Don’t call me Bob, or Robert, or Rob. I’m not a builder.
My tomato trellis collapsed yesterday due to shoddy construction. The wooden apex frame fell over. The frame which supports the netting remained intact but the small frame of wooden branches underneath it did not survive.
The garden is at the back of a rental property on the south coast of New South Wales, about 2 hours south of Sydney, Australia. The soil is generally fertile in a region famous for dairy farming and viticulture, although the garden had been stripped of much of its nutrients when I moved in, courtesy of the previous tenant’s neglect and a dry winter. The garden attracts quite a lot of sun, during very warm summer months and even during colder winter months in what is typically a temperate climate. The area is also famous for beaches and surfing, which is great after a day of hard yakka in the garden.
Some of the heirloom tomatoes I planted in this garden bed were just about to fruit and I lost I think about a dozen tomatoes. The branches of the tomato plant had all fallen in on each other when the trellis collapsed and were all mangled. Ironically, I only noticed the implosion when I attempted to do some minor pruning of the plant.
As a result, I spent two unplanned hours building a new trellis which I hope will withstand the strong coastal breezes which contributed to the collapse of the first structure. I also attached some of the longer branches to the to the frame in an effort to help them continue to grow vertically and to create some space between each of the branches.
At least I was able to put the lost tomatoes into the worm farm, I hope my worms enjoy them.
Hopefully this new trellis will remain vertical and will allow me to pick more juicy little tomatoes soon.
Still, don’t call me Bob.
kieranblakewriter 