We've had a rocky start to this year's main summer garden due to crazy weather, but now the majority of our plants/seeds are planted ~ praise the Lord! Now it's time to get our pepper and tomato plants set up with baskets and stakes. Tomatoes and pepper plants grow best when they are staked, we like to add the cages or baskets for added security. We definitely don't want to risk losing our plants on account of storms, wind, or simply the weight of their produce.
We currently have around 100 tomatoes plants and around 30 pepper plants in the ground ~ mercy we're going to be busy this summer, lol. So all those plants needed baskets and stakes. Thankfully, we have accumulated quite a good many baskets over the years but we were definitely in need of some more.
We purchased wire fencing to make some of our new baskets, but we were also gifted with some used hog wire. Second-hand supplies are the best since they help to build the homestead on a budget. To make the baskets it's super easy. Take the fencing and create a long tube big enough to go around your plants with a little extra for plant growth. Use wire cutters to cut the fencing and then connect the ends by using zip strips or by bending the wire around the edges to connect the two ends.
This year we splurged and purchased a few t-stakes to use to stake our plants. Any long narrow pole-like items can be used as a stake. We have used sticks, t-stakes, wooden posts, metal poles, you name it we've probably used it. Take your preferred stake and hammer it into the ground inside of one side of the basket. Then attach the stake to the basket with either thin wire, twine, or zip strips (pretty much anything works as long as you efficiently connect the stake to the basket). To help further secure the basket, we pile some soil around the bottom of the basket on the opposite side of the stake.
You can purchase pre-manufactured tomato baskets from the store, but they can be expensive and don't work nearly as well as the baskets made from wire fencing. We try to make the most of our money, especially on the homestead, and being able to use things over and over again is so important. We have purchased the pre-manufactured tomato baskets, but they tend to break easily.
When it comes to the fencing we prefer the hog wire, but it's more expensive than the welded wire fencing. The only draw back on the welded wire fencing is that the holes can be a little small for putting your hand through when trying to pick the tomatoes or peppers. To circumnavigate this issues, simply cut the wire to make larger 'windows' to pick the harvest.
We've learned a lot over the past 18 years of building our little homestead, so much of it has come through trial and error. We have often searched out the wisdom from those who have walked this path before us ~ sometimes to our benefit and other times not so much. Homesteading is a very personal journey. What works for one family may not work for another. No two homesteads will ever look the same and that is absolutely okay. It's easy to get wrapped up in having a 'pretty' homestead ~ for us it's more important to keep the cost to the bare minimum and simply get the job done as efficiently as possible. These DYI tomatoes baskets may not be as attractive as the store-bought versions, but trust me when I say they are more than adequate to stake our plants for many years to come.
With Love & Hope,
Jennifer
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