Thanks, Johnny... the width is something I hadn't considered. I'm planting with 2' spacing so I think I'm going to get the 18" Texas Cages. I don't mind a little pruning but won't do anything near what i did last year. I was doing SFG and really pruned... didn't work for me so well and my friend in Oakland who just threw some maters in a box of American Soil had 8 foot plants that just produced all season non stop. I'm in Walnut Creek and with our heat out here I expected better results than I had and I was totally jealous of my easy-going friends success and here I was all detailed with the SFG approach and it was a total failure. Are your seedlings in yet? Do you plant anything other than tomatoes? (I'm also struggling a bit with how and when to plant my other veggies like squash, beans, chard, and still leave room in the garden to transition to things like broccoli for fall, etc.) I can't seem to find any reliable date from the master gardener program about when to plant things. Do you go by frost dates? And did you get that crazy hail a couple days ago? We did here, and now I realize why the proverbial "they" tells us not to plant maters too early. thanks for your help! -kmama

Thank you guys so much for responding! LoneJack I knew someone might say something about the squash and watermelon lol. I know that there's a possibility that they might not do too well :/ However, even if I only get a few squash and an itsy bitsy melon, it'll be a small victory for me. This year is just a learning experience (: Also, thanks for the counter clockwise info. I wouldn't have known. Digdirt2 Yeah, those are the ones I'm talking about haha. I realized quickly after buying them that they're definitely not going to work for my tomatoes. I might just use them for the jalapeños and construct some kind of trellis with bamboo and twine for the cucumbers. Container gardening sounded like such a great idea at first..... Next year these suckers are going in the ground.

"To make a long question longer...In a traditional plowed garden...how does everyone else stabilize your tomatoes?" CRW cages staked with some rebar. In over 50 years of gardening I have tried all the methods at one time or another and the reinforcing wire cages work best for me - hands down. Plant approx. 80-120 plants in them every year. Also have some glavanized 2x4" hole fencing ones I made which I cut some bigger holes into and they work well too. Much less work throughout the season - no tying, minimal pruning, no fall overs in high winds, etc. They need bigger plant spacing but the only drawback is off-season storage but I have the space to do it. Dave

Sorry I took a while to respond... only had my phone with me this weekend, and the houzz app is not great for these forums... stevie, closest tractor supply is 1.5 hours away... that and nothing is fitting in my civic. Need something I can get online or close enough for me to rent a truck at a reasonable price. NHBabs z4b-5a NH, I may get a few of those pea trellises anyway for peas... they are really neat! I do wonder if I could anchor them and use them for tomatoes or cucumbers... it would be better if they were taller. I love the idea of rose tuteurs and I have been looking at cedar trellises... lovely but pricey options (esp. the trellis because I would want them on both sides of the tomatoes), but I will scour the internet for sales. I think espaliered fruit trees are awesome, but too much work for tomatoes unless you have no space to fit them otherwise. Not something I want to do every year when I have the space not to... Great idea catticusmockingbird, you had a wonderful garden. Love the obelisk for the sungolds. They are my favorite tomato and always out of control! decoenthusiaste's link has a diy for building an obelisk that looks pretty doable even for a diy amateur (assuming I can rent a table saw or get the wood cut at the store). I will definitely go this route if I can't find anything similar for a good price Thanks Everyone... you've all been very helpful. Got lots of great options now.