Building the Tomato Support

With the hot weather we're currently enjoying, I do my gardening in the cool of the morning and save the afternoons for sewing.  This morning, it was high time to finish the tomato framework.

Since we vegetable garden in concrete raised beds, there is no depth of soil to take stout poles to support the growing tomato plants.  Most tomato cages are simply too small - even the biggest ones - and I was still left with drooping plants and sometimes broken stems where they fell over the wire of a cage.

Then one day I had a brainwave!  Why not build a bamboo framework to support the whole bed.  On its own, a bamboo pole is not much support, but when part of a structure, it gains strength.  And it worked!

Looking down the bed through the structure.

Over the years I've improved on the structure, with this year being no exception.  As I stated in the last post, I put 10 poles in the tomato bed, one for each tomato.  The pairs were topped with curves of plastic water pipe.  This gives a bit more strength to the structure and if need be, I can drape clear plastic over the bed in times of rain.  The main poles were purchased from Lee Valley and are metal coated with plastic so they'll last for years.

Closeup of the lash work

Today I lashed bamboo poles about 2 1/2 feet up the main poles.  Then I lashed more poles diagonally down the structure - that's this year's innovation, which should provide the strength of triangles.  I use hemp string to tie the pieces together.  At the end of the season, it's easy to cut the structure apart and if any string is missed in the cleanup, it will simply rot away.

The finished framework - potting shed in the distance and peppers to the left.

I'll add another section to the framework about another 2 1/2 above this first section if it's necessary - last year I did fine with just one section as all of the tomato plants, like this year, are determinate and don't get too tall.

Sweet Million in a half-barrel

The one tomato not in this bed, a Sweet Million, received my tallest tomato cage and 2 Lee Valley poles to anchor the cage in a half-barrel planter.  I have one more half-barrel planter waiting for a tomato which I hope to buy at jollityFARM tomorrow.

Bonica Rose

And of course, although vegetables are my focus these days, I do have a few flowering plants.  Above is a Bonica Rose.  This rose is in a bed that I'd hoped to grow rhubarb in.  Cedar roots have foiled the plan, but Bonica seems to not mind the intrusion.  Not a scented rose, although literature will tell you that it is lightly scented, nevertheless, it's welcome in my garden because of the profusion of small pink flowers.