Ditch Traditional Tomato Cages For A More Durable Alternative That Makes Garden Tasks Easier

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If you've ever grown tomatoes in your garden, you'll know that their growth can get totally out of hand, and those tomato cages that you can buy at the hardware store just struggle to try and contain all that growth. Instead of fighting the inevitable jumble of tomato vines spilling out everywhere, why not ditch those traditional tomato cages and opt for a much more durable alternative, like Casey Hentges from Oklahoma Gardening has done with her bamboo trellis cage? This is one way to set your tomato plants up for success with a low-maintenance garden.

This lovely sturdy structure will support those large tomato plants and keep them off the ground with ease. What's more, the size of the cage will make your gardening tasks so much easier because it will allow for easy access for trimming, tying, and harvesting. For this project, you're just going to need around 12 or 13 bamboo poles that are about 6 to 8 feet in length. You'll also need a circular saw or hand saw, a heavy mallet, and some twine or zip ties to secure the horizontal poles. Setting up this robust trellis cage shouldn't take too long, and what's even more convenient is that at the end of the season, it's easy to dismantle and store the poles in your shed. Once you've built this, you'll just have to explore some ways to repurpose those tomato cages you're no longer going to need for their original purpose. 

The first thing you want to do is hammer the four upright corner posts into the ground. Use one of the poles to mark out how long the trellis will be, so that you know exactly where to position each corner upright. The size of the cage is entirely your choice. Once the uprights are in place, it's time to attach all the horizontal poles using the twine to hold them in place. Use a slip knot to secure the end of the twine to the horizontal pole and then just weave it back and forth until the joints are secure, or you might like to use the Japanese lashing method. As an alternative, you can use zip ties to connect the poles. Or, you might even be able to use something like these NewGtuizi steel connecting buckles if they will fit your bamboo poles.

When your trellis is complete, you should have the four upright corner posts and three rows of horizontal poles to form a complete cage. Once your tomatoes are planted, you can help them to climb upward by using this Prudiut stretchy plant tape. You could also run a line of twine down from the top rung to the bottom one at intervals, so you have one string line for each plant. This simple string technique would work extremely well if you're going to prune your plants to have just a single stem. It would also work for other climbing crops such as peas and beans. Finally, if you're finding that you need just a little more support, you could insert extra upright poles at intervals along the horizontals and attach these securely with whatever method you've used for the others.