Best tomato cages ever, Take 2

Well, this isn't what I intended to write about this morning, but when I looked out the window first thing, my other subject got preempted.

We had some gusty wind last night (accompanied by .7" of much-needed rain, thankfully). The strongest gust was clocked at 63 mph at our local airport! When I looked out the window first thing, much to my dismay, this is what I saw:

Yep, one of my two tomato plants, in its super sturdy tomato cage, was flat on the ground. It was in the ground VERY sturdily, as Grandpa had helped me stake them. But a 63 mph wind gust is nasty, especially for a plant that is well over 6 feet tall. I think the other plant was saved by the "hedge" of asparagus plants.

The plant was still protected nicely and didn't seem to have suffered any damage, so I decided to see if I could get it back up by myself. Lo and behold, it was easy!! I just lifted it up and pushed those rods back into the wet ground, and voila!

Good as new!! Nothing was bent, and the tomatoes were just fine!

I LOVE those tomato cages!! If you want to know more about them, check out the E Z Tomato Cage website.

Best tomato cages ever

I have sad/happy tomato plants this year. I hesitate to show them to you, because they're not the healthiest tomato plants I've ever had, thanks to our too-wet and too-hot weather. As you can see, they're dying from the bottom up from tomato blight and/or septoria leafspot. They also have few tomatoes on them compared to other years. From what I've heard, many other people are having the same problem this year. That's the sad part.

The happy part is the cages that are supporting the tomato plants! They are awesome! I had gotten one last year and liked it so well that I got another one this year. (I requested both as Christmas gifts, as a matter of fact... Santa musta thought I was a good girl.) They're called E Z Tomato Cages.

They're very strong... they'll last forever... no more bent wire cages. They set up easily, fold flat for storage and take up very little space. You can even get 2-ft. extensions to add on at the top if your tomato plants outgrow them. My plants are about 6 feet tall in the photo.

If you're interested, check them out on the web site. They might seem expensive, but they're worth it in my book. (Or you could request some from Santa. ;) ) You can grow a lot of tomato plant in very little space, but mainly you won't have your plants lying on the ground and in a lot worse shape than mine are right now.

On a healthier note, I do have some nice squash coming on this year. This is a baby buttercup.

Here are a couple of baby cantaloupe(s?) from my one-and-only plant. They're about 4" or so across, so it'll be awhile before we can eat them. More babies are on the way, too.

BTW, how are your tomato plants this year? Are they sickly, too?

Well.... our new water is clear and is flowing freely. Now once we get all the sand worked out of the pipes (it turns out that that bowl of 'gunk' was very fine sand instead of clay), all will be well (and I'll dare to do laundry again).