Hanging eggplants: Can you grow an eggplant upside down?

I’m sure most of us have seen the folly of the last decade of growing tomato plants by hanging them instead of nailing them in the garden itself. There are a number of advantages to this method of growing and you may wonder if other plants can grow upside down. For example, can you grow an eggplant upside down?

Can you grow an eggplant upside down?

Yes, vertical gardening with eggplants is a possibility. The advantage of eggplant, or any other vegetable, is that it keeps the plant and the resulting fruit out of the ground and away from any pests that might want to feed on it, and reduces the risk of soil-borne diseases.

Hanging aubergines can give a more robust plant, and therefore more fruitful. Growing eggplants upside down also helps the gardener who has no space.

How to create an eggplant garden upside down

The material needed to hang the eggplant containers is simple. You will need a container, potting soil, eggplant and wire to hang the container. Use a 5 gallon bucket, preferably with a handle that can be used to hang it.

Turn the bucket upside down and drill a hole with a 3 cm circular drill bit in the centre of the bottom. It is in this hole that the eggplant graft will be placed.

The next step in vertical gardening with eggplants is to gently insert the graft into the drilled hole. Since the top part of the plant is smaller than the root ball, pass the top part of the plant through the hole, not the root ball.

You will need to place a temporary barrier at the bottom of the container – newsprint, landscape fabric or a coffee filter will do the trick. The purpose of the barrier is to keep dirt from coming out of the hole.

Hold the plant in place and fill the bucket with soil. You can do this with the container hanging from sawhorse or similar. Add soil, compost and topsoil again in layers to ensure proper drainage and feeding. Pack the soil lightly. If using a lid (not required), use a one-inch drill bit to drill five or six holes in the lid to facilitate watering and ventilation.

Voilà! The reverse cultivation of eggplants is ready to begin. Water the eggplant and hang it in a sunny spot that receives at least six hours, preferably eight, of full sun. Be sure to hang the eggplant in a very sturdy place as the moist container will be very heavy.

A water-soluble fertilizer should be applied throughout the growing season and perhaps some lime to maintain soil pH. Any type of potted plant will tend to dry out faster than those planted in the garden, so be sure to monitor and water every other day, even if temperatures are soaring.

Finally, an additional advantage of the upside down container for eggplants is that the top of the container, as long as it is not fitted with a lid, can be used to grow slow growing plants such as curly lettuce.