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Those beds look very sturdy. I hope you can get hubby to sign up to Workshop too!
And nice work on the staking @Annette. I'm sure @timjeffries will be keen to see that. He is keen to see different tomato staking styles.
Jason
We actually transplanted these tomatoes on 16 October, a few weeks before we normally would, so I wanted to protect them as much as possible just in case we had a few last frosts before November here in Canberra. It was just as well, because 2 days later we had VERY high winds which would have severely damaged them if not for the tree guards I placed around them.
I used the regular tomato cages in a triangle formation with a central stake to secure the plant to but added other tomato stakes to firmly stake out the tree guard so that it didn't blow around too much. I buy the plastic tree guards by the metre which has perforations every metre. I have purchased plastic tree guards from Bunnings in the past but they came in packets that are pre-cut to 40 or 50cm which I find is not sufficient for my purposes. Purchasing it by the roll is much better because you can determine exactly how high you want the tree guard to be. If I need to protect a larger plant and need a larger diameter I use 3 or 4 of the tree guards and using several extra tomato stakes to slip the tree guards over the stakes to surround the plant. After the danger of frosts have passed I will remove the plastic tree guards but keep the tomato cages in place. We also have the round steel tomato cages but we tend to mainly use them for supporting zucchinis and cucumbers.
For securing any of my plants to stakes I use Jolly Tree Ties (as pictured below) which are a stretchy T-shirt type of material (available from Bunnings). I also use it in long lengths to secure across my snow peas and other climbing vegetables such as peas and beans. When the season is over I remove them and wash them in disinfectant, dry them and store them away for the next season.
I hope the information about the tomato cages helps Tim and other Workshop members.
Congrats @Annette, hubby's done a cracker job, & thanks for the tip on buying the plastic tree guard by the metre.
I'll have to get some & plant out our herb & vege pots, that should slow down our little digger mate.
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