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Above is a drawing of my self-watering float system.
What I intend to do is to put two posts in the ground with cross-arms on them and support the wire mesh (probably galvanized fencing with a smaller wire diameter than concrete reinforcing mesh) between them horizontally. When the plants grow up to the fence I'll weave them through the mesh. The two posts will be at different heights and the mesh will be sloped to take advantage of the sun and to allow the leaves to shade the boxes from the sunlight. I figure to allow the fruits to hang below the mesh on the backside. Each fruit should be well supported with that scheme. but since the fruits will be in the shade ripening may take longer. (good if one were trying to grow super sized fruit)
Hopefully this will do away with tying the plants to stakes or those woefully inadequate tomato cages they have in the stores.
I made four of the Mini Earthboxes from five gallon pails and connected them to the automatic watering system. The cost was about $3 each, $2 for the pail, $1 for the colander, and a free margarine tub for the support. I cut the rim of the colander with tin snips. To make the hole in the center, for the wick, I melted the center out using a propane torch. The dripping plastic left long snot trails down from the melted edge which came in handy to center the colander in the tub. No fasteners or adhesives are used.
The string trellis is something I saw on the Internet. I figure I could build a sturdy one, ~5 feet tall and ten feet wide, for about $6 using four pieces of 3/4" EMT conduit. I have been using the idea to train and support my tomato vines until they reach the horizontal wire fence trellis. The original author (didn't copy the URL down) used a wooden A-frame and had a piece of wood located at ground level and stretched string from screw eyes on top and bottom. A piece of brick is cheaper and seems to work as well.
I'd incorporate this system over tomato cages for simplicity and ease of use. It has the further advantage of making the suckers easy to spot and eliminate.
Page 1 - pictures of earthboxes in action.
Page 2 - pictures of earthbox construction.