by Noel | Jun 14, 2015 | CobraHead, Gardening
Last year I bought a bundle of 7’ bamboo stakes specifically to build a reliable tomato trellis. I built a beefy structure that performed well, but it had drawbacks. Here is last year’s trellis post. This year I’ve simplified the design. I eliminated the traditional tomato cages. In a well-trellised system, the cages are only in the way. They are hard to weed around and fruit gets wedged in the wires. I’m also using the t-posts that hold up the structure as...
by Noel | Sep 24, 2014 | CobraHead
Early in July I posted about a heavy duty tomato trellis I constructed with T Posts and bamboo stakes: T Post and Bamboo Tomato Trellis. I’m happy to report the trellis performed exceptionally well. I’m going to build one again, next year and I already know some minor changes I’m going to make. Lacing the tomato stems to the bamboo forces the plants to maintain excellent vertical growth. A lot of the plants are growing well over the 8 foot height of the bamboo...
by Noel | Jul 8, 2014 | CobraHead, Gardening
I didn’t have the heart to cull out some of my beautiful and healthy tomato starts so I ended up with 78 plants in two beds. My normal planting is 60 plants in two beds so I had to cheat a little on the spacing. I opened up the width across the rows and pushed the plants as far to the edges of the bed as I thought I might get away with. I still came close to a 20″ spacing between plants and that’s close to what I always do. I’d already...
by Noel | Dec 12, 2011 | CobraHead, Gardening
The outdoor season is over for my 2011 Wisconsin garden. I may do a little more clean up, and possibly drag in a few leaves to cover up some north beds, but the frost has already penetrated deep and there is nothing left to harvest. There will be no more weeding or working the soil. All my efforts now are in preparing for next year. Gardening patterns and habits repeat themselves as you learn what has to be done to ensure a good harvest, but that hardly means...
by Noel | Aug 21, 2011 | CobraHead, Gardening
I finally built a tomato trellis that I’m happy with. I knew this was a good approach years ago, but it was one of those projects I never took the time to complete. I usually grow about 30 tomato plants in three rows in one of my 20 feet long by five feet wide beds. Two years ago, when my crop was decimated by late blight, I learned that blight can be slowed by good air circulation. Crowded and damp conditions greatly increase the chance of blight, and I...
