Store Bought Tomato Cages not Good Enough

On my last post about my extra early tomatoes, Italman asked if I was happy with the tomato cages in the photo. They were just the average four ring "cages" that you can buy at most garden centers, hardware stores and even grocery stores.

Well Italman, since the cage on the left just fell over, the answer is NO!

At least my curtain rod stake (gardeners will use anything) kept the cage from falling all the way to the ground.

I was able to repair the problem by securing some other collapsible tomato cages to the outside of the flimsy cages.

Now that these early girl tomato plants are upright again, they are over four feet tall!

I have about 40 more tomato plants that are still small. They will all need some kind of support as well. The store bought cages WILL work for some varieties if they are bush type or determinate. The indeterminate tomatoes need something better. My favorite methods are the "Florida Stake and Weave", "Topless Tables" and my own special "tomato trellis". I will write about all of these more as the season goes on. I wrote a post last year about my tomato trellis and topless tables if you want to know more about them.

As for now, I'm just glad that my extra-early tomatoes are still growing. My goal is still to have ripe ones by my birthday on June 24th. That date is coming up soon. Here is what the tomatoes look like right now:

Do you think they will make it in time?

If so, maybe I could claim to have a green thumb after all!

Join

Don't forget to visit other Green Thumb Sunday participants!