Growing Up

Last year we had a corner of the garden that I referred to as the "Tomato Jungle". Unfortunately I do not have a picture of it but I think you get the idea...We planted too many tomato plants in too small of a space and they took over, over crowded each other, and consequently did not produce a whole lot. Because we have such a small space, every single inch is precious, so this year I decided to experiment with some vertical gardening with our viny fruits/vegetables (i.e. tomatoes and cucumbers).  I made a couple of different types of frames to test them out. Kody was not as optimistic as me about the potential success of growing up instead of out, so he set aside 1 tomato plant to plant in a pot and stick a cage around...just in case my experiment failed.

These two frames are made with the same type of mesh that I bought off the internet. The frame on the left is directly attached to the fence, where as the one on the right is just made out of bamboo and stuck into the ground. I did put it in the ground at an angle so it could lean up against the fence for extra support. The third frame (pictured above, right next to the bamboo one) we have is made from some weird metal grate thing that was rolled up in our back yard and Kody flattened it out. You can see it before he flattened it out in some earlier pics on the first post.

These were are really cheap and easy to make.  Like I said, I ordered the mesh trellis off the internet (Dalen Gardeneer Trellis Netting) for around $8, the bamboo and twine I got for free, and the weird metal grate we just had lying around. The bamboo frame was the most complicated to make but it turned out really nice, the only thing I would do differently next time is make it MUCH taller. Its about 4 feet tall and I know the tomato plant will out grow it. Instead of scrapping it and starting all over I think I will just get creative with an add on to the frame when the time comes. Next year I think I will just use the method of putting the trellis directly onto the fence, that seems to be the easiest way, the only downside is it is not as easy to move around and the bamboo frame.