Tomato experiment bounty

Top from the potted plant, bottom from the topsy turvy plant.

So far:

Growing up: 9

Growing down: 9

LOL! Isn't that funny? The ground tomatoes were damaged by my toddler back in May, and that may have something to do with the low yield, but they seem pretty dead even so far. One thing I have noticed is that the ground plant has larger tomatoes... but less of them. And the topsy turvy planter gets really dry real fast.

And these tomatoes are horrible. lol... they are mealy and nearly tasteless and stay really firm. This must be a variety they keep for shipping late in the winter. That is the only reason I can think to breed a variety so untomato tasting.

Tomatoes tomatoes!!

Our tomato experiment is almost done. The tomatoes are turning ripe right before our eyes. Cyan got the first one off the plant the other day. What a LONG experiment this was!

We have been keeping track of how many tomatoes we get from the plants and so far it is:

Potted plant: 1

Topsy Turvy Plant: 0

I was wishing we had a scale when we started this, becuase then we could measure in pounds instead of in tomatoes... but this will do for now. Maybe I will ask friends if they have a scale at History Class today. It would be more accurate to tell the effectiveness of the upside down plantter if we were to do it that way.

In other tomato experiment news... this is what happens to a tomato when a toddler thinks it's a cherry:

(No, I didn't tell him that. lol.... He just said it was a cherry, popped it in his mouth, and prompty spit it out and wiped off his tounge on his shirt. He was not pleased. But it was really cute. ;) )

Tada!!

Look what we got from our tomato experiment yesterday!

Science gone wild!

Our experiments moved with us. I actually took them over first in the van the night before we moved in offically. I put them in a similar space so we could keep the integrity of the experiments as much as I possibly could. And just see what happened!

Our tomato plant experiment we started April 24th:

Grew into this by June 1st:

And now into this:

The bottom one isn't producing as many tomatoes, but I think that has more to do with toddlers ripping the top branches off in May than anything to do with not being upsidedown. LOL! I am surpized to say though, that the Topsy Turvy has held it's own this growing season! Pretty darn amazing!

These are tomatoes hanging upside down my Topsy Turvy plant holder:

Isn't it amazing what three months can do? Soon these babies will have red fruit on them, ready to eat!

And our resident sweet potato has grown from this:

To this:

It is quite the pretty plant, actually. It has really beautiful leaves. I keep wondering if I keep it hydroponic, will it still start producing potatoes in a couple months? So I think we will keep it for now. :)

A running education...

We are done with the school year. Not necessarily done with the grade levels but done until at least we move. It is too stressful to try and pack away things and trying to stay organized for school. So I have given myself a bit of grace and said that we can do a couple weeks of school sometime this summer (...because we do. We don't actually stop... who actually STOPS homeschooling??? Once you are actually a homeschooler every piece of carrion on the side of the road is a possible unit study. No one just stops. You spend WAY too much of your time explaining things to get out of the habit for just three months a year.) So today, I told my kids that their 'school' assignment was to go outside and play in the cool, sunny weather while I organized the garage. And this is what my daughter came up with:

What happens to a leaf, stuck in a jar of water, flipped upside down. (Notice there is no lid on this jar... and it looked like this for the next 6 hours.)

What happens when you mix Insta-snow with floral sand. (I bet that would make the BEST sand castles ever!)

What happens when you try to grow a tomato plant upside down (hint: it's still growing up).

What happens when toddler baby brother decides to mangle the 'control' tomato plant. (I think this one is self explanatory...)

Here is her picture of Alice in Wonderland, which is the theme for her birthday party we are planning for July (Notice the card men paiting the roses red. We just finished the book last week.):

The beauty of homeschooling for me is that it can be a fluid education. A running conversation that happens between Marley and Me, the Hawk we saw dive for a catch on the side of the road, and the blessing of our garden by bringing beans in for dinner. You don't have to sit at the table to learn. You don't have to have the perfectly structured day to make sure they are learning the things they need to know. Sometimes the best 'educational jumps' they get come from happenstance watching the cat eat bugs and Bill Nye the Science Guy videos on the same day. The running tally of the things I HAVE to teach my kids gets shorter and shorter as I realise, all they really need to know is how to read and that learning is fun as all heck... and whatever they need to catch up with in between... well I am sure they will be alright.

Tomato experiment

One growing up and one growing down. I bought a Topsy Turvy from Gardening with Kids so that we could do this experiment. I tried very hard at the store yesterday to find two really healthy Celebrity tomato plants of similar size so the experiment would start out well. I have it set on my calendar for the kids to see how many tomatoes grow on both, how tall they are in 1 month, and then in 3 months, and the size of the largest tomato on each plant. It should be interesting.

Even if we did nothing for homeschool with these plants, they would give us good food to eat. Win/win. ;)