Hi, Dave!! The gate opens and closes easily. It's main purpose is for tear down. When the season is over, you open the gate and cut the branches off at the bottom, pull them out and you are done!! The branches are pushed to the back of the cage and don't interfere at all right now.

My branches won't be allowed to grow any taller than they are now. I have a short season here and anything that grows beyond the top of the cage never gets a chance to ripen anyway. So... I don't prune so I get lots of immediate side shoots with blossoms and I won't let my tomatoes outgrow these cages.

After 45 years of gardening, these are the so easy and I love how I can walk around the plant and pick those delicious tomatoes! Best cages I have ever had!

Rebecca

How deep are those boxes? Just curious to see how much depth is required for container tomatoes...

SS, I do not consider these container tomatoes. The box is 2' x 2' and 12 inches deep, BUT it is open to the dirt on the bottom. The bricks do not go under the boxes so they are like a raised bed that goes directly on the dirt. They do not contain potting soil. They are filled with loam that has some compost added to it. Wonderful dirt and great tomatoes!

Rebecca

Got it, thanks! I asked because I'm a newbie - first year trying to grow anything ever. So still in information gathering mode. I have 2 sets of tomatoes - one in the ground, and 2 plants in a 6" deep raised bed open to the dirt.

Also, forgot to ask earlier - Is that scallion around the box edges?

Hey SS, that's how newbies learn... We were all one once. The plants are shallots. :) Sounds like you have a good setup to me.

Rebecca

Nice cages.

We made some tomato cages once, out of dog fence that we no longer needed. But we made the diameter too large, which was a mistake. And the holes in the wire were too small. We found the whole thing very frustrating. Then, as you do, we through the baby out with the bath water in disgust.

Funny, Tete a tete! My whole gardening experience has been a series of success and failure. I am now on my 3rd garden in the last 30 years at this house, and it will be my last endeavor in redesign. I call it my Retirement Garden and I love it to pieces... No reason to change this one.

Rebecca

That's beautiful. Love the clean 'less is more' look.

Thanks, SS. It's perfect for us. All of my other gardens have been all about work, and that was good at the time. With this garden, I relax and enjoy!! My last raised bed garden was 65 feet by 3 feet and 1 foot tall. I grew tons of tomatoes... WORK!! Now I have 2 tomato plants and sit and knit and smile while I'm in the garden watching it grow.

Rebecca