Tomato Trees

Last year we lost half of our tomatoes when the vines fell and bugs got to them while they were ripening on the ground. The home and garden industry makes all sorts of contraptions that attempt to keep tomato vines from falling, and as far as we've seen, there are dozens that don't work. This past winter, however, we caught wind of a new method for saving those falling plants from the ground: take away the ground.

The method works by growing the tomato plants upside-down from hanging pots; if the plants are growing downward already, then falling is not a problem. We've heard a couple of testimonials from successful upside-down tomato growers, so we decided to try it ourselves.

Yet retail contraptions that all inverted tomato growth can cost upwards of 40$ per plant grown. Forget that! We're going to do it ourselves. The photographs that follow are from the afternoon that I spent with David (a local guy who loves to help out with projects) setting up the poles that will become our tomato trees.

Here's a shot of the garden before any tomato trees appear (that's David with the clams):

In case you ever wondered what half a hole looks like--here's one:
I finally got my own pair of post-hole diggers ("clams")--I will never dig another hole without them and a trusty digging bar.
A friend donated some leftover electrical poles to our cause. We chopped 'em into 9-foot lengths and hauled 'em out:

They get mighty heavy, even after just a hundred yards.

But we sunk 'em, tamped 'em, and put the first crossbar on. Here's David with the gorgeous product of our labours (there will be four buckets on each tree by the time the project's done):

And the obligatory Sonlight t-shirt shot ("We have skills") with yours truly:

Stay tuned for more on the prosperity of the tomato trees!

~emrys