If you have a small garden and need a little extra room to grow… a homemade topsy turvy is a great solution! Follow my step  by step instructions and soon you too can have your very own topsy turvy! You’ll be extremely happy that you did and you’d be surprised how many people will envy you! Keep in mind that all instructions are based on what I have at the house. You can substitute as you feel fit. Ready? Alright let’s begin

1. Gather your supplies. You’ll need the following:

An empty plastic bottle of some sort. I’ve used a large Gatorade bottle, a Hawaiian Punch bottle, and a Great Value Apple Juice bottle. You could probably even use empty 2 liter bottles. You’ll also need hemp (or twine), scissors, a hand saw, soil, a plant (toms, cuks, strawberries, peppers all work the best), hooks, a drill, a little mulch, and some duct tape. Spray paint is optional. I used it because I was in desperate need of color in my garden.

2. Make sure you wash your plastic bottles out and if you’re going to spray paint them like I did, make sure they’re completely dry as well.

3. Using your hand saw, you’re going to want to cut the bottom off of the plastic bottle. You want to cut about an inch off and please be careful not to cut yourself!

4. Once you have the bottoms cut off, you’re going to want to wrap several layers of duct tape around the bottom. This will help keep your bottles from stretching from the weight of the plant and soil. The last thing you need is for your plant to fall on itself! I did about 3 layers just to make sure it was nice and strong.

5. Now you’re going to drill 4 holes through the duct tape. I went about an inch down from the bottom. You’ll want to drill 4 holes. An easy to put it is a North, South, East, and West hole. Make sure they are across from each other. See the second picture for a better understanding.

6. This next step is completely optional. I needed some color in my garden so I spray painted my plastic bottles. Again, completely optional. Wait until they’re completely dry before handing.

7. While they’re drying, you’ll want to cut your hemp (or twine). For the gatorade bottle I cut 4 pieces of hemp about 36-40 inches in length. For the larger plastic bottles, I cut 6 pieces of hemp 36-40 inches. If you use twine, you may only want to cut 2 for a Gatorade size bottle and 4 for a larger bottle.

8. Now you’re going to thread your hemp (or twine) through the holes that you drilled. Run 2 pieces (or 3 for the larger bottle) through 2 of the opposite facing holes. It should look like the picture below.

Then thread the other 2 (or three for the larger bottle) through the other 2 holes. So it looks like the picture.

9. Now it’s time to put up your hooks. I used some long hooks this time but I’m not completely satisfied with them. Here’s why… they don’t stick out very far from the fence which means that the plant may grow up to “lean” against the fence. It’s not a really big deal and I’m sure my strawberry plant and Roma tomatoes won’t mind but if you were to put cuks or larger tomatoes in it, you may want to use a shepherd’s hook like I did here. (and yes I put these up last night in the dark!)

10. Now that you have all your turvy’s dressed and laced, it’s time to add some plants!

You’ll want to move the hemp over so your plant doesn’t get stuck on it. Now carefully pull your leaves through the hole of your plastic bottle. *I do not recommend using mature plants but instead using smaller ones.* I used tomatoes that were about 12 inches in height and it was tough but I somehow managed to get all the leaves through without breaking or ripping any.

Once you get all the leaves through, you’ll want to very gently spread the root ball out just slightly.

11. Now it’s time to fill it up with soil. I would add a couple scoops and then lightly pack it down. I added just enough to barely touch the bottom of the hemp. You’re getting there!

12. If you’re making multiple turvy’s, you can set them on their sides, carefully, so you don’t spill your soil.

13. Time to hang them up!

I hung mine about a foot down from the hook. You could hang it higher or lower… it’s really complete preference now. You’ll want to knot and double knot and triple knot the hemp. You really want to secure it so that it doesn’t ever have the chance to fall.

This is a strawberry plant. I’ve never planted strawberries and they were kinda confusing in the root bag so I’m crossing my fingers with this one!

And you’re done!

Doesn’t it add the perfect pop of color?

Now that you’ve seen just how easy it is to make one yourself, are you going to? If you do… please share pictures with the rest of us! I’d love to see not only your garden but also your new little hanging buddies :) Let me know if any of this is confusing or if you need a little extra help. I’m more than willing to help you out!

** Update **

After making a bunch of these and actually using them in my garden, I have found that I needed to do a minor update to make the tutorial complete. After it is all hung and looks amazing, add about an inch of mulch on top of the dirt. This will help keep it nice and moist throughout the day. Here in Florida, it gets pretty hot and humid and I was finding that I needed to water the plants immediately when I got home from work in order to keep them moist. The mulch on the top has let me relax for a few hours when I get home from work instead of having to rush home and water them. Good luck creating!

Tags: homemade topsy turvy, tutorials

This entry was posted on Monday, May 17th, 2010 and is filed under the garden, the tutorials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.