The garden is coming along, and for me, that is one of the simple joys of life.

Every year, when the tomatoes begin to grow, I remember again how generous those plants can be. A healthy tomato plant wants to sprawl, climb, lean, and reach in every direction. And once it is loaded with fruit, it can become heavier than its own branches can hold.

That is when trellising becomes important.

Over the years, I have seen people try all kinds of tomato supports. Some use stakes. Some string up lines. Some build a trellis every spring and tie the vines as they grow. Those methods can work, but they can also become a lot of trouble. The strings sag. The stakes lean. The store-bought cages tip over. By the end of the season, when the plants are heavy and the fruit is ripening, the whole system can start falling down.

Tomatoes are enough work already. I wanted something simpler.

That is when I came around to concrete welded wire mesh. It is the heavy wire mesh used in foundations to help keep concrete from cracking. It comes in rolls, and because it is already curled, it naturally wants to form a round cage.

That turned out to be almost perfect for tomatoes.

How I came to it

I did not start out using concrete mesh for tomatoes.

Back in 1975, when I first planted the fruit trees on the homestead, the young trees had to be protected from deer. I went out into the forest, harvested fir poles, set them in the ground with a post hole digger, and wrapped chicken wire around them. That worked great until around mid-September.

Once most of their other food was gone, the deer broke those cages down. They reached in and ate a lot of the limbs and leaves off the apple trees, so I had to rethink my strategy.

I had some concrete welded mesh, the kind laid in concrete foundations to help prevent cracking. It came in a roll, so I got the idea that if I cut off a piece, it would make a tall round ring without much additional work. The wire naturally curved into shape. The openings were 6 inches across, so the deer could still push their heads through. I wrapped chicken wire around the lower part of the ring where they could reach. From then on, it worked well. The deer did not eat any more of the apple trees as the trees grew up.

You learn these things from experience. You try one thing, and it works for a while. Then the weather, the animals, or the weight of the plants teach you what needs to be stronger.

I am fortunate that I learned about effective caging early on.

From fruit trees to tomatoes

Once the apple trees became large enough, those tall rings came off.

I realized I could cut the mesh into shorter sections and make cages for young conifers, other small trees, and tomatoes. The cages for young trees could still be wrapped with chicken wire where deer protection was needed. The ones without chicken wire went to the tomatoes. 

Tomatoes can be a real hassle to trellis. Some folks string up lines and rebuild their support system every year. That creates another job that has to be repeated each season. I just use the metal rings.

You put one over the tomato plant while it is still young and make sure the plant grows up inside it. The openings are 6 inches across, so you can reach right through and pick any tomato you want. The plants are not falling all over the ground. I do not have to tie them up or rig a web of strings that has to be rebuilt every year. That made growing tomatoes much easier for me.

That is the evolution of my trellising technique.

Why concrete mesh works

If you use light wire around trees and vegetables, you may come back later to find it all bent or busted down.

Wimpy wire just does not hold up well for cages.

Concrete welded mesh works fabulously.

Here is what I like about it:

• It is strong. A tomato plant loaded with fruit becomes heavy. Light wire bends and tips, but this heavy mesh holds its shape under the weight of a mature plant.
• It lasts. I am still using wire I bought decades ago.
• The openings are the right size. The 6-inch squares are large enough to reach through and pick a ripe tomato without fighting the cage.
• No tying. Put the ring over the plant while it is young, guide the branches inside as it grows, and let the cage do the work.
• The fruit stays off the ground. That can mean less damage, better airflow, and an easier harvest.

The wire I use

The material is commonly called concrete reinforcing wire mesh or welded wire reinforcement.

The mesh I use has 6-inch-by-6-inch openings and is sometimes labeled 6 x 6, 10/10. That means the openings are 6 inches square and the wire running in both directions is 10-gauge. It is thick, strong wire designed to last when exposed to the elements.

The rolls I have purchased over the years have generally been about 150 feet long and weighed between 130 and 150 pounds. The width has changed over the years. The first roll I bought was 7 feet wide. Another roll I bought about twenty years ago was 5 feet wide. Six-foot widths have also been common.

The exact width may vary depending on what is available, but the important features are the heavy 10-gauge wire and the 6-inch openings.

I am still using some of the wire I bought fifty years ago. I have not had to buy any for years because it is so durable.

How tall should a tomato cage be?

Even indeterminate heirloom tomato varieties can grow well beyond 3 feet, but that does not mean the entire plant needs to be enclosed in a 6-foot cage.

A cage about 3 feet tall is enough for most tomato plants. Once the plant grows above the cage, it can continue standing upright or lean naturally over the top. The cage still supports the main weight of the plant and keeps it from sprawling across the ground.

When working with mesh that is 6 feet wide, cut it in half lengthwise to make two strips about 3 feet high. From those strips, cut 4½-foot lengths to form the individual tomato rings. That gives two useful 3-foot-high strips from a single 6-foot section of mesh.

How I make a tomato ring

Each tomato ring is made from a 4½-foot length of mesh formed into a circle.

Because the openings are 6 inches wide, that gives me nine sections around the ring.

Along the bottom edge of each 3-foot-high strip, I leave the vertical wires extending 6 inches beyond the last horizontal wire. On a 4½-foot-long tomato ring, those nine exposed wires become prongs that push directly into the soil.

The prongs stabilize the cage all the way around its base. With nine heavy wire points in the ground, the cage is not going anywhere. I have never had one fall over, even when it was loaded with tomatoes. There is no need to add rebar or separate stakes to an ordinary tomato cage.

To close the circle, overlap the ends slightly and bend the cut wires around the opposite edge. Then push the bottom prongs into the soil around the young tomato plant.

An upside-down cage shows the overlapped ends fastened together and the wire prongs that are pushed into the ground.

 

Set the cage in place early. It is much easier to guide a small plant into the ring than to wrestle a large, sprawling tomato plant into it later.

As the plant grows, tuck the branches back inside the ring when needed. The cage supports the plant from there.

When the tomatoes ripen, reach through the 6-inch openings and pick them. That is it.

No strings to restring next year. No flimsy cages to throw away. The same strong rings can be used year after year.

Stabilizing a full-height cage around a tree

A tall cage around an apple tree is different from a 3-foot tomato ring.

When I use the full width of the mesh for a tall tree cage, I do not like using rebar to stabilize it. Rebar has to be cut, can be difficult to pull out, and may be forgotten in the ground.

What has worked best for me is a small pine pole or a board placed at ground level through the bottom of the cage. The pole should be long enough to pass through one side of the ring, across its full diameter, and out through the other side. Lying on the ground through the cage, it keeps wind or an animal from pushing the entire ring over. After trying different methods, I found that a pole or board through the bottom was the easiest solution for a full-height cage.

For tomato cages and other small rings, the built-in 6-inch wire prongs are enough.

Create a walk-through garden arch or tunnel

Concrete mesh can also be used overhead.

A long section of concrete mesh can be bent into a high arch over a garden entrance, path, or bed. For a large structure like this, the ends must be firmly staked or attached to posts on both sides to keep the mesh raised and secure.

A single arch can create a dramatic and beautiful garden entrance when it is covered with climbing plants.

To make a longer walk-through tunnel, bend several equal sections into identical arches. Put each arch in place first, secure both ends firmly with stakes or posts, and then wire the neighboring sections together along the length of the tunnel. Once the arches are connected and anchored, they create a strong overhead trellis tunnel.

Cucumbers and other vines can climb up the sides and across the roof. Over time, the plants can create a shaded, living walkway through the garden.

One strong material can become a tomato cage, a tree protector, or an overhead garden trellis. That kind of repurposing is part of the homesteading way of life.

A bonus: frost protection

Up here in the mountains of Northwest California, I can still get frost into mid-June.

I protect young tomato plants by draping shade cloth over the concrete wire mesh cages. 

The cage holds the cloth above the plant instead of allowing it to press flat against the leaves. It holds a little warm air around the tomato overnight.

For a cold night, I simply drape the shade cloth over the cage and remove it the next morning. The cage then goes right back to its regular job of supporting the tomato plant for the rest of the season. One simple structure does both jobs.

A note about young trees

If you use these rings for young trees, remember that deer can push their heads through the 6-inch openings. Wrap chicken wire around the lower part of the ring where the deer can reach. The heavy mesh gives the cage its strength, while the chicken wire closes the openings around the young tree.

For tomatoes, skip the chicken wire. You want the wide openings so you can reach through and harvest.

It is the same strong material used in different ways, depending on the plant and what you are protecting it from.

Why this matters

A lot of gardening problems come down to using things that are not built for the job.

Light wire is not built to hold a full tomato plant. Strings are not built to endure ten years of weather. Concrete welded mesh is built for foundations, and it can certainly hold up a tomato.

When the support is strong, the plant can grow freely. You can spend less time fussing with the trellis and more time enjoying the harvest.

That is part of the simple joy of gardening. It is also a small piece of a much larger way of life.

From one garden solution to a way of life

A tomato cage may seem like a small thing. But homesteading is made of small things learned over time, paid attention to, and passed on.

One strong cage. One protected tree. One good harvest. One practical skill that saves work year after year.

You do not have to begin with a whole homestead. You can begin with one tomato plant, one garden bed, one fruit tree, or one practical improvement that makes your life a little more resilient.

Begin where you are. Use what you have. Pay attention to what works.

From there, the rest begins to unfold.

— The Mindful Survivor

Grow something of your own

This tomato story is one small piece of a much larger way of life. If you would like to plant a tree, our free guide, How to Grow an Organic Apple Tree, walks you through choosing, planting, caring for, and harvesting from an apple tree using practical organic methods.

Get the Free Apple Guide