The lazy garden

[fishman]

Toddler,

Down here in TX, regular watering is important most of the year for a successful garden. Always a pain until I bought some round soaker hose ($40)and a timer ($22). Now, every morning at 4:30 am, the soaker hose turns on and runs for two hours. Really efficient. Add that to the electric fence protecting it from deer, a bunch of mulch, and 5' tall tomato cages, and you have a vegetable factory that just requires me to pick, pick, pick. Now if I could just automate that . . ./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[MDNick]

We always used the newspaper trick, wet it down a bit while laying it holds it in place until you mulch. Straw and horse manure from the horse pen makes for great mulch and gorgeous tomato plants and tomatoes.

Knew of a guy that found an easy way to mow a circular patch of lawn. Put a post in the middle of it, tied some rope to it, and tied the other end to the front of a self propelled push mower. Got a beer and a lawn chair and watched the mower wind its way up to the post. Not sure if he was lazy or we're stupid.

Farmer kid usetabe, Farmer Wannabe

 

[Gfsimon]

fishman, where'd you find 5' tall tomato cages?? All I can find 'round here are the cheap (which bend easy) short ones. I've been looking around by have yet to find anything more heavy duty. Last year I had 34 tomato plants which were doing pretty good 'till we had a decent size storm which knocked over (and broke) several of the plants. Ahh, I can't wait for fresh tomatos!

Jerry
<font color=orange>SE Minnesota</font color=orange>

 

[DFB]

Jerry,

In the past we've made our own tomato cages from rolls of welded wire fencing. 3', 4', 5'.
What ever size you need.

DFB

 

[RJohnson]

I like to use concrete reinforcing wire, it is a little heavier than fencing and has held up well for many years. I cut the bottom wire off and it gives me wire stakes to push in the ground and help stabilize it. I make mine anywhere from 18" to 24" in diameter, roll out about 6 foot of wire mesh and cut off one vertical wire and wrap it up on itself and instant tomato cage. You will need a fairly heavy wire/bolt cutter to make it easier to make the cages. Good luck.

Randy

 

[fishman]

Jerry,

I do exactly what RJohnson does. The concrete reinforcing wire is cheap and heavy duty. As for cutting it, I have had good success with sawzall/hackblade combo, and some success with a mini mototool and cutoff wheel (wear safety glasses /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif). Each cage requires about 30 cuts and standard wire cutters absolutely won't work, as RJohnson points out. Total cost per each (I can get 6 out of a 50' roll) is less than $4. If you buy in bulk, it will be less expensive.

BTW, here in TX my tomatoes are already growing out of the top of the cages. Perhaps 10' tall cages are next!/w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

 

[Gfsimon]

Thanks all for the ideas. I never thought about actually making them myself /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif. Guess I'll be stopping by fleet farm later today /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif.

"BTW, here in TX my tomatoes are already growing out of the top of the cages. Perhaps 10' tall cages are next" I don't want to hear about it /w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif. I thought my tomatos were doing good at 8 inches! /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Jerry
<font color=orange>SE Minnesota</font color=orange>

 

[StoneHeartFarm]

I make a Teepee for mine out of 4 small diameter poles, set the corners about 2 feet apart (tops of poles crossed and fastened), plant at each corner and tie the plants to the poles as they grow up. If they get much taller than about 5', I start nipping the tops to make em spread out. The advantage is you can reach in anywhere to pick and you don't have fencing in the way.

SHF

 

[skent]

I take 6' studded T posts, Three per plant, drive them in the ground 18" from the plant in a circle. Then I wrap baler twine arount the T posts and work my way up as the plant grows. At the end of the season, I can just cut the twine and pull the posts.

If my plants are in a row, (see attachment) I put T posts between each plant and wind the twine around and up. (attachment is crude, but I didn't have any pictures here at work)

Steve

 

[fishman]

That's a neat system Skent. One obvious advantage is that t-posts are easier to store as opposed to 2' diameter cages /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif. I'm going to try a couple next year to see how it works.