Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Tomato Plant Support

My 1 tomato plant (out of 3 I bought) is in need of support soon. So I turned to the internet in hopes of finding some help. I had forgotten I recently subscribed to a gardening club. I wanted to get more exposure on the how-to's of gardening, especially vegetable gardening. I came across an article about how to support your tomato plants. Here are some good ideas that members sent in that I'd like to share.

Rack it:
One woman uses old wooden clothes-drying racks. She plants 2 or 3 tomato plants at the center of the racks, and ties the tomatoes to the racks as they grow. Then in the winter, the racks fold flat to store.

Don't fence me in:
You can use welded-wire fencing (although where you live, you will have to be careful not to burn the plants in the summer). Roll into a cylinder and place over the plants. Harvesting of tomatoes is a breeze with large cut openings in the wire.

Climbing over:
Use an arbor that normally is used for a dramatic entrance. This makes an impressive addition to your garden.

Frame it up:
Another member used an A-frame type of support. Here's what he did. String twine from the center ridgepole of the frame to the ground. As the plant grows, wrap it around the twine.

Fencing lessons:
One way of saving space and picking tomatoes is to use staple basic fencing (looks like plastic chicken wire) to the fence and train the tomatoes to grow up the fencing. They get plenty of sun by growing up instead of out.

The stakes are high:
Cut (1) ten-ft. horizontal piece of electrical conduit and (2) 7 1/2-ft. vertical pieces. Attach them and push the vertical pieces into the ground, approximately 18 inches. Hang (6) cords across the 10-ft. crosspiece. Tie them to the stakes and anchor the stakes next to the tomato plants. As the plants grow, pinch off the suckers and wrap the plants around the cord.

As you can see, these are just a few examples I've read, about how-to take care of your tomato plants. Can you think of different ways to support your plants?

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