My support system - square CRW cages

[chesterfielder]

I needed a sturdy support system and of course I ended up looking at concrete reinforcement wire. Much has been said about making round cages from a roll, but living in a big city apartment created a couple of problems that I needed to overcome.

I have a small backyard that I'm using for a nice size garden, but I also wanted to use the patio area that leads down to it. I found a good deal on some square pots that would fit right up against the patio fence and railing so I could connect the cages to it. It wasn't only the shape of the pots that led to the idea of square cages, but I needed them to fold up for the end of year storage. So, here it is.

I used the 4'x7' flat panel CRW found at many big box stores, I got mine from L*wes. I cut them in half lengthwise which left me with three 6" squares and one partial square used for the connections wide and 13 6" squares long. I decided to use 10 squares as the height and the rest to insert it into the pot which left me with a respectable 60" height.

When I cut it in half I made sure the part I bend to connect them was on the outside so as not to go against the weld and have it break off.


The tricky part is making sure the connections allow the panels to swing flat.
To do this just wrap the wire underneath the opposing panels horizontal wire.


I finished the two half's and made sure they folded.


After connecting the two panels together, I made a few cuts and bends so it could easily fit into my pots.



Even with the bottom end bends, it still folds relatively flat.


I know this is a lot more work than the round cages, but as I only need ten or so it was no problem for me.
I think they turned out great, and of course painting is optional