Wrestling Lycopersicon lycopersicum

I do think it could be a new sport--Tomato Wrestling. It could be BIG. I mean BIG. There just needs to be a big name to endorse it and another to do the whole announcing thing, and we're all set. And the bonus would be that anyone could participate. No steroids needed, just a person, some scissors, some stakes and a lot of ties. It could be timed to see who can get the tomatoes to behave in the least amount of time. And the better you get at it, you move up to taller and vinier tomatoes that are flopping all over each other and more and more tangled. That'd be a feat of strength, stamina, and brains. What an event!

I wrestled the tomatoes yesterday, as I said I was going to. 2 hours. They were really tangled. I am ready for the big time, baby. I think I could go all the way.

Let me show you. Or should I say;

LET'S GET RRREADY TO RRRRRRUMBLE!!!!!!

The "before" shot. Tomatoes, tomatoes, everywhere. Mainly on top of one another. But also on top of the peppers and squash. They were hogging the sun.

See that low part of the "mound" there? Those are the cherry tomatoes. They got so tall they fell over and continued to grow into one another. When I planted all these guys, they were in nice rows. I was determined to find the rows again....

Can you see the tomatoes on the left? There on the garden path? Can you see the garden path? No, no, you can't. I know. This is what I'd be stepping over everytime I went into the garden. A little TOO snug.

Though for some reason Blogger wants to put this picture upside-down (???), I would like to point out here that I DID stake these suckers about a month ago. This is a 4 foot stake, lost in the foliage. I would have to extract it and a few others like it....

To prevail!! Hah! Here are those unruly guys, 2 hours later, sort of behaving.

And finally, I had gotten both the unruly cherry tomatoes to behave, and then all their compatriots next to them. Ha!!!
I would just like to point out that the vines of these tomatoes are actually TALLER than the stakes I put them on....
And to give you some idea for how tall that is, the stakes are 8 feet tall. If I pounded 6 inches into the ground, I was having a good day. So a 7 1/2 foot stake. And a what, 8 foot tomato?

But I unearthed the peppers. Poor sunless little guys. They looked relieved. Now either they'll make peppers or die of shock. Hmmmm.... Well, either way. At least they can breathe. :)

And I reclaimed the garden path. Woo hoo!!

So, totally worth it. Why is this a sport? Well, because there is a lot at stake! Ha ha ha!!

Ok, really now. Tomatoes are actually very fragile. The vines break easily, and the tomatoes can be damaged easily, or fall off. So it takes a bit of finessing, especially if the vines have gotten as long as these vines have gotten. I untangled vines on the garden path that were from the tomato in the back of the garden. And they were growing under vines from some of the tomatoes in the middle of the garden, the tomatoes comingling freely. Darn cominglers. So be prepared to have some tomatoes fall off.

And don't panic about it, because you can still harvest them and bring them in to ripen. My favorite way is to spread them out (that's important) on some newspaper on the counter. It takes a while, but why waste tomatoes, right?

As careful as I was, I did break a vine:

I don't worry too much about that, though, because they are resilient, and I've had tomatoes in the past grow on vines that were severed almost in half. They actually develop fine and don't seem to mind the break, as long as there is still a way to get the nutrients to the rest of the plant at that point.
Speaking of, this was a vine that was broken quite a while ago. It was growing fine and actually sprouted tomatoes on it. Then I broke it off totally (oops). But here's something else you may not know about tomatoes:

They develop roots all along their stems (see those little yellow nubby hairs--they be roots!), so they can be rooted in a pot of dirt if you break off a branch. This will usually work just fine with a young branch. I don't have much hope for this branch, though. It's an "older" vine, but mainly I don't think it will work because it's supporting tomatoes. That's a lot to support on root hairs. So I'm thinking this one will probably not make it. Dang. But I will give it a couple of days, just in case. Right now it looks very shocky. I don't have much hope, but I'd kick myself if I didn't try. Oh, and another fun thing about tomato wrestling? You WILL get dirty! Very, very dirty! What more can you want?

I think I may be onto something here. You start with easy tomatoes, and as you conquer them, you move onto the behemoths. You lose points for tomatoes that fall off, and points for vines that break. There's an opportunity to use your strength to pound in the stakes, your stamina to keep at it, and your brains to figure out just WHERE the damn vines belong and to which plant, and then how to best tie them to the stake. Extra points for deftness with the scissor/tie handle and how the ties are applied to the vines.

Hmmmmmmm.......

Well, I think it's got potential.