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I ordered up 10 tomato climbers from Jeff Bozos, $8 each. Then I got to thinkin, why send money to that weasel if I can build my own objects for the tomatoes, peas, and cucumbers to climb.
Voila, a look around the old ranch, a call to a neighbor, and zero dollars later we have one tomato bed ready and planting, plus the cucumber bed all ready for next week.
Cattle ranchers have a LOT of this stuff lying around. The locals call it Cattle Wire.
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Once it's old, cut, and bent up, they may hang onto it, but rarely use it. My neighbor gave us an 18' length of it, just high enough for cucumbers. All we had to do was stand on it, straighten it out, then bend it into a big zzz form. Then we stood it on end and staked it down firmly.
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Isn't that a nice climber for cucumbers?
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Here's how we staked it down to support it.
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For the tomatoes, I found some old movable cattle pen sides that were rusting out in our field. They might not be strong enough for cattle, but they're fine for tomatoes. They have their own feet at the bottom, so all we had to do was step on the low rail and drive the pipes into the tilled ground. Check it out.
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Zero dollars spent.
The Amazon stuff arrived, and we'll use it for the next bed over. I'll let y'all know which work best, Bezos stuff or recycled free stuff. The old stuff was rusty, the new Bezos stuff was very dirty.
![]()
Voila, a look around the old ranch, a call to a neighbor, and zero dollars later we have one tomato bed ready and planting, plus the cucumber bed all ready for next week.
Cattle ranchers have a LOT of this stuff lying around. The locals call it Cattle Wire.
Once it's old, cut, and bent up, they may hang onto it, but rarely use it. My neighbor gave us an 18' length of it, just high enough for cucumbers. All we had to do was stand on it, straighten it out, then bend it into a big zzz form. Then we stood it on end and staked it down firmly.
Isn't that a nice climber for cucumbers?
Here's how we staked it down to support it.
For the tomatoes, I found some old movable cattle pen sides that were rusting out in our field. They might not be strong enough for cattle, but they're fine for tomatoes. They have their own feet at the bottom, so all we had to do was step on the low rail and drive the pipes into the tilled ground. Check it out.
Zero dollars spent.
The Amazon stuff arrived, and we'll use it for the next bed over. I'll let y'all know which work best, Bezos stuff or recycled free stuff. The old stuff was rusty, the new Bezos stuff was very dirty.
