Saturday, July 19, 2008

tomato supports

supports 9
supports 1 supports 3
supports 4
supports 5 supports 7
supports 6
supports 8 supports 11a
supports 11

While I was searching the community gardens for ripe tomatoes, I took pictures of all the different methods of supporting tomato vines that are in use in the plots. We have 100+ active lots now and its a great source of gardening information.

I think the best are the top photo. A traditional Italian design. (Its Gino's garden.) Simple. The wood posts hold the metal pipe and strings wrap around the vines. This is what I would like to try next year.

I always like the tepee structures too. The second large photo shows these. Someone has some very tall tepees. They look good. (They also have the white residue I assume is from spraying a fungicide.)

I can't quite figure out that the structure is in the third large photo. But the tomatoes seem happy.

Yes, those are my tomatoes in the last large photo. A rustic, make shift design. That's what happens when you start with tepees and then shift mid season to an upright design to let in more air and sun. Too much construction work. I'm looking forward to improving on this next year.


Belmont Victory Garden

tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum)

5 comments:

Space_Cowby said...

stop teasing and lets see the pics :-)

kathy said...

I'm even going to do a diagram, because I have pictures of 10 different designs that are really nice!

(patience..... I'm having a martini now, with dried cranberries and cucumbers)

kathy said...

OK. I've posted the photos finally. Sorry for the wait.

No diagram. I think the photos are better than I can draw.

Flax Hill Gardener said...

One of my fellow community gardeners has a tomato support structure like your third large photo. I'm not sure how it works, but he did A LOT of study of tomato growing before starting his project. This type of structure must be in a book somewhere.

Beth said...

Hi- I'm wondering what you used for your "posts" - both vertical and horizonal. They look similar to Gino's vertical posts.