Stake and Sucker Time!

This afternoon, dad and I staked and suckered the tomatoes.  First, dad placed metal fence posts in the ground every 8 feet.

Then we wired six 4'x16' cattle panels end to end to the metal fence posts.  Each panel had a post at each end and the middle.  After the fence was set, dad suckered the tomatoes.  What is suckering? Here's a good explanation I found from a another blog...Just look at the little tomato below. The sucker is the shoot in the elbow of the plant, where the branch and the main stalk come together. How do you sucker? You just pinch that little shoot off. That's it.  The thought behind suckering is to create a stronger plant which will hopefully yield more tomatoes.

I followed behind dad lifting up the plants with twine and tying the twine to the fence.  This will be an ongoing process as the plants get bigger.

 

Our fencing didn't quite make it to the end of the row, so we had to add 3 wooden stakes to the end for the final 3 remaining plants.  Here's what the final row looked like...

Whew...ONE MORE THING COMPLETE! (for now, that is!)