With the warmer weather just around the corner I have been spending some time getting everything ready for this upcoming gardening season. The plants that I started from seeds are doing really well. My tomato plants are getting taller and my sweet pepper plants are looking really healthy. I planted approximately 5 different types of sweet peppers. Last count I have 35 healthy plants. I have 15 large pots on the back deck to transplant the peppers into at the right time. I will have quite a number of extra plants, which I will be giving away. I will also have extra tomato plants, which I have 3 varieties.
Yesterday I spent some time putting together a fenced in area where I will put approximately 4 tomato plants after I transplant them into my largest outdoor pots. I decided to move the tomatoes away from my pepper plants since last year I battled all kinds of diseases on both the tomato and pepper plants. This way if either the tomatoes or the pepper plants come down with a disease it won't have an impact on the other.
The location of this tomato cage is on the other side of the house next to the fence. This location gets a lot of sun which the tomato plants like. My only concern will be that the casge is next to our bird feeders and birds like to peck at the tomatoes. My plan is to cage in the whole area where my tomatoes will be growing in so that no birds can get to the plants and the tomatoes themselves.
Below are photos of my plants growing indoors and of my partially built tomato cage. All I need is some open air top to fully enclose the cage...either plastic fencing or wire fencing which will be carefully attached to the fence.
I figure that I will have everything planted outside by the end of this month...corn, potatoes, sweet peppers and my tomatoes.