Creative Tools When Gardening Tomatoes
Being Creative And Handy When Gardening TomatoesÂ
This blog will be about why being creative and handy helps when gardening. Most gardeners have to start from scratch and make an investment. Then each year after, they expand and reinvest. Below, I will be listing a few things I have done and was taught that turned out better and was cheaper than buying something pre-maid that cost more.
Tomato Cages Alternative
When I first started growing outside I used tomato cages, they were cheap but really did not support the plants well when they were at the height of the growing season. In this case I went to my local scrapyard and bought some rebar for concrete they had, and I pounded it in the ground to support my tomatoes then tied the plants and branches to the rebar. This was actually cheaper than buying tomato cages, and the rebar was not going to fold under the weight of the tomatoes at the height of the season. I have seen this same process done with PVC pipe too. Now days I use T posts and bailing twine because I plant a lot more each year, and it makes it easier for picking. Yes, T posts are expensive, but they are sturdy. The posts will last decades for future garden grows. With running bailing twine between 2 T post to support 4-5 plants, I do not have to use a cage or rebar for each plant.
Drip Irrigation And Watering
A cheap form of drip irrigation my grandfather did back in the 1980s. What he did was he had some older garden hoses lying around the house. So what he did was he drilled 1/4-inch holes every so many feet and caped off one end of the garden hose. Then on the other end what he did is he went to the hardware store and picked up some PVC fitting and valves. He then ran a hose from his outside water valve to his garden. This design had a 4 valve system that had 4 hoses connected to it, and each hose was ran down a different row alongside his plants. This is how he made his own drip irrigation cheaper than buying a pre-built set-up. Also, this worked well, and he could control if he wanted to water more on a different row by the valves by shutting off valves and leaving another one open for more water pressure. For me watering over the last couple of years, I had to figure something out because I was running my well dry when I watered. In this case what I did is I had an in ground pool in my backyard we no longer used for many years and was filled with leaves and rain water. So I got a sump pump and pump the water from the pool to water my plants it works great I have not run out of water yet, and it is natural rain water.
Cloners
Water cloners to clone your tomatoes and peppers is way cheaper to build one than to buy one. It is almost half the price to build a cloner all you need is a container, the price can vary depending on how small or how big of a cloner you are going to build. A 5 gallon (ca. 19 l) bucket cloner can be built for about $30 that is buying the bucket, pump, the pump attachment, sprayer, net pots and foam inserts. Bigger cloners you would use PVC pipe to attach to the pump and enough PVC pipe to cover the spray area of your container. But the bigger cloner, you have to drill holes in the PVC pipe and add these little plastic 360 degree sprayers to put in the holes. This is where being creative and handy pays off and saves you money.
Equipment
Lastly, any time you can fix your own equipment when it breaks down is always a plus to save money instead of paying someone to fix it. Just like this past year my auger for drilling my tomato plant holes needed the carburetor and fuel line replaced, it cost me $15 in parts off eBay and about 1 hour worth of my time. But if I took that auger somewhere to get fixed, it would have cost at least $50 to fix with parts, if not more. If you are not that handy fixing things, use resources that you have, like google and YouTube. I have fixed many things using these resources along with all-purpose books I have. Also, there are people on Facebook groups that can help because they have had the same sort of issues and may know how to fix it or a trick to fix it. Another thing that happened in the 2021 was my tractor I use for rototilling the engine seized up, so I found the same kind of motor at the scrapyard for $50 compared to finding the same motor people were selling for $400 or rebuilt motor for $650. This would have cost a couple of hundred dollars for someone to take the old motor out and put the newer one in. This cost me a few hours of my time also with a few modifications to make the newer motor work, and it cost me $50 and time compared to almost $600 for a motor and installation. Plus, I got to keep my old motor, and it was a broken rod. All I have to do now is replace the rod and have a back-up motor. This was an older Allis Chalmers tractor from the 1980s, when items still made to last and not be thrown away.
Our Thoughts
Being creative and handy will definitely help with gardening. Always think outside the box, research, ask someone, or watch videos we promise. Who knows, you may design or create something that helps a fellow gardener. This is what gardening is about, helping one another.
