Kristy’s excuse requiring us to take down our trellis and stakes is that it’s an insurance issue as well as visually unappealing. Kristy claims that because we own the stakes and trellis we would be liable for problems. We pointed out that there are umbrellas and shepherd’s hooks that are owned by tenants and those don’t appear to be a liability. Her excuse was that people wanted the shepherd’s hooks.
She states that a good amount of rain could make the posts loose in the ground:
The posts are metal and not susceptible to water damage.
The metal stakes are more stable being set into the ground 16″ to 18″ while a tomato cage can only be set to a maximum of 8″.
There is not sufficient substance to metal stakes and cattle panels for winds to be a concern.
With the strength of our tomato plants last year, there’s no wind that could rip these stakes out.
Experts suggest 27 inches for a 5-foot post that has no other support. Our fence posts are metal and 5′ tall and sunk 16 to 18″ deep up against one inside edge of the raised bed.
She also states that the wind could blow the stakes and trellis over:
There is no substance against which wind could blow it all over into a resident or building windows.
She states that the stakes and cattle panel are visually unappealing and people can’t see the view because of our tomatoes.
The tomatoes are growing fast enough that the trellis as well as the stakes will be covered fairly quickly.
We are growing a cherry tomato and two Big Boys. Both are indeterminate and require stronger staking. After using tomato cages last year, we learned that these are not strong enough to stand up to our tomato plants.
We asked why Cardinal built the garden beds where they did if we weren’t supposed to use them to grow vegetables and if they were going to be visually unappealing. She said she had no input on their design or location. Which doesn’t answer our question.
We won’t be allowed to use our black netting from last year, because it’s visually unappealing. How do we prevent squirrels and birds from attacking our tomatoes? Besides, the plants quickly grew through it.
If all these problems are so awful, why would management build these garden beds? Why build them where they did? Why didn’t they come with plant height restrictions?
Kristy claims that the garden letters addressed these issues is inaccurate. Neither the 2021 and 2022 Garden Letters mention these issues.