Very slow going with the vegetable garden here too, we are having the exact same weather conditions that you are. This is the year we are going for expansion, and although we are coming along with it, there is still quite a bit of work to do.
Regarding tomato cages I hope you figure out a good way to store them. Many years ago I splurged on the galvanized tall rectangular collapsible cages from Gardeners Supply. I don't know how much I paid for them way back when, but those same cages are now $30 each. I never had a good place to store them either, and they were always piled up somewhere in or near the vegetable garden. Those metal prongs all along each edge hurt me every time I handle them. They also get caught up when the cages are collapsed and stacked, so the cages get stuck to each other. Even some of the galvanized steel has rusted. I curse them all the time.
This year I had enough of it and ordered cheaper (although still expensive when you need a lot of them) tall plastic hoop cages that assemble tier by tier from Amazon. They are narrower in width, but I think they will be fine. No more gashes from those metal prongs and I'll be able to disassemble them at the end of the season for easy storage. Not sure what to do with all those expensive metal cages. I'll hang on to them and put them in the pole barn for now, but will try to sell them at some point.
I feel foolish with the amount of money that I've spent to have a vegetable garden, this is no money saving food endeavor. Is there such a thing as a hundred dollar tomato
I know there are ways to do it much more frugally, but that never seems to be my way. Money spent on grow lights, heat mats, deer fencing, raised beds, top soil, compost, mulch, and support cages really has added up. I tell myself to look at it for the hobby aspects and also that I know the source and how healthy it is grown when you do it yourself.
