"THE" Tomato Cage

by Mad Scientist
(Martinsburg, West Virginia)

I fabricate my own cages. They are 6" in diameter and 8 foot tall, and I need all 8 feet. By the end of growing season some of them will be growing out the tops of cages. I also fabricated a system of connecting the tops of cages as reinforcement. This year i have 48 planted, 3 rows of 16. People stop all the time and want to know how they can get some of these cages. There are many advantages to growing vertical verses grown on the ground. No problems with all the bugs and with everything vertical it's very easy to spot any unwelcome invaders. I love these cages, they work great.

A couple years ago I purchased 100 army-issued fiberglass antenna poles and fabricated a real nice trellis, its 4 foot wide, 8 foot tall and 32 foot long. I ran screws every 12" horizontally and vertically. I then used mason twine to complete the trellis. Very sturdy, weatherproof and the best thing is I can move it by myself in and out of garden as needed.