Tomatoes at the Roofline

So, my tomatoes keep growing taller. I've already expanded my staking system once - you may remember that I had to exchange my 5 ft stakes in the Ultomato staking kit for 6 ft stakes. Now my plants are reaching 7 ft, so I ended up adding an extension to the top. Sungold tomato is the tallest with Brandywine not far behind.

I used zip-ties to attach a thinner stake to the ones already in place.

Then I added side supports with this soft wire.

Now the plants can climb up to the roof!

Ultomato Tomato Support Ultimately too Short

It's been about 4 weeks since I planted my Brandywine tomato and 2.5 weeks since I put Sungold in the pot.  My Ultomato support seems like it will be too short for these tomato varieties this summer.  The plants are already halfway to the top.  So I decided to revise them by replacing the provided stakes with the tallest stakes (6 ft) I could find.  I also added another set of the cross-pieces.  Unfortunately, I had to buy another Ultomato to get these cross-pieces since they don't sell them individually.  This gives me another foot of space at the top, and my plan is to attach smaller stakes to the very top later on, if needed.  My Husky Cherry Red tomato isn't growing as tall so I left the original stakes in place.  I'm trying to plan ahead for my huge late summer harvest!

Support for a Container Garden - Cages and Teepees

I am using a few different supports for my containers.  The first one is called the Ultomato tomato support and I am using it for three of my tomatoes - Brandywine, Sungold, and Husky Cherry Red.  The stakes are 5 ft tall and have adjustable side clips.  Once placed in the pot they offer about 4 ft of growing space.  

The second support is a teepee made of five 6 ft stakes.  I planted the peas in this pot and they should have almost 5 ft of climbing room.  

The third support is a regular tomato cage.  It is a heavy duty 54 inch cage, but I trimmed the legs down in order to make it fit into the pot.  I am using these cages for my patio and better bush tomatoes, both eggplants, and my yellow bell pepper.  

And the last support is a decorative metal spiral support for the cucumber.  It is 41 inches tall.

I used the largest tomato cages that I could find for my pots because they are made of thicker wire and seem much more sturdy.  But they were also much too tall for a container, so I cut the ends with a bolt cutter.  The bottom ring is now resting on the soil which also adds stability.  Now I'm ready for those tomatoes to really grow!  High winds and thunderstorms should not be a problem!  (If you do this, be careful with the bolt cutter because the metal pieces really fly off once they are cut -  I just closed my eyes and turned my head out of the way.  Some people may not agree, but I've noticed that the elements of excitement, danger and high adventure are definitely present in gardening!)

To make the teepee for my peas I fastened the stakes together at the top with a black zip-tie.

Here you can see most of the containers, and how it all looks together.