Last year’s garden was a success.
Of course, there are always pests…like the small crew of cabbage worms that took a few heads of cabbage.
Or the swarm of Japanese Beetles that attacked the tomatoes and the trees in the swale and the sunflowers.
And the army of squash bugs that wreaked havoc on the pumpkins.
There are always things beyond our control.
Nature is funny that way.
But, overall, we had a beautiful and fragrant garden and a successful harvest.
The layout for this year’s kitchen garden looks much the same as last year’s…with a few minor changes.
I’m done messing around with ready-made tomato cages.
The plants are always too heavy and I end up with a garden full of twisted cages and tomatoes rotting on the ground. I’m done with them.
This year, we are building 8, maybe 10, tomato cages using wire mesh. Concrete reinforcing wire mesh to be precise.
I’m not going to let the volunteers overrun the garden again this year.
The borage, though beautiful, was completely out of control.
The tomatoes, though tasty, choked out the carrots.
The pumpkins, though plentiful, took over too much space.
I’ll try to stay on top of them and, as they pop up, transplant them in the swale or back gardens. Maybe I’ll try to pot up a few and give them away. Most of them, however, will probably go to the chickens.
But…if the broccoli forest and dill jungle come back…I’ll leave that for the boys.
The design of the garden is done
It’s time to start all of the fun
The seeds are all here
The planting is near
The joy of the season’s begun!
a pinch of homestead 
The link for tomato cages is similar to what I found with Len Pense. I think he used a 4″ concrete reinforcement panel and made a “tower” with it. He would use bamboo poles laid horizontally thru the squares to support the tomato plant as it grew. In his video he also shows how to prune tomato plants.
He also used the same “cage” for green beans and would stack them 2 high or higher from the looks of some of the pics.
http://www.gardeningrevolution.com/index.html
The download is only $20. I had a raised bed in Canton that was built from his plans. I bought the media from a distributor in St. Louis, way cheaper for me to drive down and back in the van than to have it shipped, plus they gave me the business prices not retail.
Then about 3 years later I learned about hugukultur (sp) from Jack and Paul. I added wood to the bottom and then covered with the media. Len’s media recipe is very loose.
Wow! His garden is beautiful! I have a friend who uses it in his garden for tomatoes, peppers and beans and it works great. I’ll be downloading this for sure. Thanks for the tip!
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