Tomato family on the trellis

  • I have four tomato plants stretching to reach the trellis. I trim back most of the leaves at the base of my tomatoes so they spend more energy getting to the trellis and not bushing out. I don’t remember the varieties I bought this year but I think one is better boy and one is early girl. Funny how they sound like a family! I have two other tomato plants by my broccoli and bok choy and they are a bit more bushy with a few yellow flowers already. I know I bought one heirloom variety.

    Tomatoes have to be secured to something. I have turned over tomato cages and buried them in the bottom of the garden tub in the past. For these tomatoes I am going to tie them to the trellis as they grow. If you like the trellis I have, it is a cattle panel that is 50″ wide and 16 ft long. I bought it at a farm supply store called McCoys for 19.99.  It works as an archway between two boxes. I put one inside the trellis and one on the outside. If I had it to do over, I would put both boxes on the outside of the trellis. I used a staple to secure them to the frame and hammered a short rebar at the ground level to keep it from slipping.

    how-to-garden-raised-beds-gardening-urban-gardening-50

    How I secure my trellis at the ground level. I hammered in a short rebar to keep it from slipping.

    How I secure my trellis at the ground level. I hammered in a short rebar to keep it from slipping.

    I just use staples to secure it to the garden boxes

    I just use staples to secure it to the garden boxes

    I think this would be a nice layout idea. I didn't do it this way because my beds were already in place and I added the trellis later.

    I think this would be a nice layout idea. I didn’t do it this way because my beds were already in place and I added the trellis later.


    March 21st, 2013 | 4 Comments |

4 Responses and Counting...

  • Dollie @ Teachers of Good Things 03.21.2013

    I love your gardening post and pics! I’m hosting an EVERYTHING GARDEN linkup on Tuesday, March 26th and would love to have some of your best post added to the linkup.

    Here is the post that explains it: http://teachersofgoodthings.com/calling-all-gardeners/

    Hope you come by on Tuesday to linkup with us! My readers would LOVE It.

  • Melanie

    I’ll be there! thank you so much for the invite! I appreciate it and will check out your website as well.
    happy gardening!
    Melanie

  • Kathy McHenry

    I notice that your tomato plants are only a few inches apart. Do you find that this works better than if they are planted a couple feet from each other? I love your raised beds too.

  • Melanie

    Kathy,
    I haven’t traditionally grown tomatoes before so I don’t have that way of gardening to compare mine to. I was never successful at gardening before, even though something inside of me always wanted to garden. I have been gardening this way for over a year and have been very successful with tomatoes. The trick for me has been having a big trellis for them to grow on. I regularly pull off the suckers and the plants grown tall and big. I absolutely hate to pull weeds and I don’t like my plants having some weed take all their space and nutrients, so this is the only way for me to garden. I hope that answered your question. I don’t feel that spacing them close is a problem. Thanks so much for taking the time to ask me! I love to connect to others that enjoy gardening. Good luck to you! Melanie

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