Doing it like the Italians

Wrangling the tomatoes was in order this past weekend. I hadn't done the best job keeping them in order. Only one plant was fairly contained (in a cage, which I don't think I'll do again). Two others had stakes they were quickly outgrowing. The fourth plant, I never got around to training around anything, and it was officially everywhere - crowding out the zucchini on one side and the nasturtiums on the other.

I've been asking around for tips on is this whole taming the tomato thing here (ours have grown like crazy - yes, this is the Garden State). Each of the gardeners I've talked to has a theory and a way of doing things, which is always somehow linked to the way the Italians do it. The thing is, there are some serious variations on people's claims on how the Italians actually keep their tomato plants. And a little like most of the Italian food we've had on this side of the Atlantic, it seems there are some pretty broad interpretations going on here.

Finally, I decided to go with with a few sturdy 7 foot stakes (can I tell you how happy I am to have a post driver, it's my favorite tool right now) in the ground for some serious support, and used some old florist type wire we had around the house to fasten the tomatoes back into some semblance of order. Fishing line would have worked better, but never mind. The plants look much better, and it's easier to see how loaded they are now, too!



Everything is ripening quickly – we're already starting to pick cherry tomatoes...Next job out here = figuring out who is stealing the squash blossoms.