On 11/22/04 9:57 AM, in article ,
"Penelope Periwinkle" wrote:

On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 02:53:12 GMT, Bill wrote:
" wrote:

Worst year ever, cold, wet, disease.
Put up 1 quart of cooked down tomatoes,
down from my usual 4-8 gallons. Arghhh.

Should I grow less tasty but more disease
resistant strains next year?

I have found if I keep them covered with plastic (so rain does not fall on
the leaves) I have good success. You can go basic to fancy...I use an old
tent and cover it with plastic...it works great. On some cherry tomatoes I
tied string to some stakes and draped plastic over the top.

For real? You put plastic tents over your tomatoes to keep the rain
off? Do you do them by the row, or by each individual plant? Does
any rain reach the ground around the tomatoes? And doesn't it get all
hot and steamy under the plastic, increasing the chances of molds or
mildews?
Penelope
Yes, for real. It's called a cold frame... there are lots of sites on
the WWW showing how to build them or you can purchase a commercially built
one. I just use an old tent (just the frame) and cover it with plastic.
My 'tent' is about 20 feet long by 9 feet wide. It is tall enough for me
to stand in...8 feet. I plant tomatoes and sweet peppers on the left and
right side. When the sun shines I leave both ends open to allow air flow
through. Failure to open both ends when the sun is shining will result in
fried tomato and pepper plants!
I have seen frames built with plastic on the top and on three sides, in
a row. How long it has to be would, of course, depend on how many plants you
have.
There are lots of ways to do it and it does work...
Bill