It’s not too early to start making gardening resolutions, I’ve decided. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s the best time to begin to put all of my revelations and realizations about this year’s garden to work, in the imagining and planning of next year’s garden.
My first resolution is: Stake everything.
Yes, everything.
No matter how small or sturdy. No matter if the cage dwarfs the little seedling and, perhaps, gives it some sort of inferiority complex. I will stake it anyway.
I didn’t stake everything this year. I let most of the peppers slip by and completely left the eggplant to stand on their own stems.
The tomatoes were properly staked and, in fact, I think this may be our very best season ever in terms of very few tomatoes lost due to fruit hanging too low. That’s something to be happy about.
I wish I could say the same for the eggplants and peppers however. The former struggle under the weight of their sizable fruit. The peppers just got beat up a bit in the torrential rains of the summer season. That alone is reason enough to make a commitment to stake. Actually, we usually use tomato cages to support small-size plants like peppers, eggplants and basil. The plants take less damage if they have a little something to lean on.
Next year, I’ll stake everything.
