Gardener's Dictionary: Staking
Staking (v.): Staking helps support plants, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, climbing plants and trees, and allows them to grow upward. Without stakes, tomato plants, for example, start to grow along the ground as they mature because their fruits are too heavy. The fruit will touch the ground and begin to rot. Staking helps train the plants to grow vertically and keeps its roots and leaves off the ground so they can grow without the threat of disease from the soil.
