my cukes won't be laying on the ground this year!

[Blackdog Lin]

I'd asked DH about fixing me up some sort of trellis arrangement for the garden cucumber plants last year, and it went by the wayside. Well he remembered! He found an old cattle panel in the barn, so we went out last evening and wired it up between 2 fenceposts and voila!: insta-cucumber-trellis. And all for free.

My simple life these days, where I get excited about a free and easy garden trellis. :)

[catherine]

Good for you! Last year we made a very simple grid out of extra furring strips we had in the garage, and then where the grid was too wide, we tied string in between. We attached it with Velcro to the house. It worked like a charm!

[CathyA]

Sounds good Balckdog Lin!

I use my kids old swingset, lined with concrete reinforcing wire, and the cucs love it! (and so does my back!).

[puglogic]

I had our fence builders leave some leftover 6' wire fencing, and we're putting it up this weekend between two salvaged T-posts for our lima beans. Can't wait. Simple living folks can be so easy to please -- isn't it grand?

[Tussiemussies]

All great ideas
! I haven't come up with anything special when I was gardening, just a tomato cage. Cathy I love your idea of using the frame of an old swing set!

[CathyA]

Thanks Tussiemussies. I'm sure glad I never got rid of it! I tested it for lead first, and it was okay.
I grow cucs up one side and on each of the ends, I grow snow peas. Then I face it towards the S-W, and can grow things under the front of it too!
And every year so far, a house wren has nested in one of the tubes, so I guess you could call it a bird house too. :)

[Tussiemussies]

Thanks Tussiemussies. I'm sure glad I never got rid of it! I tested it for lead first, and it was okay.
I grow cucs up one side and on each of the ends, I grow snow peas. Then I face it towards the S-W, and can grow things under the front of it too!
And every year so far, a house wren has nested in one of the tubes, so I guess you could call it a bird house too. :)


Wow, Cathy A, how creative you really make good use of it! :)

[Blackdog Lin]

Very cool Cathy. What a great many uses out of what others would think of as detritus. (had to google that highfalutin' word, I did.....) :)

[Gregg]

I don't have a barn to root around in for treasures and our solution isn't very artistic, but I went to Tractor Supply and bought 3 of Lin's cattle panels (16' long each), screwed hooks to our fence posts and hung them up. We now have pole beans, cukes, peas, mini pumpkin gourds and a variety of small winter squash growing up the trellis. Or they will be when they get tall enough to reach the bottom of it that is about 12" off the ground. I can't wait!

[CathyA]

Hey Gregg...how'd you get them home? I finally found someone to deliver them for me. I had considered putting them on top of my van, but was afraid they'd get bouncing and lift my car off the ground the whole way home.....bounce, bounce, bounce. haha
I guess if you have a pickup truck, you can arch them to fit......but they can sure scratch things up.

I've used cattle panels a number of times.........once for pole beans (which didn't work well), and for cucs......which also didn't work as well for me as using a smaller gauge wire. But they worked great for my butternut squash. Butternut squash definitely has a mind of its own, but I learned to tie it gently up to the cattle panels.........and talk real sweet to it........and it did well. Here's a pic of the winter squash on it.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f129/Catherine50/IMG_8891_zps06cb1e23.jpg

[CathyA]

P.S............actually, I looked up another pic I had of last year, and I remembered that I use small bungee cords to support them. They are great because they are flexible and you can easily attach them to the cattle panel, and move them when you need to, and use them year after year too.

[Blackdog Lin]

Cathy: very much enjoyed your awesome photo. Though I have no intention of going out to the garden and sweet-talking my cukes or zucchini into growing properly on a trellis: my gardening philosophy is "you will damn well grow like you're supposed to or I will cut my losses and cut you down."

We've been gardening for years and years, but only in the last few have I gotten very involved. And I have a very clear limit on how far I'm willing to go to get a good garden. :)