Trellises

You used a pink string, I used a long skinny twig from seedling to the trellis. They grow so fast and it worked out very nicely.

I am going to try a horizontal trellis this year made out of a cattle panel. Set it a couple of feet off the ground. Train the watermellon vine up a stake until it reaches the horizontal trellis and then let it grow across the trellis. This way I will get it off the ground and fewer bug problems and grandson problems. I have plenty of space to do this outside my SFG. My grandson kept stepping all over the watermellon vines trying to get to the watermellons to see them in last year's garden and I thought this would keep him off the vines but he could still see the watermellons growing.

yolos, that sounds like a good idea. Would you please post a photo when you have put it up, I would love to see it! I hope it works.

I used the conduit with elbows method too. And the 7" garden netting. Here is a pic of the construction. I layed out the conduit on the ground, attached the elbows, and screwed them into place. Then I layed out the netting, cable tied it down one side, then across the top and after stretching it taut, cable tied it on the other side. I used masking tape temporarily to make sure it was where I wanted it.



Out of 3 trellises, the netting on one of them broke 1/2 way into the season but the other 2 were fine. I just cut the whole mess down at the end of the season. I might switch to biodegradable netting this year- it was a pain to separate it before composting!

quiltbea wrote:I took the easy route. I bought metal fence posts and pounded one at each north corner of my beds. That way I can attach netting for peas and beans and string for my tomatoes.



They come in assorted lengths so there's bound to be one that suits everyone. It was so simple.

Bea...

I'm guessing all the trellises are on the north side. Don't the south boxes shade the north boxes? Or does the walkway receive the shadow?

What do you have on top of your fence posts when their isn't a net? Are they waiting for a net?

What's growing in the straw in the very south part...outside the boxes? Does the straw keep away your weeds? We put down a mulched gum tree. The other option was a eucalyptus tree, and I'm allergic.

Different things have been tried, including sand, and weeds still grow in it! (which doesn't surprise me because even the beach has vegetation and grass growing on it.


Glendale...I'm stoke to see some many people from Cincy on here!

Ava.....The sun rises in the east (right side) and crosses over to the west (left side) so the north trellises don't shade anything, even the boxes behind them.

I have poles wired to the top of the fence posts so that if I put either net trellises or string for tomatoes, they both work with the poles. What isn't trelllised for peas and beans, are strung for tomatoes then rotated the following year.

The berm (raised bed without lumber) in front is my 16' strawberry patch with its plants just starting to blossom.

The straw was laid over several layers of newspaper and kept the weeds down between the beds just fine. It was the persistent weeds right against the wooden sides that were pesky and needed pulling.

In the back to the right of my compost tumbler you can see the new yellow lumber of my new cold frame that I built last year. It was a great help for starting lettuces and then transplanting them into the garden where space became available.



Above: Peas starting to bloom in June.

I find that you learn my trial and error. What works for one may not work for another. Weather has a lot to do with success. You just have to find what works for YOU.

Thanks for bringing up rotation.

What do you rotate the tomatoes with?

I'm looking at my plans (which I have had to basically throw out and start over), and I really don't know what you'd rotate with what. I'm trying do companion planting because I've had problems before, and I hope they eliminate them.

I need to trellis tomatoes, pole beans, peas, and squash.

But the tomatoes don't go with the other three. And peas are now, not summer.

The corn I want to grow 3 sisters style, letting them be the trellis for the beans, but that puts the squash on the ground. And my corn doesn't say how big it will be.

take your pick...this is me!

back to the plotting...

Rotate the tomatos with the spring peas/summer bean squares. Both need the trellis.

Kay

I keep thinking about this Kay.

I'll try it next year. Right now, bush peas & beans are with the strawberries, and the pole beans will be with the corn (3 sisters). I'll be planting the tomato seeds in a few days, and setting up a trellis sometime in the next month.

Once it is up, verticals will be much easier to consider!

I make good use of the tall fence posts at either north end of my boxes to rotate from tomatoes (which I string) to peas and bush beans (which have trellis netting)the alternate years, then back again the following year.

I love your garden yet am amazed that it is so close tothe forest but no fence for critters. Perhaps there is a fence I could not see. After checking on some spinach, if it had sprouted, I found a dead deer 30 feet away.

It is sad I did not build my fence larger but still can squeze a 3x3x3 compost pit inside it that I plan to build this spring

floyd.....We're backed right up to the woods on 7.5 acres of wooded land with more all around us. We have deer in our area along with fishers, wild ducks in the wooded pond 300 feet from the house, a black bear, foxes, wild turkeys, a coyote, but no fence. I think the dogs help keep them away now. We used to have the deer stroll thru our backyard and eat the birdseed..... and even some of the fresh tomatoes and greens now and then. I've seen up to five at a time and 25 wild turkeys strolling thru the yard.



Here are a couple at one of the birdfeeders.

When I put in the dwarf fruit trees, they really chomped them down pretty good. I thought I'd lost them for sure but hung Irish Spring soap on a short fence around them and they've stayed away since. Thankfully the trees came back pretty well the next spring. The deer haven't been seen near my garden lately either, probably because of some help from our golden retriever and corgi dogs that often are let out in the yard (which didn't help my trees from being badly deer-damaged). And I continue to hang Irish Spring around my gardens and the trees.

I'm just grateful they are leaving me alone.