Archive for the ‘Tomato Cages and Stakes’ Category
July 12th, 2011

Weekly Garden Giveaway

Many congratulations to Toni, the winner of this week’s Garden Giveaway! We hope your new Stake It Easy™ Plant Staking System with Gardeners Blue Ribbon™ Natural Jute Twine will help to “tame” some of your plants this year, or support new plants next year! Thank you to everyone who participated!

Tomato cages not only support tomatoes and encourage them to grow, but they allow them to develop naturally! This week we are featuring our Stake It Easy™ Plant Staking System with Gardeners Blue Ribbon™ Natural Jute Twine for the Weekly Garden Giveaway! Whether you are looking to manage some unruly tomato plants or another climbing plant variety, staking your plants couldn’t be any easier than with this system!  Do you have any stories about “plants gone wild”?!

If tomato cages aren’t sturdy enough as the plant becomes more mature, the stems will be too heavy for the tomato cages. Also, strong winds can easily blow over flimsy tomato cages.  Tomato cages should also be tall enough for plants to grow to full height – at least five feet or more for most varieties.  Tomato cages come in a variety of guises, not just wire, from homemade support systems using wood and twine to spiral designs. However, one of the best types of tomato cages to look for are the ones that are very sturdy, made of a heavy metal, ones that have the ability to grow with the plant, and ones that you can use for several seasons.

When you use tomato cages be careful to tie the plant correctly, otherwise you can damage the stems. Tomato cages allow air to circulate freely through the plants and the foliage naturally shades the fruit. Using soft garden twine or plastic ties with your tomato cages is a good idea.  Whether you are using plant stakes or tomato cages, hammer these into place when the seedlings are still small to avoid disturbing the roots later.

Earned the Gardening Club Seal of Approval

The patent pending design of Stake It Easy™ (STEZ) grows taller (up to 6′)as your plant grows supporting each growing branch.  More advanced than traditional tomato cages and garden stakes, this system actually grows with your plants.  To assemble, just snap together. Then adjust the height and expandable support arms as the plant grows. The system comes with six, 3-ft. long Sturdy Stakes and 3 connectors to add height when needed. Also included are nine expandable support arms to add width as the plant grows.

This versatile system can be used with tomatoes or most vine plants that need support.

Stake It Easy™ Plant Staking System with Ties

•    Easy to assemble — simply snaps together
•    EZ Step™ Stake Anchors penetrate even hard ground
•    Patent pending design — expands as the plant grows
•    Reaches a height of 6′
•    Adjusts to your needs with 4 different ways to assemble it!
•    Great for tomatoes and most vine grown plants
•    KIT Includes:
(3) EZ Step Anchors
(6) 36″ Plant Stakes
(9) Expandable Connectors
(3) Stake Extension Links

Gardeners Blue Ribbon™ Natural Jute Twine

•     Strong twine
•     Great for tying plants
•     Won’t cut or harm plants
•     Ideal for a wide variety of display and craft projects
•     200 feet of natural twine

To enter the Weekly Garden Giveaway, please enter a comment at the bottom of this blog post.  All comments will be visible once a winner is chosen at random on Wednesday, July 13, 2011.  Winner will be contacted by email.

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July 8th, 2011

COMMERCIAL TOMATO GROWING EXPOSED: Convincing reasons why you should grow your own tomatoes!

Here are some REALLY good reasons why you should grow your own tomatoes. Read “Tomatoland” by Barry Estabrook. Or be convinced by these excerpts from the NY Times book review…

Daniel Barry for The New York Times

“South Florida, where nearly all of America’s winter tomatoes are grown, is nearly…(an)…alien…environment for farming. It’s insane that tomatoes are grown there at all.

“Florida’s sandy soil, Mr. Estabrook writes, is as devoid of plant nutrients as a pile of moon rocks. “Florida growers may as well be raising their plants in a sterile hydroponic medium.”

He continues, witheringly: “To get a successful crop, they pump the soil full of chemical fertilizers and can blast the plants with more than 100 different herbicides and pesticides, including some of the most toxic in agribusiness’s arsenal.” Migrant workers are coated with these chemicals too. The toll that’s taken on them, in the form of birth defects, cancer and other ailments, is hideous to observe and should fill those who eat Florida tomatoes with shame.

And all this for what? Hard, tasteless, uniform green balls that barely dent when they fall off a truck at 60 miles per hour and that must be gassed to achieve the sick-pink hue they present in supermarkets.

To read the full review:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/06/books/tomatoland-barry-estabrooks-expose-review.html?_r=2&ref=books

To find the book:
http://www.amazon.com/Tomatoland-Industrial-Agriculture-Destroyed-Alluring/dp/1449401090/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1310152463&sr=1-1

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July 22nd, 2010

Tomato Planting Made Easy

Even gardeners who aren’t gardeners love to plant tomatoes! Seeds and seedlings are readily available. Tomatoes are easy to grow in large and small backyard plots, or in a pot on a balcony. Perhaps it’s because tomatoes appeal to almost everyone…in a fresh salad, in spaghetti sauce or just atop a cheeseburger.

So, here are some basics
Tomato plants can send out roots all along their stems. Strong roots are a good thing, so you should plant seedlings deeper than normal; as high up as the top set of leaves. These extra roots will help the plant grow quickly. Dig a hole deep enough to bury most of the plant. Some gardeners even dig a tunnel or trench and lay the plant sideways read more

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July 2nd, 2010

Tips for Growing Tomato Plants

It’s probably no stretch to assert that the most popular vegetable to grow is the tomato. There must be literally tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of tomatoes grown at home across the US every year… in large and small backyard plots, on suburban decks and patios, on city balconies and rooftops. It’s probably because seeds and seedlings readily available, relatively easy to grow, and appeal to everyone from the amateur to the avid gardener.

But just growing them is not the point, is it? Tomatoes are great to eat in so many ways. You can find nearly 2,000 recipes on the internet from the cultures of countries around the world. A summer staple when fresh, tomatoes can be enjoyed year round through preserving by canning and freezing, in sauces from barbeque to spaghetti, read more

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