Gardening again...Cages?

[Danaher2018]

Last year was my first time gardening. I started out with growing tomatoes on sticks. It was a lot of fun and I had a lot of great tomatoes. This year, I got more seeds to plant, but different things.

I'm planning on growing Garden Bean, Cantaloupe, Tomato (again), Cucumber, Squash, Sweet Corn, Onion, Carrot, and Lettuce. What kind of cages would be a good idea for these? Can I use the tomato cages or do they have to be a different kind of cages?

[applestar]

Hello! It’s great that you are planning to expand this year.

You will need to organize your grow list and growing schedule according to your local seasonal temperatures and what month of the year each crop is best started — and whether you will start them from seeds or from purchased baby plants.

Onion, carrot, and lettuce are cool season starters and lettuce in particular will not grow during the hot time of the year. These are all very short and will not need any support.

As you found out, tomatoes need some kind of support. If sticks/stakes worked well for you, you may want to try that again to review and perfect your technique before trying another method.

Beans will depend on whether you grow bush beans or pole beans.

Cantaloupe and Squash are generally best grown sprawling on the ground (because they set down more roots along the vines) but will need plenty of space to spread out. If you are talking about summer squash, they don’t grow vines and grow heavy thick stems that basically lay on the ground.

I always grow cucumber on a vertical trellis — wire fence panel works well.

Corn does not need support (technically) but needs to be grown in blocks of 3 or 4 rows. And if grown in extremely tiny patch like 3x4 or 4x5, MUST be hand pollinated. They do fall over if not hilled and/or if there is a gusty wind storm and benefit from being supported with strings but this is not practical if you are growing proper big plot of corn the way they are normally grown.


...in a different meaning of the word, you WILL need cages/netting or fences to protect some of these crops if your garden is susceptible to wildlife predation — rabbits, groundHOGs, deer, birds, etc.

[gumbo2176]

Can I use the tomato cages or do they have to be a different kind of cages?

When you say cages I'm assuming you mean those flimsy round wire, somewhat conical shaped gizmos that stick in the ground and go around the tomato plants. If so, don't use them as the tomatoes will outgrow their height and cascade over the top.

What many prefer to do is get some 6 ft. tall concrete reinforcing wire used to reinforce slabs like driveways, patios, etc. and cut off the roll every 5-6 ft. lengths and make them circular and hook the ends together to form a cylinder. Then you plant your tomatoes and place these cages over the plants and then use wood or metal stakes to hold them in place to keep them from falling over.

That way, the entire 6 ft. length is above the soil and your tomatoes can grow clear to the top with no problem and the openings in the wire are large enough to reach in to pick tomatoes and pull off suckers as the plants grow.

[digitS']

I don't live in a very tomato-friendly location. Still, the tomato plants tend to outgrow the cages. Originally, I drove a stake in the ground to support the cage and plant. Then, I used 2 stakes per cage/plant. Then, 3 stakes! Finally, I left out the cage and just used twine tied to the stakes. That worked fairly well.

More recent years, my garden tomato patch has been bigger and I just allow them to sprawl. I'm not really recommending that .

The stake+cage technique is still used in the 3 or 4 POTTED tomato plants that I have in the backyard. Combining the two supports might work for you, Danaher2018. You have experience with one and may want to learn if the other helps.

Steve

[Danaher2018]

Thank you all. You gave me great advice to think about. It's nice to come here and get some helpful hints. All the seeds packets on the back of them say for my area to start planting between April and June.

[rainbowgardener]

Well, I wouldn't necessarily trust that re timing.

You have a big mix of warm and cool weather stuff there: Garden Bean, Cantaloupe, Tomato (again), Cucumber, Squash, Sweet Corn, Onion, Carrot, and Lettuce.

You didn't say where you are located or what your average last frost date is. The onions, carrots, and lettuce are cool weather stuff, that is frost tolerant. You can plant those "as soon as the ground can be worked," meaning it is unfrozen and dried out enough to not clump up. Most places in the US that is already and might have been a month or more ago.

Corn and beans are next and can be planted a bit before your last frost date. Beans can be planted when soil temperature is above 50 and corn when soil temperature is above 60.

Tomatoes (transplants) can be set out in the garden once all danger of frost is past and the plants have been hardened off.

Squash and cucumbers are the warmest of warm weather plants. They don't get planted until the soil temperature is above 75. That usually means planting in the ground 2-4 weeks past average last frost date.

[Danaher2018]

I live in Virginia in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

[rainbowgardener]

All of that still applies. You can find when to plant for your area guides on line, but I think the most accurate way to tell when to plant what is by soil temperature, since obviously some years warm up quicker than others. My garden this year is well behind where it was last year. You can get a soil thermometer (regular food or fever thermometers don't read in the right range from 55 to 75). Just stick the probe a couple inches down in to the soil and let it sit a few minutes.

[applestar]

If you want dual-purpose, compost thermometer with long shaft can also be used for soil temp.

[applestar]

I admit I haven’t looked at it this year, but have you looked in this sticky thread at the top of seed starting forum?

Subject: Phenological (Nature's Signs) Planting Guide