This was for my second crop tomatoes last year...The process starts great and the cattle panels give great support to the plants. Lots of fruit and nice healthy tomatoes....BUT...the July / August sun cooks the tomatoes, since they do not have the plant leaves on top to protect them. And it is difficult to control weeds under the panelLindsaylew82 wrote:I think Lakngulf did this once with concrete wire on his non-lake garden. I can't find the post, but maybe he will post a link here.
So this is my second crop tomatoes this year, in just about the same location. I bought another roll of concrete reinforcement wire and made hoops for each plant. Works so much better, and they last a long time. This keeps the plants growing above the fruit and protects from so much sun. And yes, these plant rows are too close together. At first I was going to LEAN cattle panels at an angle to try that. So now I am saying the rows are close to offer more July August sun protection