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?

Safe Pest Control - Small Animals

Talk to any gardener, and you will find out they each have their secrets. How do you, for example, keep the small nibbling animals (like bunnies and woodchucks) from eating your garden? Some will say, "Sprinkle dried blood around." This is not as gruesome as it sounds. Dried blood is an organic fertilizer you can get at most garden centers. I know a guy who tried hair. He brought back a bag of hair clippings from the barber, and spread it liberally around the garden. Alas, neither of these methods works all that well, although some may swear by them. My father likes to put a small transistor radio in the garden, tuned to talk radio. He figures the animals will hear voices and go away.

Well, I'l going to tell you my favorite method of keeping the nibblers away. I sprinkle the plants with baby powder - the kind with talc, not corn starch. Whether it's the smell, or the taste, it seems to work. The only down side is you have to re-sprinkle whenever it rains.

There you have it, my gardening secret. If you have another way of dealing with this problem, feel free to post it in the comments.