I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: most tomato cages are ugly. They’re usually flimsy too. Yet somehow, I buy the ugly, flimsy metal things year after year, dislike them all season, then store them over the winter thinking I’ll use them again next year, only to find come spring they’re too banged up to reuse, at which point I’ve spent all summer AND all winter looking at those ugly cages for no good reason at all.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. As you can see above, there are alternatives. There’s the DIY bamboo cage option. Homey and sweet, right? Like what Robinson Crusoe would build to support his tomatoes. Before you go thinking I’m strictly anti-metal cage, I’m not, but if you’re giving me metal at least give me some pop like that bright cherry red one in the middle. Or some serious stability like that green corkscrew on the right. My favorite, though, might be the wooden rectangle cages. The remind me of box kites. My tomatoes would feel very secure in such stately cages.
But that’s hardly an exhaustive list of options. Click through for links and more photos of attractive tomato cages.
Images above:
- Top left: Homemade, image via inchbyinchrowbyrow.wordpress.com.
- Top middle: Panacea inverted red tomato cage, $7.49, farmandfleet.com.
- Top right: Green metal corkscrew cage, $17.99, ramdust on Etsy.
- Bottom: Wooden cages from Scenic Gardening. Check back in early 2012 for next season’s pricing.
Whimsical tomato cages like these would be a labor of love to build, but they move tomato support structures all the way from eyesore you hope no one will notice to first stop on your garden tour.
Once again, I’m giving these metal cages points for zippy color, but they have the added benefit of folding down for easy storage. No more ugly post-season pile of cages in a corner. From Oregon Wire Products (inquire for pricing).
I’m swearing off ugly cages forever!