Staking Up the Tomatoes

The tomatoes have been a little overlooked for the past few weeks as other harvests needed more attention than the still green tomatoes.  While I was distracted the weeds had begun to take over that area.  In the process of removing the weeds from that area I came to realize that the tomato plants had grown  far out in to the paths covered by weeds.  They were in dire need of being trained to their cages.  I took some old cut offs that I had laying around and cut them into thin strips for supports for the long and sometimes very heavy branches of the tomato plants.  Once the branches were up off the ground it became very easy to find the weeds and remove them  We were also able to use a weed whacker on the paths between the beds which is a far easier option than pulling all those weeds by hand.  When it was all done it looked like a brand new garden.

The first red large tomato is a Moskvich.  Guess they are true to their type since they ripened a good sized fruit before any of the other tomatoes.

The Brandywine tomatoes on the end are just loaded with heavy green fruits.  Many of them I didn't even realize were there until I pulled the branches up to support them on the cage.  When these begin to ripen it will be full on canning season.  It isn't more than two weeks away I'm sure. 

 

We have been enjoying the occasional cherry tomato in our salads and those plants look fairly promising as well.  There are dozens of tiny ripening fruits and the plants put out more flowers by the day.

 

This bed looks so much better after being tidied up. 

 

The tomatoes look happier not laying along the ground.  It will also make it easier to find them when they are ready to harvest.