Bed 6 Golden Sunrise TomatoesMany tomatoes are climbing or Indeterminate and as such prefer to be attached to either a single stake or trained up a string or trellis.
One of the main essentials to the Wicking Bed System is the plastic or impervious layer that forms to "pool" that retains the water within the system. This means you are unable to drive in a stake to firmly anchor my tomato plants.
The search was on for other ways of supporting the indeterminate varieties. You could just choose the non-climbing/bush or determinate varieties but that tends to limit your options as well as the size of the crop you get.
Methods of support could include a trellis added on top of the soil and supported on the sides of the beds or placing the wicking bed near a supportive fence or trellis structure.
One Method successfully used this year was a wire cage.
A piece of sturdy fencing wire 2 metres wide was cut and rolled to form a cylinder shape.This was added at the base of the new wicking bed as it the bed was built. The mesh cage rests on the "pool" layer.
Anchored by two lengths of timber that held it in place as the compost/soil layer was added.
The gaps in the mesh are big enough to allow hands access for planting, mulching and tending.
When it was time to place a 50% shade cover over the beds a length of 19mm poly hose was cut to slide over the top of the mesh because it was rough and would have damaged the cloth. Cable ties fixed the hose in place.
The cage allowed the plants to grow with support and only minimal training to keep the plants within the cage.Now that tomato growing season has ended some climbing peas can be grown up the permanent wire cage. It will be a handy trellis for many other crops.
Next year cucumbers will go in to grow up the wire and the following year some summer beans. Then the following summer tomatoes can be grown again.
Smaller squash or pumpkins could grow on the cage as well as melons or small gourds.
Cages can be added to existing beds by digging down to the pool layer, anchoring (using shorter lengths of timber and re-filling.
Brilliant idea - love it :-) Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI have been growing tomatoes on this type of trellis for a few years. I plant 2 tomatoe seedlings on the outside of the circle, on either side, and push the branches in as they grow. As the plants get bigger they anchor the trellis down so I only use a couple of tent pegs to hold it in place initally, makes it easier to move around later. Hope this is helpful.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog, I come here every few weeks,
Brianna
Thanks Brianna
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a possible solution!