There is a precarious balance in the garden. Just leave your garden unsupervised for a month or two and you'll see signs of its flight back to chaos. Some chaos is a good thing. Manicured gardens make me nervous and require too much work to maintain. Who has the time?

Winter is a good time to identify problems that will occur, round up any materials needed and make a note in your day planner so that you don't forget to implement your strategy.

My tomato patch used to be a common site for calamity. Top-heavy tomatoes would topple over, leaving fruit on the ground, squashing some of them and crushing neighboring plants. There are several ways to prevent this.

HEAVYWEIGHT CAGES: I use folding tomato cages made of heavy steel. They have long legs that easily sink into garden soil to keep the cages standing upright, especially when wired to one another. These cages cost more than many other types at local nurseries, but they are made of heavier steel so they'll last longer and won't topple like flimsier ones.



LIGHTWEIGHT CAGES: If you are using lightweight wire cages for tomatoes, however, there is an easy way to prevent them from toppling. Figure out your tomato placement and spacing. A straight row works best for the following solution: Just beyond the spread of each plant at each end of the tomato row, place a pair of 2-by-4 posts. If the row is just a couple of plants, you can drive in the posts with a sledgehammer rather than digging a hole; sharpening the base of the post makes insertion easier. Nail a crosspiece near the bottom of each post to help stabilize it. Guide wire through the top ring of squares of the lightweight cages and attach it to the posts. Click here for the drawing for three ways to do this.

TIPS



bull; Keep determinate and indeterminate varieties in separate rows. Indeterminate tomato varieties can get a good deal larger and heavier because they continue to grow and bear fruit all season.

bull; Use cages 48 to 72 inches tall for vigorous indeterminate tomato varieties. Cages no more than 48 inches are best suited to determinate tomato varieties.

bull; Wait until you usually plant tomatoes outside to dig post holes or you'll compact the still-wet soil.

bull; Do not use pressure-treated wood.

bull; Saw the base of each post to be driven in by sledgehammer or just dig a hole instead.

SOURCE

Wire vises are available through my e-mail address. They can be tough to find, so I order in bulk. They are by far the easiest, most durable method for keeping wire tight for espaliers, trellising and other garden jobs.

Freelance writer/photographer Vern Nelson; thehungrygardener@yahoo.com

