What did you do in the garden today?

[Sylvester017]

As expected my tomatoes have unleashed their fury and have broken through their supports to do what they want and have begun, in earnest I might add, their sprawl. I just don’t think I have it in me to not let them just do what they want to do.

Tomato vines do grow unruly & some artistic gardeners do all sorts of string supports, pruning suckers, & fussing to grow special or large size fruit for county fairs or arboretum clubs... but I just grow tomatoes any ol' way that gives me enough to freeze for winter use. I let my plants grow any way they want w/no pruning.

My 1st year w/ tomatoes a friend & I for fun swapped rare tomato variety seeds to experiment in container pots. We germinated our varieties indoors & transplanted seedlings in pots. One year I had close to 100 containers. We experimented w/ a lot of cherry sizes like Sungold, Coyote, Snowberry, etc, & some cold zone varieties like Azoychka, Purple Russian, Hungarian Heart, & countless other European & Canadian heirlooms but soon realized our favorites were Mediterranean or some nice hybrid varieties for our hot zone.

In pots my tomatoes didn't grow too unruly & were easy to stake but the yields weren't much. But in later years when we put in a couple 4'x 8' raised garden beds surrounded w/ paver stone slabs (to prevent gopher digs) our veggie harvesting had better yields.
c. 2021

At 1st I used round tomato cages as plant supports but found them flimsy.

I finally replaced all round tomato cages w/ sturdier square rubber-coated metal cages & found them sturdier for all climbing veggies.

We kept a few smaller round cages for potted herbs or chili plants & gave away all the tallest round cage supports to a neighbor who had no cages at all.

DH kept one tall round support for his mystery volunteer Sunflower plant which he 1st thought was going to be a cuke plant Surprise!

Tomato vines untrained/unpruned get heavy and the tall round cage supports collapse causing vine sprawl ~ this is when I got frustrated w/ round tomato cages!
c. 2021

Square cage supports are sturdy & come in all sizes ~ this is an older galvanized metal cage that is old but I still have it... still useful after 10 seasons of use!

After harvest season the fallow garden beds are fun for the hens ~ depositing instant natural fertilizer for the next season.

 

[Rick589]

I definitely recommend the beans!!! If you look into some of the different varieties there are some gorgeous ones. Here are some of my favorites I have View attachment 4171624View attachment 4171635View attachment 4171636

What, may I ask, are the names of the beans?

 

[OnlySympathy]

What, may I ask, are the names of the beans?

The top ones are scarlet beauty, the middle are Vermont Appaloosa, and the bottom ones are soldier beans!

 

[Rick589]

Tomato vines do grow unruly & some artistic gardeners do all sorts of string supports, pruning suckers, & fussing to grow special or large size fruit for county fairs or arboretum clubs... but I just grow tomatoes any ol' way that gives me enough to freeze for winter use. I let my plants grow any way they want w/no pruning.

I have to agree. Just let the tomato plant be the tomato plant it was designed to be. As long as I get enough to can to carry through to next season I’m good. Our cherry tomatoes become unruly as well, even with sucker removal, but we get overloaded with them every year. Fighting the natural design of the plant just isn’t making any sense to me……anymore.

 

[Rick589]

The top ones are scarlet beauty, the middle are Vermont Appaloosa, and the bottom ones are soldier beans!

Thank You

 

[Molpet]

Not at all. That’s when the wild animals are out and about. Too scary. Lol!

When I was a kid a large cat was yelling by the horses with a newborn foal in the pasture. Mom went out with a hoe to scare off what she thought was a bob cat. What ever it was moved on and she didn't see it. Next day there were reports of a mountain lion less that a 1/4 mile away.

 

[Rick589]

When I was a kid a large cat was yelling by the horses with a newborn foal in the pasture. Mom went out with a hoe to scare off what she thought was a bob cat. What ever it was moved on and she didn't see it. Next day there were reports of a mountain lion less that a 1/4 mile away.

Sounds like your mom had some stones, female version.

 

[Rick589]

I have to agree. Just let the tomato plant be the tomato plant it was designed to be. As long as I get enough to can to carry through to next season I’m good. Our cherry tomatoes become unruly as well, even with sucker removal, but we get overloaded with them every year. Fighting the natural design of the plant just isn’t making any sense to me……anymore.

Besides, you’ll never win the battle anyway. Well, I’ll never win the battle.

 

[OnlySympathy]

Tomato vines do grow unruly & some artistic gardeners do all sorts of string supports, pruning suckers, & fussing to grow special or large size fruit for county fairs or arboretum clubs... but I just grow tomatoes any ol' way that gives me enough to freeze for winter use. I let my plants grow any way they want w/no pruning.

I stake and tie mine up but I have pretty limited space so it just make it so I can cram more into an area. One of these plants is around 7.5 feet tall and the other is 6.5. I don’t do any pruning except when I steal some suckers to propagate more plants

 

[Molpet]

Sounds like your mom had some stones, female version.

yes one didn't tangle with her. But the wild life used to be afraid of people around here, run off at the first sign of a person....well except for skunks