Repurpose those tomato cages!

Whether you’re making your own, or buying them ready made, there are other creative uses for tomato cages.

The cover image is definitely a very creative example by GardensAll community member, Lois Manning, who created a fun Halloween character on her tomato cage.

Tomato cages can be bulky items to store. Sure, they stack neatly one into the other, but it still takes up storage space.

So we love that there are other uses that can serve your yard and garden needs beyond just supporting those precious tomato plants, and especially, creative uses for tomato cages once the tomato harvest is over.

10 Uses for Tomato Cages (Beyond Tomatoes)

Bird Bath – Simple or Designer Style

You can use the tomato cage to make an inexpensive, garden bird bath. Here are the 4 basic steps:

1. Press the tomato cage firmly into the ground, as you would do for supporting tomato plants.
2. Place a lightweight bird bath dish on top of the cage
3. Secure dish, using either:
   • use hot glue, or
   • tether by drilling 4 small holes in the dish rim — one at each of fours sides, like a cross, or north, east, south and west sides.
4. Use zip ties to secure the rim of the bird bath dish to the top of the tomato cage in each of the 4 places around the dish

Crafty and Creative Tomato Cage Bird Baths Ideas

Your can use your imagination to decorate the tomato cage base of your birdbath as you desire. here are some ideas

• SOLAR LIGHTS: Use simple solar rope lights to artsy solar string lights. Spiral wrap the lights around the cage.
• PLANTS: One plant should be enough and you’ll need to keep wrapping it around in close spirals up or it will quickly outgrow the height available.
  • vining flowers like clematis, mandevilla
  • vining vegetables, such as cucamelon
  • dwarf cherry tomato plants
• ROCKS: Fll cage with rocks – this helps to anchor the cage, plus adds visual attraction as well as places for good garden creatures to hide, including insect-eating toads and lizards.

RELATED: see birds that eat mosquitoes.

Critter Protection

Wrap the tomato cage with protective mesh.

Place over any plant, small bush, or sapling to keep deter deer, rabbits, and other creatures from munching on them. Wrap lower part with rabbit and squirrel proof mesh chicken wire.

We no longer use the plastic bird mesh because we’ve had snakes (the good garden snakes) and birds get caught up in it and only survived because we were able to get to them in time to rescue them, so now we use the smaller gauge wire mesh.

Or, if you don’t have time, you can get a ready-made protective plant cloche, if you need to fend of plant pests right away.

See also, best deer deterrents, and how to keep squirrels, rabbits and rodents away.

Mini Greenhouse

Stick tomato cage in the ground around a plant. Cover the cage with clear plastic, or frost cloth. Secure the plastic or cloth with clothes pins around the cage to create a mini greenhouse effect for seedlings planted there.

This will help protect seedlings from wind, cold and critters. For extra protection, see the “critter protection” above.

RELATED: Build a cattle panel greenhouse

Plant Stand

Turn the cage upside down and bend the wires as needed, to hold a pot or bowl. See Bird Bath section above for ideas for the tomato cage base of the plant stand.

Plant Support for Other Vegetables and Flowers and in the Garden

You can use tomato cages to support other plants, both vegetables and flowers. The two lists to follow are a partial list but should give you some good ideas to which you can add your own.

Tomato Cage Uses for Vegetables and Herbs

• bush beans
• cucumbers, bush
• eggplant
• sugar snap peas
• pepper plants
• purple basil

Tomato Cage Uses for Tall Flowers

These can serve as gentle support for tall flowers and are especially helpful for plants that tend to splay. Tomato cages can also provide support to tall flowers in windy areas and storms.

• bee balm
• butterfly weed
• dahlias
• echinacea
• foxglove
• gladiola
• hollyhocks
• stokesia
• sunflowers

You may also be interested in this purple flowers article.

Protect Late Vegetable Crops Against Freezing by Creating a Mulch Blanket

Lightly fill cages with leaves or straw. Don’t pack it down, and excavate around to uncover the greenery. This is like wrapping fall and winter vegetables in a blanket of protection.

This helps protect veggies until time to harvesting later into the season.

RELATED: Frost covers for plant protection.

Easy Tall Row Covers in 5 Minutes or Less

Place one cage at each end of a planted garden bed. Run string or pole between cages by placing in through the highest ring on each cage.

We use bamboo for so many things in the garden, because it’s readily available, growing in our yard.

Drape an old sheet or row cover or shade cloth over the cage, tent style and you’ve quickly and easily set up a covered raised bed with easy access to check your plants.

Holiday Decorations

You’ll see some cool examples further below, from Christmas trees to Halloween spooks, but there’s no limit to creative uses for tomato cages.

Mini Composters And Leaf Collectors

You can use the cages to create mini compost bins around the garden. Depending on your garden set-up, consider whether it would be helpful to keep a composting tower at or near the end of each garden row.

Wherever you choose to place yours, you can layer with leaves, paper, cardboard, organic matter and veggie scraps to build organic compost. Or just use it for storing your leaves until you need them for mulch or adding to your compost over time.

RELATED: best compost tumblers

~Image by Byron Ford on BonniePlants.com^[1]https://bonnieplants.com/2013/12/cold-weather-use-for-tomato-cages/

For our favorite leaf blowers, check out a leaf blower competition video, we have more for you here.

And, if you want to see something really different, how about flattened tomato cages into a windmill?!

Flattened Tomato Cage Wind Turbine

Probably the most unusual usage we’ve seen for tomato cages is this wind turbine.

Wind Turbine Made from:

• 2  tomato cages
• 2 fiberglass rods
• Clear tape plus
• metal piece of upright (wall) shelf track is at the center

For the DIY tinkerers out there looking to create alternative energy, you might enjoy this 1:25 minutes example.

Now you’d just have to know how to connect it to something for harvesting the energy it generates.

Tomato Cages and So Much More!

So there’s no need to worry about where to store those tomato cages when the tomato growing season is over and you no longer need to stake your tomatoes. With these ideas, you can put them to good use, and there’s more to come from fellow gardeners.

You may find this article useful, on building your own tomato cages.

Contributions from the Community

Please share your other uses for tomato cages and we can include them here.

Tomato Cages Can Grow More than Tomatoes!

I would never use one for a tomato 😄!! I use them for peppers, eggplants, and to protect newly planted perennials from two rambunctious dogs.
~The Garden Academy

Heavens yes! Hollihocks, gladiola, fox glove, any other tall blooming things needing support.
~Lesley Cole

I never liked them for tomatoes either. They’re not tall enough and they always bent over.
~Laura LaChance Stubbs

I use them for my cucumber and squash plants, the vine and leaves grow up and the “fruit” stays underneath. It is a good way to contain the vine and, since I am not a fan of snakes, they are less likely to be hiding under the leaves of the plants all through the garden.
~Colleen A Williams 

Marilyn DeMelo uses her tomato cages for growing cucumbers.

Sonia Goldberg is using tomato cages for growing the lovely purple basil herb.

Academy Orchard and Gardens growing Snow on the Mountain beans in tomato cages amongst buckwheat.

Ann Marie Lind is growing Pole Beans using tomato cages. We could imagine a hedgerow of tomato cages for vining plants such as clematis.

Create Holiday Art from Tomato Cages

We love this creative and fun halloween idea by Lois Manning! We’ve seen others as well, such as sheets draped over and made into ghosts, witches, scarecrows, etc.

I made this for Halloween but loved it so much that he is in my camp window. He was fun making.
~Lois Manning 

Deron Monroe used his tomato caged to create wonderfully decorated Christmas tree decorations outside his home.

Inverted, wrapped with Christmas lights, makes them look like little Christmas trees.
~Deron Monroe

Tomato Cages Ideas for Crafters

We know there are a lot of clever crafters out there and you may enjoy this clever idea from Kimberly of KimberCat Glass for displaying your creations at your shop, festivals and art fairs. She’s using hers to display hand painted Christmas ornaments

Kimberly of KimberCat Glass used her tomato cages for a craft show glass ornament display.

You’re invited to join in the conversations on the Gardens All Facebook community and let us know what you build or create.

Wishing you great gardens and happy harvests!

Want more? For over a thousand more ideas for using tomato cages, there’s a Pinterest page to visit for more great ideas with accompanying visuals.^[2]https://www.pinterest.com/explore/tomato-cage-crafts/