This year our weather has been about 30 days behind.  In February and March we were 30 days ahead,  but due to the abnormally cold May we are now 30 days behind in planting.  I just put out my tomato plants the first weekend in June.  Shortly thereafter we had a rain storm like none I’ve seen before and I was sure that my tomatoes were goners.  Luckily they were not and the weather warmed up.  With the warmer weather the tomatoes started growing and I started to panic about support.

Last year my tomatoes grew to nearly 7′ tall and they snapped metal stakes.  I am taking no chances this year and went with the grand-daddy of all tomato supports.  No, it isn’t a Texas Tomato Cage.  I don’t think those would even work.  I’m a do-it-yourself kinda gal and used an idea I found at the Puyallup Fair last year.

Since I’m not taking any chances on a reduced yield because of the weather so I added 5 more plants to last year’s 10.  That is 15 tomato plants in all.  Only two are the same variety.

To create the supports I used 1×3 lumber and 2×2 lumber.  I used a 8′ piece and cut 18″ off.  I screwed the 18″ piece to the top of the the long piece and used a 12″ piece of 2×2 to make a diagonal support.  My husband then dug 12″ holes and attached the uprights to the raised beds.  I (my husband) attached eye bolts in the cross piece and ran a string to the bottom of the tomato plant.  I used bamboo stakes and zip ties to hold the string down and taught.  I then attached the tomato plant with tomato clips from Johnny’s Seed.

The tomato section of the garden looks rather strange, but I’m hoping it will work to keep the tomatoes upright.

Here are a few photos to illustrate.