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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

On May 2, 2008, at 10:19 PM, Robert Walton wrote:

> OK, Gene brought up tomato rotations, how about staking or caging?

I say try every method you can find and you will learn which one you  
like the best.

As each garden condition is unique, so each gardener is unique. Some  
prize neatness. Some care less. Some are content to tie, tie, tie.  
Some push sticks (I cut saw-kerf notches in the sticks, to keep them  
stable). Reinforcement-wire cages are probably most popular.

I've tried every method of supporting tomatoes. I have other things to  
do this year. So I am trying something new. I am growing tomatoes in  
the Christina Garden, the garden about twenty feet behind the house;  
the kitchen looks out upon it. It has the stone wall, the soil goes  
back a couple feet level, then slopes upward. I keep a very heavy  
mulch of grass clippings and mower-chopped leaves on it at all times.  
I have the tomatoes planted about a foot back from the wall, spaced at  
three feet. I will plant basil between. As for staking or caging, I  
will do nothing except push the vines back toward the hill. My plan is  
that they will grow backward and upward. The only challenge I foresee  
is harvesting. With my thighs against the wall I can reach back three  
or more feet. For the fruits farther back I am thinking perhaps one of  
those fruit-picking devices. Might have to build or modify one. I will  
report on the experiment.