Upcycle A Tomato Cage Into Adorable Porch Decor For Every Season

If you're looking for ideas to spice up a boring porch, while also bringing seasonal decor to this gathering spot in your home, then these DIY upcycling ideas are just for you. It's hard to go wrong with a base material that costs less than $5 and is likely something you already have among your gardening supplies: tomato cages. Their cone shape lends itself to decor with a wide bottom and narrow top, such as a tree, character, or even a vegetable (you'll see). 

There are loads of seasonal DIY tomato-cage craft projects out there; we've previewed a few here that will enable you to display season-appropriate porch decor throughout different times of the year. Best of all, these decor items are easy to make.

Some seasons and holidays, like Halloween and Christmas, have virtually cornered the market on adorable tomato cage decor. Time to tap into the collective creativity of DIYers to come up with some ideas for the Fourth of July (perhaps a firecracker?) and Thanksgiving (ever considered a cornucopia?), as well as other holidays that haven't yet felt the tomato-cage love. In the meantime, try your hand at the seasonal tomato-cage porch decor projects we've curated.

Giant carrots crafted from tomato cages make for spring-themed porch decor that suggests Easter bunnies and spring planting. You'll find multiple variations on giant carrot tomato-cage decor on the internet, with DIYers using a variety of materials including vinyl, cheap plastic tablecloths, fabric, and deco mesh to fashion the carrots. Your orange carrot material of choice is wrapped around and attached to large tomato cages — it's as simple as that. Creators also use various materials for the carrot greenery at the top, from green deco mesh to real or artificial plant materials.  

Nothing says summer like flowers, and you can make a stunning three-tiered planter for your front porch using tomato cages and dollar store hanging baskets. The design uses a large tomato cage with legs snipped off or bent downwards and tucked into the sides of the cage. The top and middle hanging baskets are clipped to their respective levels on the cage, using the clips from the basket chains. Placing the middle basket first for spacing purposes, and consider spray-painting the tomato cage for a cohesive, more refined look.

A gabion is a cage-like structure into which materials, often rocks, are placed inside for an elegant, natural look. Consider the gabion style for crafting a stunning porch plant stand. Nest three tomato cages inside another, and rotate them in a way that creates an even grid to hold in the rocks. Use wire to secure the cages in position. Carefully fill the cage with rocks after you've chosen the perfect place for it on your porch. Place a paver, or a different hard material of your choice, on top to create a surface. Select from container plants perfect for your front porch, from zinnias or ferns, and situate it on top of your surface.

Don't forget about tomato cages when you're looking for tips for decorating your front porch for fall. Wrapping an autumn leaf garland around a tomato cage, securing as you go with zip ties, could not be an easier DIY. To make it even more festive and show it off at night, weave fairy lights through the cage. If you don't have an outlet on your porch, get lights with a battery pack. You can weave the garland as spaciously or densely as you want, depending on how full you want it to look, and you can also add playful figurines like a gnome.

An elegant display of autumnal gourds is a beautiful and subtle way to bring color to your front porch. Consider the previously-discussed gabion approach to show off these colorful gourds. Wrap chicken wire around the cage to hold in the gourds, attaching it by bending wire ends around the cage bars. Invert the cage and place in a planter with soil. You could stop there, but to reduce the number of gourds you need to fill the cage, make a cylindrical pillar for the center of the cage to fill space. Then you just need to fill the outer ring with gourds.

As mentioned, tomato cages are the perfect shape for creating characters, and ghosts for your halloween front porch are especially easy. A basic ghost can be made from a tomato cage with a ball for a head, and then just white fabric (a bedsheet works well) placed over it all. One DIYer who found styrofoam balls expensive used a bike helmet as a head, instead. Add eyes made from black felt. For an extra-spooky light-up effect, wrap fairy lights around the cages, securing with zip ties. Another Halloween idea with a shape well-suited to a tomato cage is a witch's hat.

Folks seem to either love or hate Halloween candy corn, but even those who loathe this sugary confection may enjoy the cheery, colorful look of a tomato cage transformed into candy corn as a decoration. This project uses the traditional yellow, orange, and white to depict the iconic candy. Deco mesh is a good choice as the material for this front-porch project, because it comes in many colors and widths. It's also a popular material for seasonal and holiday tomato-cage projects, providing a showy and extravagant appearance. Add fairy lights inside the tomato cage for nighttime illumination.

Not surprisingly, you'll find many variations on tomato-cage Christmas trees, using materials such as deco mesh, Christmas balls, evergreen boughs, and more. Christmas lights attached to a tomato cage form a minimalist version of the tomato cage Christmas tree. One of the easiest Christmas trees styles has garland wound around it and attached to the tomato cage with zip ties. You can give the garland more shape and support by winding floral wire vertically from the bottom to the top of the cage, between the existing vertical supports. Add lights or use lighted garland, whether plug-in or battery-powered.

Many a front porch is home to a gnome. If you're a gnome fan, make some holiday-themed gnomes and let them join in on the seasonal festivities. This easy project involves attaching evergreen boughs to tomato cages, making or buying pointy gnome hats, and giving each gnome a nose peeking out of its hat, using a potato or Christmas ball ornament. Tomato cages are also great for holiday characters like snowpeople, angels, and even the Grinch. Some DIYers like dressing their gnomes in clothing, too. The accessory options are endless.