Look what is popping up!

I had to go out of town for a week, left my garden in the hands of my husband, an wow, everything is popping up! I need to get some support structure for the peas and beans. Need ideas on something simple and CHEAP. I still have some boxes to plant, hope I am not getting too late in the season. I love all of your imput and your pictures!

You're husbands a hero; what a green thumb he must have! (timing is everything!)

Scrap wood, 1x2s, and EMT are still some of the cheapest trellises to make. Unless, like some of us, you have a: "I'm gonna keep this, 'cause I might need it someday" pile!

boffer wrote:You're husbands a hero; what a green thumb he must have! (timing is everything!)

Lucky son-of-a-gun....

Scrap wood, 1x2s, and EMT are still some of the cheapest trellises to make. Unless, like some of us, you have a: "I'm gonna keep this, 'cause I might need it someday" pile!

You haven't met my wife yet, have you? When we moved... she made me throw away my (true 'Big Blue') IBM PC/AT 80286 system board.... I practically cried!

I haven't seen the gridded trellis', as mentioned in the book, yet... but I do have some 8' 1x2's (originally purchased to make my grid, until I realized I'd need even more of it... and resorted to plastic twine.) The 1x2's are cheap enough... but without the actual trellis, I'm not sure what to do as an alternative.

I have seen the single long stakes available at Big Lots for relatively cheap. Would I be better getting a bunch of those and staking my tomatoes, or trying to build the trellis?

Also, I planted most of the tomatoes in the furthest Northerly two rows of one of my boxes. If I went with individual stakes, I'd need a dozen and a half. If I used a trellis for some and stakes for others, I could cut the stakes down by 8 (10 if I added a second trellis on the other 2x8 box.) Or, I could even put in a second trellis in the main tomato box, leaving only the oddly placed tomatoes needing stakes.

Thoughts, comments or ideas? :?:

What's the best way to go?

Jeff Buffington wrote:
You haven't met my wife yet, have you? When we moved... she made me throw away my (true 'Big Blue') IBM PC/AT 80286 system board.... I practically cried!

Poor guy, she's gonna regret it some day when she sees the prices on E-Bay!

I haven't had much luck (or enough patience) using single stakes or bamboo and fashioning support as they grow. I've got 10 cylindrical cages made out of 6x6 concrete reinforcing wire that are 4 feet tall and 2 in diameter. They're great for potted maters, not so convenient in a sfg box.

Here's a simple, cheap lattice.. I had a couple romas get away from me last year. They reached the top and kept going. I just added some horizontal lattice at the top (about 18 inches wide) for the vines to lay down on. They kept growing farther past the end of the horizontal lattice until gravity started pulling them down. (think of a short arbor, up one side, across, and down the other).

That looks so simple-- do you worry about it being pulled by the plants and leaning or do you think it's secure enough?

Here's how it's attached. I did use 2x2s instead of 1x2s to resist bowing. Most of the weight is pulling down, rather than sideways.