How to Make a Ruth Stout Tomato Cage

Mulching pioneer Ruth Stout created a great interest in organic gardening with her now out-of-print but still sought-after books, including “The Ruth Stout No-Work Garden Book,” published in 1971. One of her innovations was a variation on the traditional upright cylindrical tomato cage, which she replaced with a horizontal frame that acts as a support. A Ruth Stout support allows the tomato plants to grow straight up and then sprawl horizontally, eliminating the need for staking and tying the branches.

Cement reinforcing mesh
Hog wire
Six 4-inch by 4-inch posts, 4 feet long
Post-hole digger
Measuring tape
Marker
Bamboo stakes
PVC piping
2-inch by 4-inch lumber
Rebar tie wire
Bed frame
Cinder blocks

Instructions

- 1
  Mark out a garden bed measuring 4 by 6 feet, to match the dimensions of a typical panel of cement-reinforcing mesh or hog wire. Dig a 12-inch hole at each corner and at the midpoint of each long side with a post-hole digger. Insert a 4-foot-long, 4-inch by 4-inch pressure-treated post in each hole.
- 2
  Mark the posts at heights of 18 and 32 inches above the ground. Tie or nail a support -- it can be bamboo stakes, PVC piping or a pressure-treated 2-by-4 -- across each pair of posts at each mark, to serve as supports for the horizontal cage material.
- 3
  Lay a mesh panel across the supports at the 18-inch height and a second panel at the 32-inch height. These will support the tomatoes at the heights where they typically produce the largest clusters of fruit. Tie the panels in place using rebar tie wire.
- 4
  Plant the tomatoes underneath the horizontal tomato frame. Gently train them as they grow. Pull the central stem through the 6-inch-square openings in the mesh.

How to Make a Tomato Cage With Rebar

Varieties of Seedless Tomato

Growing Tomatoes