Trellis material

I lied. I have a few questions including trellis material. But mostly concerned with trellis right now. My questions have to do with off season construction in preparation for next year. Been doing SFG for a long time, mid to late 90's maybe, but due to my FORMER work schedule, only had time for tomatoes, peppers, and stuff that didn't need trellis'. I have a teeny weeny yard, especially compared to my former 14 acres. That just wasn't going to work in retirement. So besides the 2x16 box, many 5 to 30 gallon containers, I have space for about 5 or 6 - 4x8 SFG boxes. More than adequate for us.

I have built a 2x8, soon to be 2x16 box for vining things, green beans, cantalopes, the jury is still out on watermelons unless/until my wife gives me my new opinion. I see and am intrigued by the cattle panels. Mel talked about netting in both books that I have, but I can't find 4x4 online or store anywhere. But honestly the cattle panels from the big box farm store look the best to this never used those things before guy. So I didn't burn up the net looking for flexible stuff. Please give me your experiences and recommendations, especially rigid vs flexible, what's good for some things, but not for others, and anything else you think is "ought to know". Being a retired engineer, I am very anal about looking at options before doing anything. It's almost a fetish.

What's the official online seed store for you? I am especially interested in planting strawberry plants this fall, so where do I get them? Because of limited space, I am looking at 5 in gutters filled with MM to go vertical.

I am confused about onion sets and garlic. Some say plant in the fall, others say early spring. I feel like I am missing info to know why the difference. Is a Pennsylvania, long day harsh winter area the difference?

Have a favorite homemade tumble composter that you'd care to share a link to?

Thanks
Chuck

A lot of good questions, there.  I'll see if I can provide my opinion on each.

I love using cattle panels for trellises for a couple reasons: 1) They are durable and last a long time, and 2) They are strong enough that they will never bend regardless of the weight of the vegetables on them.  For years I used sections of cattle panels cut to the length of the bed and mounted on T-Posts for trellises.  Last year I replaced them with an arbor built out of 3 cattle panels, and it has become the favorite spot in my gardens. I'll post a picture of it at the end if I remember.

My favorite on-line seed stores are Baker Creek Heirloom (https://www.rareseeds.com/), and Urban Farmer (https://www.ufseeds.com/).

Onion sets are planted in the spring, and garlic is planted late fall, early winter.  Onions are harvested in the fall, and garlic is harvested in mid-summer.

My favorite compost tumbler is the Jora JK270, that is their medium size. I have two of them, and each on has two compartments. Each compartment, once filled, produces compost in approximately 30 days. They are somewhat expensive, but the insulation in them allows me to compost year 'round here in SW Ohio.  (https://compostingwarehouse.com/product/jora-compost-tumbler-270/) 


Cattle Panel Arbor - 3 panels on end between 2 12' beds.

That looks great, wish I had that kind of room.
Thanks for your answers, they are helpful!!
What are the sides of your boxes made out of and where did you get it?

Chuck d'Argy wrote:That looks great, wish I had that kind of room.
Thanks for your answers, they are helpful!!
What are the sides of your boxes made out of and where did you get it?

Those are galvanized steel beds which I purchased from https://www.metalgardenbeds.com/

If you are interested in building your own similar beds, check out this video:

Hi, let me second the vote for cattle panels...they are awesome for creating vertical space. If you can put two beds parallel with 30" between them a cattle panel arbor is quick to set up and fabulous. There are several of them in our smallish garden. I have also cut the cattle panels into chunks that can be stood up  next to beds wherever. All you need is a couple of T posts and some zip ties.

I also like the cattle panels. I have longer beds: 25' and 37'. I cut some of the panels in half, and use whatever combination I need, from 2x16' to 1x8'. I trellis my winter squash, cukes, sweet potatoes (who don't climb by themselves), and shell beans and peas. I made my tomato cages out of 6"x6" concrete reinforcement wire, 2' in diameter. Much better than the commercial tomato cages, which I now use for my basil and asparagus and sweet peppers.
Be aware that if you trellis your cantaloupes, you will need to support the melons as they are not self supporting as they grow, and will fall off before they are full size. Some people use mesh bags to support them; I plan to try letting them spread out on one of my beds next year, after not growing them for a lot of years.
I live in southern Tennessee. Here we plant garlic and some multiplying onions (in my case, Egyptian walking onions) in late Sept./early Oct., and regular onion sets in the spring. It really depends on the kind of onions; check with your source.
I like Southern Exposure Seed Exchange; my wife likes Seeds of Change. Happy gardening!