# Don't embarrass yourself with those Walmart tomato cages!!!



## SueMc (Jan 10, 2010)

I just read this weird blog about one woman's perspective on what is proper and what is not when vegetable gardening! I love for my garden to be visually pleasing as much as the next person but.......wow!

http://www.gardenrant.com/my_weblog/2010/03/the-dark-side.html


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## Bret4207 (May 31, 2008)

She's an elitist. The blog and sponsor ad's reek of it.


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## Beaners (Feb 23, 2005)

I have read that blog a few times. I love a lot of the posts. I read through the comments too. I can kind of see where the author is coming from. How many people have bitten off more than they can chew in the last couple years and given up on gardening because of it? I don't think it was because their gardens were "ugly" though. In fact, one of the neighbors asked me what a certain plant was that we were growing in the garden last year. Hah! It was something that I hadn't had time to hoe down. It'll probably be even worse this year with a baby coming in the middle of the season.

I made a few snarky comments myself at Lowes and Home Depot the other day. I am just not nice enough to always be puppies and rainbows and sunshine. Sometimes I just think the mean things instead of saying them out loud though.

Kayleigh


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## Pennsyltucky (Oct 8, 2009)

She does have a point, though. My garden plot is one of many community plots offered by my apartment complex. The majority of the folks who garden are guilty of the writer's complaints. They get real ambitious in the spring and fill the small 12x17 plots with way more tomatoes and peppers than proper spacing allows, leading to disease and pest proliferation later in the season. The majority let the weeds get out of control within a couple months, which then go to seed and blow into my plot. Many spray pesticides without abandon, telling me the Sevin dust is for keeping squirrels off their tomatoes and other such nonsense. Meanwhile, the bees that frequent my garden will probably be killed by their "squirrel repellent". Almost everyone uses miracle grow like crazy, thinking it will help compensate for their lack of experience. Again, resulting in more pest and disease issues.

Oh yeah, and many do use the crappy 2 ft tall tomato cages. Their tomatoes usually end up falling over. I don't think she's an elitist. I think she's sick of neglected gardens spreading weeds.


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## SueMc (Jan 10, 2010)

If she doesn't like the walmart cages she wouldn't be too thrilled with my big cages made out of woven wire fence or the "tepee" style out of cattle panels that I'm copying from Forerunner this year!


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## Jenn (Nov 9, 2004)

She's describing my garden! SueMc she doesn't think walmart cages are ugly, just inadequate! If yours are tall enough to keep your toms from going horizontal- as all mine did last year, and no wonder so many slugbites on them!- she'll be happy.


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## SueMc (Jan 10, 2010)

Jenn said:


> She's describing my garden! SueMc she doesn't think walmart cages are ugly, just inadequate! If yours are tall enough to keep your toms from going horizontal- as all mine did last year, and no wonder so many slugbites on them!- she'll be happy.


Actually Jenn, I gave away all those types of cages years ago. They always did fall over. I was just taken aback at her snooty attitude about the whole subject. I agree that many do become overwhelmed by or lose interest in their gardens which then become weed patches. I just don't necessarily think that edged paths, cutesy garden art and white vinyl picket fences are a requirement for a nice vegie garden.
Well, I do like edged paths!


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

One doesn't buy size 5 shoes if your feet are size 10. You buy and use the type of cage most suitable to the variety. If you are going to grow sprawling types which may have 10' of vine, it's not the cage's fault for being only 3' tall. Cages generally are available in various sizes. Buy the size that will support the varieties which you grow or learn how to stake them. 

Martin


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## Kstornado11 (Mar 17, 2006)

Those "tomato cages" are like trying to keep a Great Dane in a cat carrier!! :stars:
I was at Walmart yesterday, & I saw an older couple buying some of their cucumber plants on the little trellis thingys for $12, and they clearly had powdery mildew  ! I told the wife, & she asked me "IS that bad?" & I told her yes, that it spreads all over the garden. I made the mistake of buying a pumpkin plant from a greenhouse that had it, & it spread all over everything last year. The cashier kinda gave me a perturbed look, but I didn't care. I was there a few days before, & saw them unloading the truck, & most had the stuff all over them!


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## Bret4207 (May 31, 2008)

I've about given up on cages too. Just don't work like they show. The curse of good soil I suppose.


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## Our Little Farm (Apr 26, 2010)

Kstornado11 said:


> Those "tomato cages" are like trying to keep a Great Dane in a cat carrier!! :stars:
> I was at Walmart yesterday, & I saw an older couple buying some of their cucumber plants on the little trellis thingys for $12, and they clearly had powdery mildew  ! I told the wife, & she asked me "IS that bad?" & I told her yes, that it spreads all over the garden. I made the mistake of buying a pumpkin plant from a greenhouse that had it, & it spread all over everything last year. The cashier kinda gave me a perturbed look, but I didn't care. I was there a few days before, & saw them unloading the truck, & most had the stuff all over them!


That was nice of you to tell them.

I don't care if a veggie garden is perfect or ugly, as long as it produces great veggies.


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## Cindy in NY (May 10, 2002)

I think this article was written to be a bit tongue-in-cheek. I can't say that I have ever seen an "ugly" garden. I've seen plenty that are neglected for whatever reason. But I appreciate anyone that makes the effort to grow some of their own food.

I use the small tomato cages for my peppers. I have a couple of really tall ones that I use on my zuchinni. They grow up instead of out! 

For tomatoes, we have a cage made from PVC that goes over the whole bed. There is a net tied down tight across the top of the cage. I tie strings to the bottom of the tomato plants and the other end of the string gets tied to the netting. As the plant grows it's easy to give it a little twist to keep it growing up the string.


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

I like the cattle panels fastened to tposts. I can tie the plants to the panels. Gave up on those rinky dink cages years ago. They make more work since they tend to topple over pretty fast.


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## Wolf mom (Mar 8, 2005)

I don't think that article is about tomato cages. I _do_ think it's about thinking and planning. 

Plunk and plant? What about thinking about next years crop rotation? Weeds & insects? Think about soil preparation, companion planting. I think that's what the article is all about, although she doesn't spell it out: thinking & planning.


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## Judi Reilly (Mar 27, 2008)

Has anyone used the Florida Weave method of holding the tomato plants up? I too don't like the cages..so am trying this method this year..I had a mess last yr. in the bed..

Thanks..Judi


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## wyld thang (Nov 16, 2005)

The tomato cages do work for some varieties, like for me early girl and plum types, and I stick a stake down through it if the plant gets growing sideways and pulls it over. I have a panel of hogwire for cherry types to grow on and bigger rounds made from the 4x2 wire fencing for brandywine and oregon spring. My tomato plants dont' put out as much vegetation because of the shorter growing season.

I think the community gardens are a great idea, but they need to be run more strictly, with one person in charge who can oversee and ride herd and be knowledgable. Perfect petri dish for failure when you have a lot of newbies throwing spaghetti at the wall!

You can cram a lot of plants in a space, but you have to have the right mix and not have a mono-cram. ALso have to have more nutrients available(which you can do at the beginning with amending the soil).


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## countrysunshine (Jul 3, 2008)

I haven't read the article yet but I wanted to comment on tomato cages. We tried the cattle panels last year and we both HATED 'em. That did not work at all for us.

we are going back to using woven wire cages or tieing them to poles.

ETA:

Read it now! WOW! 

See, I am the opposite. I don't really like wasting my time on flowers. I do now but I didn't when I was young. I didn't want my tme, effort and space taken up by flowers.

I find her blog offensive.

It's my garden, my property and I'll do it any what I please. What pleases me is how my grandparents did it! There were no flowers, there were no places to sit and they weren't pretty. They were functional.


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## OJ Rallye (Aug 4, 2005)

We made tomatoe cages out of reinforicing wire for concrete. You can make them whatever size suits you and your plants. 
For winter stoarage, we put them around young trees to help keep critters from munching on the small trees.


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

Those tomato cages are awesome!!! 
For other things.
I use them for my pepper plants, my perennials that bow over etc... never for tomatoes though.
2 years ago I got about 60 of them for free off Freecycle.. thank you nice lady!


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## wyld thang (Nov 16, 2005)

Actually flowers are very beneficial in a veggie garden, if nothing else for attracting a variety of pollinators. I have lots of flowers and I can't believe how many different kinds of bees and stuff swarm in my garden doing their thing!

I like flowers cuz they're pretty too, and you can eat some.


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## countrysunshine (Jul 3, 2008)

wyld thang said:


> Actually flowers are very beneficial in a veggie garden, if nothing else for attracting a variety of pollinators. I have lots of flowers and I can't believe how many different kinds of bees and stuff swarm in my garden doing their thing!
> 
> I like flowers cuz they're pretty too, and you can eat some.


Not gonna happen in my family. I mentioned to my husband that some flowers are edible and he said, "Not by me they aren't."

I have plans to plant flowers in the garden this year to see if it changes anything but I don't expect it to. For me flowers are offensive because they require work I could expend on something else more productive and most times I get overwhelemd by their scents. I just don't like them.

Judging by the last few years I would say I have NO problem attracting bees.


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

If I didn't have the flowers and blooming herbs in my garden, I don't kow how I would grow anything.
I use them to attract beneficial insects that seriously harm the bad insects. The difference is HUGE!! Last year I could only find 6 tomato hornworms...

Also basil and borage etc.. all make my garden grow better..as does comapnion planting.


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## wyld thang (Nov 16, 2005)

countrysunshine said:


> Not gonna happen in my family. I mentioned to my husband that some flowers are edible and he said, "Not by me they aren't."
> 
> I have plans to plant flowers in the garden this year to see if it changes anything but I don't expect it to. For me flowers are offensive because they require work I could expend on something else more productive and most times I get overwhelemd by their scents. I just don't like them.
> 
> Judging by the last few years I would say I have NO problem attracting bees.


This offends me.
(just teasing )


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## countrysunshine (Jul 3, 2008)

I don't mind others growing flowers. I just never felt I had the time to take care of them. I wanted to focus on things that were "productive". 

Now my kids are grown. I have nothing but time it seems. I'm afraid I have become one of "those" people. 

My husband and I just stopped by a local greenhouse because I wanted some more rosemary and tarragon (see what I mean!!) and we ended up w/ $150 worth of stuff!!

I have a water garden, an herb garden, flowers and vegetables. My favorite are probably the herbs. They are a nice mixture and less labor intensive.

My husband likes vegetables because they involve power equipment! He misses farming.


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## Nomad (Dec 19, 2002)

I started putting Marigolds in among my plants a few years ago, but now I can't remember why. It seems like I had a good reason when I first did it.

Nomad


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## Rita (May 13, 2002)

Judi, I did the Florida weave two seasons and it is much easier than tying up each individual plant to a stake, but you do have to keep up with adding the next weave. The only problem was I found I would get the twine as tight as I could and then the plants would "straighten-up" and the twine would be loose.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

When twine gets wet and has any tension on it, it will stretch. It will remain stretched upon drying rather than reverting to original form.

Martin


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## Devoville (Mar 23, 2009)

Walmart has the worse garden centre EVER!!! I never buy anything there..


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

Those tomato cages work well for cucumbers. They are totally overwhelmed by tomatoes.

I didn't agree with much of what the blogger wrote - I'd rather see someone plant a "flat" garden and harvest a few homegrown veggies, than not have them plant one at all.


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## [email protected] (Dec 17, 2004)

There are good and bad tomato cages. I've found most of the ones from the big box stores aren't any good for big heirloom tomatoes. I find the heavy duty ones made from heavy cage wire with 1 T post set beside them and wired to the cage will hold even the heaviest Brandywine plant. I like to put the cages over the plants as soon as I set them out. Otherwise they quickly grow to the point that they're hard to get through that narrowest ring at the bottom of the cage. As for the flimsy ones that I have bought by mistake in the past, I find they're good for pickling cucumbers that don't put weight on the cage.


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## Bountiful Ranch (Jan 11, 2010)

I use hog panels for my tomatoes. Wonderful, I'll never go back to cages again. You can weed so much easier.


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## countrysunshine (Jul 3, 2008)

Bountiful Ranch said:


> I use hog panels for my tomatoes. Wonderful, I'll never go back to cages again. You can weed so much easier.


Maybe I need to see another picture. One of our complaints about fence panels was it was difficult to weed/hoe and the plants ended up breaking. Maybe we are doing it correctly.

I also can imagine using tomato cages for cukes. How do you do that? We use an arched fence panel and it works fantastic. Going to put the small decorative gourds on one this year.


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## SueMc (Jan 10, 2010)

I first saw them posted by Forerunner or RL on her site. I'd never seen panels used for tomatoes, beans, etc, and have been collecting them every since. Maybe he or Lori can provide a link to photos.




countrysunshine said:


> Maybe I need to see another picture. One of our complaints about fence panels was it was difficult to weed/hoe and the plants ended up breaking. Maybe we are doing it correctly.


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

My garden is not nice and neat and cutesy. I don't have enough cash to spend on cutesy garden stuff. And if the mulch isn't free, then it doesn't get mulched! Money for that goes to our power company or rent or fuel for the car. I don't have edging in most of the garden. A couple years ago I got a few small beds edged nice, but not the big ol veggie garden which is always a work in progress anyway. Strait lines? Sure if you have a lot of room to have strait lines with wide rows between them. I don't. I have to be creative with my space....which usually means planting closer and leaving little room between rows of diffrent things. Guess what? that actually helps to shade out weeds and conserve moister if I can't find enough mulch. Sure, it looks like a jungle of wild green growth but so what? I get a lot of veggies and fruits from it and everything is organic and healthy (i have never ever had blight in my garden for instance). I try to keep up on weeds but working shift work sometimes you are off and it's dark or you are off and you are so tired you need sleep so you don't get out to weed as much as you should.

Thats my take on it. Who cares if someone's garden isn't perfect????


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