow release. Also has something called Nitrosopumilu maritimus, 52,203.9 (yes there is a decimal in there...) Colony forming units/gram. Also known on the package as Jobe's Biozome formula for robust tomatoes. I don't know what that is. I don't know what it's for. I don't know why I want it, but I do. If Jobe's thinks it's a good thing for Tomatoes, I like it!

The fertilizer components are definitely not organic sounding either. The content is supposed to be 6% Nitrogen made up from 4.4% Ammoniacal Nitrogen, 1.4% Water Insoluble Nitrogen, and 0.2% Urea Nitrogen (That's urine extract, right?) Available Phosphate (This is the extract from animal bones, shin, and slaughterhouse waste I think) is 18%. Soluble Potash (I think from cola burning power plant waste) is 6%. Wow, definitely not organic sounding. Thank-you sir, may I have some more?

Supposed to do 2 spikes per plant 8 inches from the stem so I will need to load them in the top after I hang them or put it in the dirt as I fill them. Whatever, can't hurt, right? And for a dollar I get enough for 5 tomato plants. For $3 I have enough for 10 years probably. Watch me loose them before I get them in the planters this year. That would be about my speed lately.