This year was going to be different. We were going to bow to custom and buy tomato cages. For the past couple of years we have tried a few tomato harnessing methods. First was the stake and tie, but rather then use bamboo or those funny metal rods in the landscaping department, I decided that copper pipe would add some decorative interest. The tomatoes are smack in front of our house for all the world to see, after all! That year I learned that you can't tie anything to a copper pipe. The tomato vines ended in a pile on the ground, lashed to the pipes with the bits of string and twine of our failed attempts. We even had a few cable ties in the mess.
The following year we got crafty and rigged a string down the length of the pipe to tie the vines to. We had more tomato plants then the previous year and resorted to using sticks along with the copper pipes; augmenting the whole thing with a string mesh. It worked until the plants got heavy. That year we got a pile of strings, cable ties, sticks, copper pipes, and tomato plants.
This year we were going to give up and buy cages. I know they're ugly, hard to store, and are in a constant state of disintegration (prove me wrong, I dare you) but there must be something about them that people like. We waited till early July when we knew which plants were thriving to purchase cages. Why risk buying too many or too few?
The answer is - because no one sells tomato cages in July. The cages sold out in early June to all of youcheaters non-seed starters and optimistic gardeners. Note: We were not the only people on a quest for tomato cages, EVERY store we visited said it was a popular request. Stands to reason that one of the stores might consider re-ordering for mid-July. But that's just me.
You can order these bulky, ugly, gangly, things. We would need a bare minimum of 8, and that's pushing it. With shipping that's a grand total $179.04! When they're on sale! Must be some damn fine tomato cages! Remember the Suburban Farm credo? "When all else fails at least we werecheap frugal." We did salvage a few cages from Ryan's parents - once again coming to the rescue. But, there just weren't enough. Last weekend, nearly a month after we wanted to cage the beasts, we broke down and built these:
Behold the tomato teepee! Please hold your applause. They are a wonder of modern engineering, I know. Personally, I think they look better then any cages I saw but I haven't asked my neighbors what they think yet. "Them kids is at it again. Look, they planted sticks!" The sticks were cut from the backyard. Now before I get nasty emails about deforesting, we cut two year old poplar trees from the understory leaving more space for the maples, oaks, cedars, magnolias, and other slower growing trees. We didn't even make a dent in the poplar population in the back yard. Ok, so at least two of them are holly trees. You want to save the holly trees, come dig them out of my back yard. I can't kill them fast enough, and they make great firewood.
So we ended up not spending a single cent on tomato cages this year, and I for one am happy with the results.
- G
The following year we got crafty and rigged a string down the length of the pipe to tie the vines to. We had more tomato plants then the previous year and resorted to using sticks along with the copper pipes; augmenting the whole thing with a string mesh. It worked until the plants got heavy. That year we got a pile of strings, cable ties, sticks, copper pipes, and tomato plants.
This year we were going to give up and buy cages. I know they're ugly, hard to store, and are in a constant state of disintegration (prove me wrong, I dare you) but there must be something about them that people like. We waited till early July when we knew which plants were thriving to purchase cages. Why risk buying too many or too few?
The answer is - because no one sells tomato cages in July. The cages sold out in early June to all of you
You can order these bulky, ugly, gangly, things. We would need a bare minimum of 8, and that's pushing it. With shipping that's a grand total $179.04! When they're on sale! Must be some damn fine tomato cages! Remember the Suburban Farm credo? "When all else fails at least we were
Behold the tomato teepee! Please hold your applause. They are a wonder of modern engineering, I know. Personally, I think they look better then any cages I saw but I haven't asked my neighbors what they think yet. "Them kids is at it again. Look, they planted sticks!" The sticks were cut from the backyard. Now before I get nasty emails about deforesting, we cut two year old poplar trees from the understory leaving more space for the maples, oaks, cedars, magnolias, and other slower growing trees. We didn't even make a dent in the poplar population in the back yard. Ok, so at least two of them are holly trees. You want to save the holly trees, come dig them out of my back yard. I can't kill them fast enough, and they make great firewood.
So we ended up not spending a single cent on tomato cages this year, and I for one am happy with the results.
- G