Market Farming

[Janet Bachmann <janetb AT ncatark.uark.edu>]

Last year I tried a trellis method recommended by another member of our
farmers' market.  He puts up cattle panels.  They are about 5' tall and
16' long of heavy gauge wire with a mesh of about 8 inches by 6 inches. 
He rotates crops on them: tomatoes one year, cucumbers another, pole
beans another.  As the tomatoes grow, he pushes the vine through the
mesh to one side, then as it grows more, to the other side.  The initial
investment is high, about 1.50 per panel plus t-posts, but they should
last as long as I care to grow tomatoes!  I found that waiting a week to
push the vines through their holes is probably a bit long.  The stems
will break if they get too long and stiff before being pushed through
the trellis.  Eventually, the indeterminants grew beyond the top.  But
all-in-all, I was happy with how this worked for both cherry and slicing
tomatoes. 


-- 
Janet Bachmann
Agriculture Specialist
National Center for Appropriate Technology
P.O. Box 3657
Fayetteville, AR  72702
(479)442-9824
(479)442-9842 fax
janetb AT ncatark.uark.edu
www.ncat.attra.org