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From: beth@gymble.UUCP (Beth Katz)
Newsgroups: net.garden
Subject: Re: staking up tomatoes
Message-ID: <129@gymble.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 29-Mar-85 10:15:05 EST
Article-I.D.: gymble.129
Posted: Fri Mar 29 10:15:05 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 2-Apr-85 00:36:31 EST
References: <594@rlgvax.UUCP>
Reply-To: beth@gymble.UUCP (Beth Katz)
Organization: U of Maryland, Laboratory for Parallel Computation, C.P., MD
Lines: 35
Summary: 

Tom Love writes:
>i'm looking at approximately 60 plants, by the time i thin out
>all of my seedlings.  my primary option, at this point, is to
>find the cheapest wooden stakes i can get, and do it one per plant
>at the time i put them out.  my garden is going to look like a
>closeup of the back of a nervous porcupine.
>
>i'd be interested in hearing from folks suggesting alternate methods.
>has anyone grown tomatoes on a fence-type setup?  a net?
>anyone out there who says let them lay?

With the small garden I've had the past two years, I've put in four 6-foot
1x1s and run cotton cord between the stakes to produce a net.  I grow rather
tall plants, so they must be turned down to the net when they get too tall.

My family has always used tomato cages, but 60 cages would be a lot to
make.  Perhaps a wire fence down each side of a row would work.  You would
not need to make cages but would have the support and convenience of wire.
Stake the fence so that it doesn't fall over and wipe out your crop.

We used peat pellets for starting seeds but not for transplanting.  I start
my seeds in plastic egg cartons and then move the seedlings to plastic cups.
Tomatos get 16 oz while some other plants get the 10 oz size.  When I'm ready
to put them in the garden, I cut off most of the cup's bottom leaving at least
an inch of rim to keep the munching critters off the seedlings.  Again, this
works with a small garden (7x4, because I live in an apartment).

I hope to move before the end of April to a rented house.  One of our criteria
for renting is that there be room for, and permission for, a nice garden.

FLASH REPORT FROM THE GARDEN :  Parsley wintered over well and is growing
furiously.  Sugar snap peas are about four inches high and climbing.

					Beth Katz
					{seismo,allegra}!umcp-cs!beth