A thick mulch of shredded tree branches works pretty well.

You can lift the branches and place each branch on props to keep it off the ground. I put a wire tomato cage upside down and drape the branches between the legs of the cage.(cover the ends of the wires with a wine cork)

That's a good idea, I like the cork tip. I have lots of old milk crates, plastic ones. They would work too. I have a book that recommends growing tomatoes this way in the desert because the sprawling vine naturally shades the the ground and under-sides of the plant.

I have LOTS of driftwood collected over many years of camping, they work really well too. Maybe you need a day trip to Barlett or Roosevelt Lake, or even Horseshoe dam to collect some driftwood for the garden. Wear gloves and be aware of snakes....use a long branch to hammer on and wriggle a log you want to investigate, anyone resting in or under will wake up and move along. ;-)

There are lots of ways to keep tomatoes off the ground. I have my own way. This trellis is not finished yet as there are still two more levels to complete.

Take a look.

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Now that is some serious trellising! The tomato plants look very happy with it. What kind(s) are planted?

Hi marycp, in the bed there are....

2 Sungold
2 Black Cherry
4 Cherokee Purple
2 Brandywine Sudduth

The first three were grown from seed. The BS are from a 4 pack I purchased and are smaller than the others but catching up fast. There are people that say BS tastes great but is a poor producer. All I can say is that mine are producing like crazy. The season has a long way to go and there are at least 20 tomatoes already growing on each of them. With the cool weather coming next week I expect there will be a lot more too.

In other beds I have....

1 Husky Red Cherry
1 Black Russian
4 Juliet

I have a few back ups in pots too.

What do you do with all those tomatoes? Surely there is some preservation method in place??

marymcp I've never had this many plants before. The plan is to make Salsa, Tomato Sauce and Tomato Paste and to can whole and crushed tomatoes.

Wow...that's amazing. Since I already have mine in the ground, I think I'll try either the shredded tree branches or upside down tomato cage with the corks.
But maybe next year I can do a little better organizing with trellises! Who know that one tiny plant would grow so large, though?!

Thanks everyone for the tips!

You know some people let tomatoes sprawl and some people trellis. It winds up being both personal preference and what works for your growing conditions. There's no "right" way, only the way that works for you.

Not just trellises and sprawling. There is also staking and caging and there are many methods for doing each. I'm kind of waiting for responses in another thread but I may be using my trellises to protect the tomato plants through the winter. I wonder how many years an indeterminate tomato plant can be kept alive and what affect it will have on its fruiting characteristics?

I have a Marglobe that is sprawling. I prop the fruit laden bottom branches with the plastic border fencing section, seems to be working well for this plant with huge clusters of 5-10 oz tomatoes. The plnt must have at least 60 maters!
I did the same with a huge branch on my purple russian that escaped his cage. That plant has more tomatoes than I've ever seen!
My tomatoes are loving horse manure and kelp/fish emulsion!

Sprawling aside, you have a fabulous tomato set-up, thisisme! I have serious tomato growing jealousy!

thisisme: Where did you get your shade cloth?

Everything in my garden is thriving so far. The squash and melons are really responding well to being mulched. I've added another horizontal level to the tomato trellis and built a trellis for the Juliet tomatoes in the other bed to the right of the large tomato trellis. This week I hope to build trellis's for the Armenian Cucumbers the Cucuzza and the Tromboncino. Yesterday my wife picked six Zephyr Summer Squash. All of them were eaten with our dinner.

crista Thanks for the complement.

brismith70 another member directed me to Gempler's. To date I have not found a place with better pricing.

Vining vegetables that grow on trellises can be a good thing. Once the Yardlongs reach the bean trellis I will post some pictures. Will post pictures of the other trellises too once they are finished. By the time the Fall planting season is complete I think I will have 8-9 trellises up.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gempler's Shade Cloth