Ideas for Trellis Gardening

Last year I planted sunflowers and put 3-5 peas around them and the peas grew up the sunflowers. This year I will be experimenting with a full row of sunflowers with peas on either side. planning to try it with climbing beans as well and see what happens. At the end of the season, I can cut the whole mess to the ground, right into the compost heap and not have to disturb the root zone and no cleaning up the trellis for next year!

I also have moose that wander into the garden for a midnight snack now and again when the dogs are sleeping. They will eat the peas to the ground normally but it seems that they don’t like the sunflower prickles. They only barely nibbled them last year. Excited to see if the sunflowers will keep them at bay again this year.

I thought to try this after reading about the 3 sisters planting, but corn won’t grow here typically without a greenhouse or mini hoop house that you cut the planting to let the corn grow through.

Has anyone else done this sort of living trellis?

I have a couple more photos to share of trellises.

The one with the raised beds is an old iteration of our old garden at our old house.  The big PVC frame is what I would drape visqueen over to make a hot house for my tomatoes to grow in (PNW, you need all the help you can get) but before I put the tomatoes in, I used the framework to make a simple string trellis for peas, and planted lettuce behind them (photo taken from west, so the peas provided afternoon/evening shade to the lettuces).  The photo with the gate is our new setup.  This is an area that I killed off last summer with black plastic, then I did some low effort beds, they'll need a lot more organic matter this winter but at least we have a start.  We have a really old(read: way thicker metal than modern) beaten up cattle panel I turned into a trellis, and a gate that's rotting out (I've since levelled it by propping the downhill leg on a rock, it's supported vertically by 2 t posts)  I have peas planted under the arch, and I'll probably follow that up with cucumbers or beans later in the season.  I'm going to try putting watermelons on the gate, I've been watching some videos on macrame to make slings for the melons.

Here's my latest trellis creation based on the principles of tensegrity. The 3 cattle panels are overlapped by a few inches and bound by hog rings. The bottom bars are cut off so that the sharp ends stick into the ground.
The pressure the bowed panels put against the wood frame is balanced by cables and turnbuckles attached to ground anchors. The wood frame is stuck into 4x4 sleeve anchors, which are basically a 3 foot spike pounded into the ground.
The panels stick to the frame by resting into scraps of channel aluminum (with a few fencing staples for good measure.)

Total length is 12 feet, depth is 8 feet, and the bowed cattle panels are 12 feet. 7 feet tall. I will be using this to showcase native vines as it's part of a growing native garden. I wanted more of a cave-like alcove than a tunnel so I can put a bench in there overlooking the yard.

Matt Todd wrote:

The pressure the bowed panels put against the wood frame is balanced by cables and turnbuckles attached to ground anchors.

Great set-up and I like the idea of stacking functions by providing a spot for a shady bench.

My only recommendation is that you put some bright rag strips tied to the cables. I suspect that eventually plants will find them and help identify them better, but in the short term, a visitor might not see them so preventative safety measures are always good with guy ropes. They may be more obvious in real life than the photo.

i added this so the clemetis have sonething to climb on. its a mirror frame, missing its mirror, i found at the restore for 4 bucks. and some conduit we had laying around.  looks awesome when the plants are blooming.

So it's another year and another go at growing stuff. Some plants can be unruly little buggers and just want to spread out and take over any ground they can find. I find a need to "train them" to go where I want. This can be tricky with the squash. I use bamboo poles to guide them toward the chain link. A little string or a twist tie works to attach the stalks to the pole. Once the little tendrils find the pole, and wrap it, I can remove the twist-tie and relocate it. Eventually I get the squash plant over to the chain link. Then I have to keep it inside the cage.

The beans are much more manageable. Once they find the pole, they just follow it.

My mother picked up one of those wire deer someone was getting rid of.  I can't remember of the other two are freebies or a gift from my brother when he found out she likes them.  If the vines out grow them I will probably extend them sideways.  If so it might even create a shady spot in the bed when I start winter seedlings.  

Better than trying to squeeze them in our small attic.

Just an update on my teepee trellis from last year. We had a mini tornado rip through here 2 weeks ago. Lots of damage everywhere! My trellis is still standing!  My trellis from 20 years ago weighted with dangling rocks is also still standing!  A miracle for sure since we felt like we might lose the roof of the house!  

Well, everything is working it's way up to the cage roof and fruit is growing on the trellis. So, it's time to start making hammocks for the squash.

Here is an east-west oriented trellis in our desert southwest garden. East-west orientation allows each end of the trellis to get about half-day sun in summer.  Once the trellis grows in, the bed under the trellis receives filtered light in the midday.  This allows us to grow all sorts of plants that would get too much sun if out in the open. Under the trellis this year is a tree collard, calendula, nasturtium, thymes, sweet williams, applemint, cilantro, lemon bee balm - all things that enjoy a bit of shelter in our extreme heat and high altitude sun.

Pics from last summer and also this winter and spring.  Trellis currently holds peas and young beans (runner, long, hyacinth, and rattlesnake pole), moonflower seedlings, one passionflower, and new grape plants.

An important note on using wire deer as trellises .  You should probably save it for green beans, gerkin cucumbers and other things that don't grow large fruit.  We're going to have to slice some of our cantaloupe up on the vine to harvest.  They're caught inside the deer.

Casie Becker wrote:An important note on using wire deer as trellises .  You should probably save it for green beans, gerkin cucumbers and other things that don't grow large fruit.  We're going to have to slice some of our cantaloupe up on the vine to harvest.  They're caught inside the deer.

Yes, while building trellises, I *really* try to consider how I'm going to harvest what I'm growing. I've been in situations where I can't reach, can't stand on anything due to space or slope, or the gaps in the trellis are too small to get my hand in. In your particular situation, it required keeping a close eye on fruit as it starts to develop and finding a way to hook it up over another branch, or giving it a hammock to keep it out of danger.

The good news is that it will taste just as good, despite its unique shape!

Casie Becker wrote:An important note on using wire deer as trellises .  You should probably save it for green beans, gerkin cucumbers and other things that don't grow large fruit.  We're going to have to slice some of our cantaloupe up on the vine to harvest.  They're caught inside the deer.

I had that happen last year with some winter squash! 😂 It took forever to hack it free since it had a very firm and tough rind.
And I had some especially large lemon cukes get stuck too but mostly they were fine because their weight usually causes them to hang downward before they were large enough to get stuck.

I don't know if anyone has mentioned it, but I am trying the Florida weave system for my tomatoes this year. Twine between garden stakes and you go in and out with the twine between the plants one way and then back the opposite way. You do have to do this every 8? In or so. Supposed to give a tomato wall. I let my last two tomato plants sprawl anyway they felt like it, and it's a pain to get any tomatoes.

All this makes me want to try making an arch out of  cattle panels--but we don't have any left. I have used what I think is called field fencing--it's not woven and it's not welded, it has little wire twists at each joint--to make three kinds of trellises.
1--I make tomato cages out of these. Count ten joints and cut off a section, then cut off the heavy wire at the end with the bigger squares. Roll it into a cylinder and use a pliers to bends the ends around to fasten it. Now you have prongs sticking out from the large-square end, to push into the ground. The upper end has squares too small to easily pick tomatoes through, but that doesn't matter as you can just reach in through the top. These have been going strong for 14 years now. I use these for the bigger peppers too.
2--I run a fence between two metal posts down the middle of one of my permanent beds each year and plant peas on one side, then pole beans on the other side toward the end of the pea season, so the beans can take over the job of making shade after I rip out the peas. I grow things like lettuce, radishes, spinach, maybe brassicas or celery, on either side.
3--yesterday I made a new trellis, so it is untested. Realizing I never have enough peas, I made a sort of teepee--just bent a 13' stretch of this fencing in the middle to push the ends into the ground to form an A-shaped tower about 6 feet tall. I can maybe grow the snow peas on one side and runner beans on the other later; I figure I can use it for stuff like small melons, cucumbers, and some of the rampant summer squashes. Possibly could also grow lettuce under it in midsummer. But I'm not sure about its stability. I tried pushing wire hoops in on each side. These are the support wires from campaign signs--someone gave me a bunch and I thought they'd be good for holding tulle for insect exclusion or reemay for winter protection, but the trouble is they aren't tall enough for some things like the brussels sprouts I tried last year. But maybe tying the taller A-frame to these will improve stability.

For those growing in containers and struggling to get enough water to them.......

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSDYs9sd2_BlLuWSiEr7TJQ/videos?app=desktop

This is the Gardening With Leon channel on youtube and what you're after is anything he did on wicking tubs.

He even figured out a 'truck drivers" special that only needs watering every other week.

he's in Oklahoma, so he gets brutal weather, which means whatever he tries gets a severe test.

Leon is also quite clever on a number of other counts so well worth a look through all his stuff.

Matt Todd wrote:Here's my latest trellis creation based on the principles of tensegrity. The 3 cattle panels are overlapped by a few inches and bound by hog rings. The bottom bars are cut off so that the sharp ends stick into the ground.
The pressure the bowed panels put against the wood frame is balanced by cables and turnbuckles attached to ground anchors. The wood frame is stuck into 4x4 sleeve anchors, which are basically a 3 foot spike pounded into the ground.
The panels stick to the frame by resting into scraps of channel aluminum (with a few fencing staples for good measure.)

Total length is 12 feet, depth is 8 feet, and the bowed cattle panels are 12 feet. 7 feet tall. I will be using this to showcase native vines as it's part of a growing native garden. I wanted more of a cave-like alcove than a tunnel so I can put a bench in there overlooking the yard.

Would love to see some updated photo's of this post. I like this idea and should be able to incorporate it into existing garden structure.

This suggestion is a little different that the ones so far... But you know how the folks at Wheaton Labs loves roundwood and traditional joinery? Well, they've built a roundwood grape arbor using NO fasteners! It is a beast!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBoaYFSSeAg

I made trellis for squashes from whatever available: a cattle panel, mattress and box springs, concrete stakes and a couple metel pipes. It looked unsightly for a short time before the vines covered it all up.

I made this 5 ft tall column out of bamboo strips. It would be easy to simply tie some bamboo poles into a teepee but I think this one is fun! Currently I plant some snap peas and will use it for tomato later,  but that's an overkill. This structure is very strong and maybe I should make a bigger dome shape for squashes.

May Lotito wrote:I made this 5 ft tall column out of bamboo strips.

How did you split your bamboo?
How wide and thin are they?
Did you soak them before working with them?

I think it may also depend on the type of bamboo and how one harvests it. I've got some green culms that are on my list for cutting because they were damaged in the snow. I'm thinking they might "basket" better than dried culms would, however, for basket weaving with wood, I've read that you are better to dry them, and then soak them to make it work. Another project I'd love to experiment with when a few other critical path work has been accomplished - like bunny proofing one of my gardens!

Bamboo won't shrink so it's fine to work with green culms, it's easier that way too. I hot these dead and dry 3/4 inch culms from a friend and split them with an axe and a hammer. Width is about1/2 to 3/4 inch to make a hexagon of 6-7" wide. Large diameter culms are better than smaller ones as the strips will be flatter.

The shape is highly geometrical so I start with the final dimensions and calculate the number and length of strips I need to make it. You can use some flattern paper straws to try a small model then scale up.

I love it May beautiful and functional
I planted clumping bamboo last year. I'm looking forward to having it be established enough to use without harming the plant.

My goji bushes are growing like crazy and many long arching branches are spawling onto the ground. It's not desir5to leave them like this because: many leaves are stacked with reduced light exposure; the ends are getting into the path and got stepped on; branches touching the ground will try to root and start new plants; and fruit yield will be much lower. I trellised by making a frame much like a oversized tomato cage last year but feel I can do better with a new design.

Each unit is made with 6 long vertical bamboo stakes in the ground, a couple medium size ones secured 6 ft high and a wheel on top of those. Long and strong upright branches are strung up to the wheel and spaced evenly. Weaker ones are resting on the short horizontal bars that connect each two neighboring stakes. There's much more ventilation now for the bushes and chickens like going underneath for some shade.

I also tip prune the bushes to encourage more branching. Ideally, the new growths will bear an abundance of berries hanging at waist to chest level for easy picking (and safe from the chickens).