Garden Update: Tomato Stakes Finally

Finally made it to Lowe's to get wood for my tomato stakes. Well the wood practically is my tomato stakes. Truck didn't catch on fire this time. Fender did come loose but I had a roll of duct tape under the dash. I really need a new truck.... Anyway here are the steps:

Started with 3 bundles of 6 1x2 strapping. The cheap stuff. Any you don't use for tomato stakes just save for hockey season.

Removed all the staples and arranged them so the straightest ends were all on one side. Hooked up the old jigsaw.

Cut the straight ends a bit. Nothing fancy. I wouldn't even bother to do this to them but I have that damn weed fabric under the mulch in the garden. Just something to hopefully give me a bit of help driving them though it. Same reason for cutting the straight ends. Harder to put the curved ones in the ground.

Clamped them into 2 groups of 9 each on their ends. This made it much faster to paint the sides. Cuts down on neatness but this isn't a neat job. It's just to keep them from rotting.

Couple of hours of painting, rotating and watching paint dry and there you have them. 18 tomato stakes ready to head to the garden once they are dry. Just hope the rain holds off long enough for them to. Total cost around $20. 98 cents each for the cheap lumber and a couple of dollars worth of paint - 5% discount + tax.

I used to have over 70 of these. Each one can hold 2 to 3 tomato plants. 2 regular or 3 cherry tomato. If it's a good season there is a chance they will break from the weight though. Going to do a whole new system if I garden next year. Don't worry these will be incorporated into it so no waste.