Upside down soil and pics, cheap vegetable gardening

[jtuck004]

So, upside down gardening is a pain, but if you have limited space, such as an apartment balcony, the method
can double your space.

Some people buy upside down planters, but you can build your own:

http://www.cheapvegetablegardener.com/2010/05/how-to-make-you-own-upside-down-planter-in-your-garden.html

Watering is a pain, and my test bottles proved to be no exception. The site above shows how to build a self-watering version. I tried running the 1/4" tubes from my raised beds up to the bottles, but the height is too much to overcome while watering all my beds. I was going to get a valve to isolate them and increase the pressure, but I was in the hydroponics store the other day and they gave me a sample of Geohumus, a soil additive designed to hold water better, so I mixed it up with my potting soil (soil, perlite, humus) and it does seem to help hold moisture better.

http://www.geohumus.com/index.php?id=2&L=1

pics here with the bottles hung on 2" pvc: http://picasaweb.google.com/114673155623969679263/Garden62010#

[bvar22]

1. I'm interested, but then again,

I've always been attracted to the bizarre and unnatural. :evilgrin:

This has tweaked my imagination since the first time I heard about it.
We had talked about trying an upside down planter this year, but never got around to it.

Let us know how this turns out!

[jtuck004]

2. If you try the GeoHumus mentioned in the OP, be sure

and leave extra space. I mixed it with the dirt and put it in the bottles, watered well. Over the course of the night the stuff expanded to perhaps 10 times its size, pushing all the dirt up and some out of the bottle ;)

It really does hold a lot.