May Garden Update - Tomato stakes and suckers

I just checked on the garden. Everything is growing well and looks green and happy. I mean everything. Including the weeds. I see some serious weeding time in my near future. The cucumber plants are holding their heads up, sending out little tentacles and looking for places to run. The squash and eggplant need more water, but look pretty healthy. The peppers love hot dry weather so they haven't minded that I have been gone alot. Same with the herbs. Herbs love to be hot and dry.

The tomatoes are growing fast but were starting to lean over, so it was time to stake them. I have used various methods to do this. I used to think the best way was with a tall wooden stake and nylon hose cut into strips to tie up the plant. The nylon hose expand and won't cut or damage the plant when you tie it to the stake. But, last year I bought some of the tomato rings and so that is what I am using again this year. One thing you have to do if you are using rings is to train the tomato plant as it grows by adjusting it up the rings. If you get too far behind with this, you can break the plant or damage the tomatoes. Tomatoes need to be tended to a little more than some plants.

So I have staked the tomatoes and I have picked off the suckers. Suckers are non producing branches that grow between the producing branches.

Suckers are alot like bad habits. If you leave them on the plant, they will use up alot of the energy and nutrients of the plants and the tomatoes on the producing limbs will not grow to their full potential. You can spot a sucker right away when they are little, but it gets harder to tell as they mature. When you notice which have the yellow flowers and which do not, alot of the damage is already done. It's important to 'nip those suckers in the bud' before they hold back a producer.

We sure could learn alot from plants.