Staking Tomatoes

Following in the tradition of my father and grandfather, I grow a garden every summer. It is not as large as what my they have had, but it serves us with fresh veggies every year. One thing that is a must is tomatoes. Now if you talk to die-hard gardeners, there are a number of ways to keep the tomatoes off the ground. At first, I used a wooden stake, and tied the tomatoes up to it every time it grew a foot or so. I use old rags, reusing cast-offs so as to be environmentally sensitive. But, I found this was a lot of work and still produces a waste stream each year. Tomato cages, those wire structures, are usually not tall enough. Most tomatoes will grow at least twice as tall as most cages. What to do...
So I looked at the tomato plant again. Quick lesson in tomatoes: there are two basic forms of tomato plant - determinate and indeterminate. determinate plants grow slowly and stay small an more bush-like. THese are often used in containers and are sometimes called patio varieties. Indeterminate tomatoes are, let's face it, vines. Now, I thought, what do you usually do with vines? You put them on a fence. So that's what I did.
I put up a fence using metal posts and wire mesh - usually with an opening of about 2 by 3 or 2 by 4 inches . As the plants grow, I snake them through to the other side of the fence, about every 8-12 inches or so. I use no consumables, and there is plenty of room to spread out the side shoots. Problem solved.
How do you stake your tomatoes?