Check out tomato spiral supports. You can purchase them premade for this purpose or make your own using bent rebar. They work well and make a pretty cool sculptural statement in the off season.

Those are interesting, but probably too modern looking for our style... Should probably have mentioned that we have a more transitional looking house. Also, wonder how those little things would hold a loaded 8' indeterminate tomato! Bet they would be awesome for beans in the backyard though, so thanks for making me aware of them.

Bamboo also looks good in the off season if you're going for a natural look.

you can spray paint them green which is fairly easy and cheap, they're harder to see.

my plants get so big you can't even see the cage after a month. probably a better idea to just buy some cattle panel, cut them up to make round cages, or just leave them like a fence and trellis the plants on them. and of course, paint them if you want them to be less noticeable.. its more expensive and work, but they last forever and more sturdy and better support the plant.

Agreed. Get some paint. Paint fixes "rusted and nasty", and keeps "amazing". If you want to do a nicer job, sand a bit with emory cloth before painting.

Thanks everyone...

I don't think painting my ugly rusted rebar cages (we made them out of concrete mesh) would help... the shape is unattractive and can't be stored, so lipstick on a pig.

I think using flat panels would look better. It is a shame that I can't get cattle panels here (no one delivers them), but maybe I can find some fencing to paint that would serve a similar purpose.... Thanks for the suggestion.

It is true that when they are big you can't see the cage, but the cage is visible for a long while and in the winter.... all my neighbor's lawns/yards look perfectly manicured, so trying not to be too much of an outlier

I do need something really sturdy... my tomatoes have toppled my 5' tall 2' wide rebar cages a few times. So some of the ideas look nice, but I don't think they will hold up to the size plants I normally get. I assume people plant determinate or heavily prune to get them to stay in a small cage or on a string.

Nancy R, I checked out Gardner's and didn't see anything for under tomatoes that would work, but then later I browsed some other categories and found this:

https://www.gardeners.com/buy/tall-expandable-pea-trellis/8587062.html#start=6

If I put one on each side of my tomatoes, these could work! May need to use some posts or some wires to make them more sturdy, but it is worth a shot. Thanks for the suggestion!

there are no tractor supply there? or any local farm places should have them.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/feedlot-panel-cattle-16-ft-l-x-50-in-h

they also carry them in different lengths, the 16' can be rolled a little for transport.

Robin, I am not totally sure that the folding pea trellises will work, even if you add posts for support. Indetermine tomatoes in fruit are heavier than pea plants, and 5’ 4” =64” doesn’t seem tall enough. Even thickly planted peas sometimes push over a similar fence in my garden if I haven’t given it stout enough anchor posts. I don’t have that brand, but suggest that you try one before ordering a bunch for your tomatoes.

Consider rose tuteurs if they are within budget. I have a source near me that sells 6’ tuteurs for $40 (less if on sale), though often they are more expensive elsewhere.

Or perhaps install some nice posts with pretty toppers that will be up year round and then fasten mesh fence panels on during tomato season. Around me I can get rolled fencing, with a choice of powder coated green or galvanized. When you take down the fence panels, wrap the posts in little white lights for winter decor.

Pruning is definitely a part of it. But the Europeans do these amazing fruit tree fences called espaliers.

Look up tomato espalier and you get a ton of good ideas. Embrace the winter vibes-they are beautiful. My only thought would be, it should be somewhat relicatabke because aren't you supposed to rotate tomatoes?

You could try this approach. It's PVC pipe and you could paint them if you want.

Not sure if you could call them attractive, but they're not ugly. You can disassemble

them for the winter months and easily store them.

Here's a link

PVC Tomato cages

In my first garden we used rebar cages. They were ugly and hard to store. When we redid the garden in 2009 I wanted something that looked nicer. It's a small garden, but easily seen from many areas of the house.

Now I use a combination of stakes and Texas tomato cages. Love the cages because they collapse for storage. http://tomatocage.com/#xl_xr_page_index

Also use an obelisk for one of the Sun Golds. They vine up to 10 feet. If I were growing in the front yard I'd probably invest in a few more.

Previous garden...

With lights for Christmas...

https://morningchores.com/tomato-trellis-cage/

Lots of DIY ideas here.

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.

I have not read all the comments.

Treliss is good if you want to put up with the work.

Tomato plant is a,crawler not a climber. So if you want to use treliss as support you have to keep on tying and tying.

Yo can position it slanted, say at 30 degrees. This way the branches can lay on it and should require less tying.

Look at these

the tree ones could have fairy lights inthem in the winter