Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Cheap and Easy Plant Trellis

Spring has sprung and it's kicking my tail. The semester is winding down and I am swamped with end of term work. The fields for the allotments have all been tilled and we've got to set the fence. That is my big project for this month. Postings here are going to be sparse.

I also am going to be making about several more feet of trellis like I did  for my peas. Like this:

I have a ton of down limbs that I have collected this year and I am going upscale this to work in my new field. We had over three inches of rain yesterday, so I might have to construct parts of it and then lash the pieces to the stakes in the field in a few days. 

Construction is quite easy. 

I cut downed limbs to approximately 12 inches in length to use as stakes.

These are staked at four foot intervals. Four inches should remain above ground. 

I then lash together two six foot limbs in a V. 


I use a third limb to stabilize the trellis. This limb must form a Y on one end. I lash that to the same spot the other two limbs are connected. 
Using jute twine (it can be thrown in compost at the end of the season) I create a grid for the plant to climb. I do the horizontal lengths first and then weave the vertical through. The vertical lengths are tied to the top and bottom horizontal lengths. 


The only item that needs to be purchased for this project is the twine. So I have less than $2 in this project!

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