Sturdy Tomato Support

I have tried cages, but they were never big enough. I have tried tying them to stakes, only to have the string slip down the pole. Finally, it seems, I have come up with the best solution yet. Pictured above is a support that I put together for very little cost and not too much effort. You can achieve the same effect as well.

1. To begin, purchase 5 long 1" PVC pipes, 2 elbow connectors, a T connector, special PVC glue, and nylon netting with 1" mesh (this usually comes in a long sheet bundled up in a neat package).
2. Lay out the pipes on the ground as follows: three full-sized pipes for the poles, and two cut to the required length for the crossbars.
3. Before connecting the PVC pipes to the elbow and T connectors, weave the crossbars through what will be the top of the netting. Weaving, instead of tying the mesh to the PVC, makes for a much stronger support.
4. Use the T connector to connect the two crossbar PVCs together. Glue with PVC glue.
5. Glue the elbow connectors to the other ends of the crossbars.
6. Now weave 2 of the outside long poles up the edge of the netting. Cut any excess netting off of the sides. Glue to the elbow connectors.
7. Weave the last pole up the middle and glue to the T connector.
8. Dig three holes in the ground approximately 1-1 1/2 feet deep. Insert the ends of the long poles into the ground and fill the holes, packing firmly.
9. To stabilize the support, tie three long strings to each end and the middle of the top of the support. Tie the other end of the strings to tent stakes. Place into the ground, either all on the same side, or 2 on one side and one on the other.
10. Plant your tomato plants on either side of the support and place wire tomato cages around each plant. The cages will help support the tomato plants until they get big enough to start tying.
11. When the tomato plants reach a height of about one foot above the tomato cages, they will now need the help of the support that you have built. For adequate support, tie the plants to each other with standard cotton string by passing the string through the netting to the plant on the other side. Don't actually tie the plant to the netting, as this could cause the netting to rip. Continue in this manner through the season.

This method not only makes it easy to pick tomatoes, but also keeps the plants off of the ground so that bugs and slugs do not damage the fruit. This support is also very sturdy, as I have left it up all year, for three years now, and the only damage that it has sustained is a rip that I put in the mesh when impatiently trying to pull a dried stem through as I did my fall cleaning.