Attack of the killer tomatoes! The Urban Farm in July.

July has arrived! With the summer solstice behind us and Independence Day ahead, the heat-loving veggies are really starting to show off and grow at amazing rates, the plants putting on both size and fruit. All that hard work in the spring is really starting to pay off.

I didn't realize how much things had changed here at the urban farm until I took a look at some photos from earlier this year. Wow, what a difference a few months makes!

The plants are getting huge and they aren't even full size yet! It's very exciting!

I like to think of myself as neat and tidy-- my family may disagree-- but as the tomatoes grow and grow and grow they are killing my orderly system.

Tomato plants are known for going a little crazy this time of year.

I purchased 10 new tomato cages in 2016 (between $3 and $5 each) to add to the 5 I already owned, but I have approximately 35 tomato plants to support and don't feel like spending the additional money, so I took a stroll around the community garden to see what my more frugal options are. This will be especially important in the future as the urban farm continues to expand.

Homemade cages made from fencing. This was my first choice after buying cages, but the fencing costs almost as much as the pre-made cages. Also, after careful inspection my plants are probably now too big to squeeze into a cage. If I ever feel like shelling out the cash, this is what I will make.

This free option uses limbs from trees and gives a country, old time feel to any garden. It looks like it could work well with this squash plant, but I'm not sure it would work for the giant tomatoes.

This gardener is using a system of poles and strings to hold up his tomatoes. It will be interesting to see how this turns out.

On a bike ride this week I ran across this garden using a single stake for each plant. In the end this is the method I chose. Cheap and easy. I'm curious to see if the wood stakes are strong enough to hold up the plant once it is loaded with fruit. If it does work, I'll go to a metal pole (so they don't rot) or just make a few cages each year in order to spread out the costs.

In other news I've started harvesting pounds and pounds of carrots (both red and orange), beets, green beans, peas, and more kohlrabi. I even scored some pie cherries from the community garden's fruit orchard.

Dragon carrots (a free seed sample I received with my order from Jung's).

And freezing raspberries is my new daily chore!

I can't wait to make raspberry ice cream for the 4th of July celebration!