Tomato teepee? It works!

How to make tomatoes happy (and fruitful) with flowers and bamboo

Creative gardeners find many ways to make their tomatoes happy and their patches pretty. This plot in the Fremont Community Garden in midtown Sacramento features 8-foot bamboo teepees, surrounded by flowers high and low.

Bees buzz the sweet alyssum and annuals blooming 6 inches off the ground as well as the sunflower towering overhead. These flowers help attract needed pollinators to those tomato teepees, too. The bees can't miss them. 

The results? Bountiful tomatoes on those vines. Another attractive touch, the straw mulch keeps down weeds while retaining moisture, too.

What's happening in your tomato patch? Send us updates and photos and we'll post to our Facebook page and this blog to share with other Sacramento-area gardeners.
We're anxiously awaiting the first ripe tomatoes of summer (and technically it's still spring).