Alternative Tomato Cages

red brandywine cage by my beautiful man

Some of the tomato plants are starting to get big, spreading themselves out rather than growing up tall.  Since they are also flowering and starting to fruit it was time to cage them.  The standard tomato cages you find in the store always bend and lean over by the end of the season so we looked for alternatives.  We decided to go with stretchy garden tape and bamboo poles.  This way we can add more support as it's needed and replace bits that bend or break.  My beautiful man won the 'most beautiful tomato cage' contest.  Ok ok.  There was no contest but his looks way better than the ones I did.

working on the green zebra cage

the green zebra cage

Uh oh.  Pictures of me.  I'm making the cage for the Green Zebra tomatoes.  The bamboo poles are plenty tall enough and we'll be adding tape as the plants get bigger.  This will allow us to adapt the "cage" to each plant's individual growth habits.

black krim with a single stake

The smaller plants have only received a single stake so far.  We will add support for them as it is needed.

compost added to purple cherokee

straw added to purple cherokee

While we were working with the tomatoes I decided they needed some more food.  All of the plants got some compost mixed in with their dirt and a dressing of straw on top of their soil.  A few of the plants were looking a little nitrogen deficient (yellowing bottom branches but good new growth) so those plants only had some coffee grounds mixed into their soil.

purple cherokee's first tomato

The first Purple Cherokee tomato also happens to be the very first tomato to show up.

the first yellow pear was a beauty

The first Yellow Pair tomato only got it's start the day before a bad storm with high winds.  In other areas this same storm spawned tornadoes.  Unfortunately, the next day I found the poor thing down in the dirt.  Hopefully another will show up soon.

We're looking forward to canning lots of salsa and tomato sauce this fall as well as some stewed tomatoes and whatever else we can make.  I'm sure we'll be sharing a lot of tomatoes with friends as well.  We have big heirloom varities, some paste tomatoes and these little yellow pears.  What kinds of things do you like to make with your tomatoes?