Making a Tomato Trellis

While we were on vacation the garden exploded. For those of you have been following the growing potatoes in tires posts, five stacks are now complete with four tires. Several other stacks could get the fourth tire, except that I need to scrounge some more tires. There are still a few stacks lagging behind the rest with just two tires, but I'm sure they will catch up.

The other plants also grew like crazy. I think our first planting of corn must have grown a foot. The beans are beginning to bloom. We still have an ample supply of last year's crop, but oh am I ready for some fresh green beans! Of course the vegetables were not the only things that thrived while we were gone. The weeds also took advantage of the hot humid weather that week.

A lot of time has been spent in the garden this week. Thankfully this week's weather has been cooler and comfortable; perfect for garden work. Besides the weeding and hoeing, we also created a trellis for the tomatoes.

Tomatoes will produce better if they are kept off the ground. I've not had much luck with those wire cages or with staking. This year I decided to try to make a trellis similar to those I've seen in other gardens.

Start with stakes. I used wooden ones we already had. Start the row of stakes at the end of the tomato row and put a stake near each plant, ending with a stake on the other end of the row.


Then add rope between the stakes to create lines to support the plants. I used a variety of roping we had left from other things. In my trellis there is baler twine, clothes line, and nylon rope. I made three rows of line.


As the plants grow tie the stems to the stakes and the lines to support the plant and the fruit. My favorite thing to use for ties is old pantyhose or tights. They will not damage the stem and will stretch a bit as the plant grows.


I enjoyed this project much more than the weeding and hoeing. I hope that my trellis' do the trick for my tomatoes. I'm looking forward to a lot of homemade sauce!



memory cards