pickinpink, Absolutely give the plants more space. That would give the root system of each plant a lot of room. Personally I have found that my plants do just fine in the space they are currnetly in. I don't save seed so I am not concerned about cross polination. Although, If I am as impressed with some of the varieties I am planning on growing next season I might consider saving seed on my own. Right now I am content on letting those who do that sort of thing for a living do it for me. But, getting back to planting. If the soil is healthy and you properly prepare each hole when you plant I would think the plants would thrive on 4'OC. But maybe my thinking is skewed because of my small yard. I am always trying to maximize the area so I might be pushing it too hard by going 3'. A good organic fertilzer does not get washed out of the soil like the chemical ones do. It does not appear that my plants have had to compete for nutrients. Mulching is another thing that is much easier to do when the plants are up off the ground. Mulching significanty aids with moisture retention and temperature regulation, not to mention the additional CO2 that is released into the air as the mulch decomposes. For those who live in hot climates water regulation and temp control this is very important. Even though tomato plants like the heat their roots do not. The roots like a nice comfortable cool temperature where the soil is nice and moist (not dry or soggy). In a hot climate it is hard to maintain this situation if you do not mulch. I love grass clippings for this. They decompose fast, they do a great job of creating a nice tight cap for the soil and they provide lots of good nitrogen for the microbes in the soil. There are just so many good reasons to mulch - and I have not even mentioned weed control. My cages are made from the concret reinforcing wire (CRW) that you buy at any box store or concrete yard. I bought a 6" mesh that came on a 5'x50' roll (I think it was 50'). I think I got eight cages out of the roll. It takes 5 1/2' of material to make a 21" diameter cage. Unfortunaetly there is no way to avoid 6" of wasted material for every cage you make. A mesh with smaller openings would reduce the amount of waste but it also reduces the size of the openings. Forget about getting a smallier mesh size thinking that you will cut larger openings with wire cutters. I promise you that: 1. You will not even get an extra cage by saving all the waste, unless you are talking about a roll that is about 100' long. And I wouldn't begin to think about trying to muscle around a 100' roll of that stuff, 2. if you try and cut larger openings from using smaller mesh you will cut up your hands everytime you rach inside to get a tomato. There is simply no way to smooth the razor sharp edges you get when you cut off the tines. Just go with the larger mesh size and accept the 6" of waste for each cage. I did cut one of my cages into 1 1/2' bands in order to make an extension ring for the top of the other cages. In most years my plants outgrow the 5' height by August. I attach the extenion to the top of each of the cages using heavy duty nylon zip ties you can get almost anywhere. If for some reason I want to take the extension off I simply get out the scissors and remove them. The 6"x6" mesh is just wonderful. I can get in there and take out even the biggest tomato. I would guess I have another 10 years left on the ones I already have. Actually I am thinking of making a few more, except this time I am looking into making them square cages. That way I can fold them togtether and store them much more compactly. With the CRW that comes on the roll you can make the diameter of the cage any size you want. You said you wanted to give the plants more room, well you could do that. I don't think you need to go wider than 21" but you could if you wanted. It's just that at some point if the inside diameter gets too big you might as well just let them sprawl. One additional thought... you don't have to change all your plants to cages next year. CRW comes in sheets as well (I think the sheets are 5'x8', but don't quote me on that.) You could start by doing three or four and then decide if there really is a benefit to going to the time and expense of using cages on a larger scale. Plant them at different distnaces and see if it really does impact the health of the plants. It is my guess that most people who have good soil find the plants do just fine at 3' apart. I don't think I have ever heard of anyone who went from sprawl to cages going back to letting them sprawl. Mainly because you can put so many more tomato plants in the same area. I know I am being long-winded here. But if you decide to use some cages next year be sure to make the hole that surrounds your plant almost as nearly as big as the diameter of the cage. The cage itself should sit up outside the hole. Make the hole two or three inches deep with the the tomato planted on a mound in the center where the base of the stem is at the level of the main garden. That way when you water you can fill up the hole and never have to worry about the plant stem sitting in a pool of water. Tomatoes do not like it when the water floods all around the stem. This can cause fungus and other problems. It also allows for you to do deep watering occasionally which helps the plant to develop deep roots. Of course, the deeper the better. Finally, be sure to get some 1/4" or 1/2" rebar or some ordinary stakes to anchor the cages. I use three evenly spaced. If your plants get as large as mine do they can fall over due to weight or a strong wind. This can damage (even kill) the plant. In ten years I have never had one fall over when they were staked to the ground. Hope this helps. Tom

Is it an HP? My son put 6 new hard drives in his HP laptop and they put in multiple motherboards in a 2 year period. It was a lemon from day one and I had to fight tooth and nail to get them to completely replace the computer. I kept escalating until they ran out of people to send me to - had a record of every call and the resulting lack of follow-up. I know every computer mfg has customers who love them and those who hate them. None of them are a bargain in the customer service arena as far as I'm concerned.

I just wanted to make sure we had covered every possible reason *besides* installation, so installer can't say it was structural, shrinkage as wood dried out, etc. - everything he was trying to say last year. We are always telling DD no to run in the house b/c it shakes the whole floor (and she's only 40 lb!) so was wondering if we have too much deflection. I think installer should have known that if we do (or at least figured it based on joist size/spacing), but he'd just say he put down what I asked him to - incl. the 1/4" Hardibacker that I bought so he wouldn't have to haul it here in his van (since I was buying so much stuff from HD I rented a truck to get it all home - Trex and stuff that wouldn't fit in my SUV). Even that, I asked if he wanted to put 1/4" under the Nuheat and 1/2" everywhere else (mainly to try to make up the diff. in height with 1 extra coat of thinset plus the 1/8" mat). He said no, he could level it out - NOT! My floor slopes from end of mat to edge of carpet 18" or so away. Didn't notice it with shoes on, by the time I moved in and floors were clean enough for socks it was too late to have him pull it up (ruin mat?) and redo the whole 13ft edge. Of course that's the area of the kitchen that hasn't come loose yet.

Or, alternatively, if you need to decompact the soil, you can use a broadfork, which is pretty much the lowest impact tool for decompaction. (Although with such a high percentage of sand in your soil, compaction may not be much of a problem for you) http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/breaking-down-the-broadfork-zbcz1601 >>>The broadfork is a simple yet powerful gardening tool that serves the purpose of efficiently loosening soil without flipping it upside down. You see, soil is composed of layers that actually accomplish important purposes: Bacteria, fungi and earthworms working below the surface are all actively creating tunnels that give the soil structure. This lively structure develops in different soil depths that have the right moisture and aeration conditions. To completely turn the soil over by using a rototiller or by double-digging disrupts this ecology for at least a while, so that you cannot rely on natural forces to help do the job. Imagine it this way: Every time you till, you destroy your soil’s habitants. Your otherwise free labor is then too busy rebuilding their homes and won’t instead be driving biological fertility to its full potential. Turning your soil upside down also has the detrimental effect of bringing back up weed seeds that are buried in the lower layers of the soil. Do a test: Till one bed with a tiller and don't till another bed; I guarantee you’ll see the difference with regards to weeds popping up everywhere. All this being said, if you want to grow super nice crops with intensive spacing, then your soil should be as loose and well aerated as possible. This is why organic farmers use different plows, like chisels and subsoilers, to loosens their soil all while bringing air into it and speeding up the mineralization of their organic matter. This technique increases short-term nitrogen availability, but limits the transformation of organic matter into humus. See it as blowing air on your fire — it burns faster, but won’t last as long. Simplistically, that’s how modern farming has been depleting soils for the last 100 years, and it’s one component of agriculture that needs to change in the future.The broadfork is one answer to this problem. When used correctly, its vertical tines will let water and air penetrate the soil, leaving its profile still upright. It creates an ideal environment for root growth, all while making it possible to build soil levels and rich humus.<<<