Cages are not just for tomatoes and beans!

Other viney crops will also benefit from caging or staking, and in some cases by growing up instead of out, you can save on soil space and plant more plants.  Growing plants up may also increase their exposure to sun, depending on your garden conditions, but note that anytime you grow something taller, it may block out sun from a shorter vegetable growing next to it. 

Some squash, cucumbers, and the smallest melons or pumpkins can benefit from a cage or some sort of staked fencing to grow on.  Cantaloupe, watermelon, butternut squash, all but the smallest pumpkins, etc. are just too big and the weight of the fruit will cause the vines to break - so leave these on the ground.  There are some vining varieties of smaller squash though, and these along with cukes will grow up if given the chance and a little help.  Getting these vegetables off the ground prevents a variety of pests that may attack the fruit itself, and overall just helps the plant produce a prettier crop.  These are great plants to train up a cage or fencing instead of letting them sprawl, since they take up so much room growing along the ground and can often interfere with neighboring plants.   You can use cages similar to the ones I described in the previous post - making your own, or those smaller ones available at your garden center will probably do fine in this case.  Just remember to make sure your cages are staked, in case of thunderstorm.  Installing fence posts and running some strong chicken wire between them is also a great solution.  Either way you may need to help these vegetables along by wrapping them onto the structure a little as they grow.  Look for the fine tendrils that arc out from the vine, and place them close to a wire, wrapping a little as necessary to get them to find it.

Those smaller cages at the garden center are also great for bell pepper plants!  Pepper branches break easily, and one hefty pepper during a storm can bring down half a plant!  With a little support, you'll maintain much more of your plant and get more peppers.