Earlier in the summer, we wrote about a multitude of trellises we were trying; some were based on well-thought-out designs, others were the fastest thing we could put together with what we had on hand. Now that its the end of the season, which designs performed well, and which crashed and burned? Lets take a look.
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| The only ones that really worked well this year were the woven wire fence ones, which provided good support of the cucumbers and some of the beans, and were really quick and easy to set up. The only drawback is that theyre a pain to clean off at the end of the year, since things wrap around the wires so well. Cleaning these off should be the perfect justification for building a flame thrower, but Katie doesnt seem to be completely on board. |
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| Our wooden bean trellis fell over in the wind, and although we could have maybe kept it upright by adding screws (rather than rely on friction) and pounding the legs down into the ground, the beans didnt climb the legs very well anyway (maybe because they had to keep being reset when it tipped over). In any case, we probably wont do that one again. |
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| Our other bean trellis, the UFO on a stick, did ok. The beans didnt have trouble climbing the wires, but we just werent overly thrilled with it. Katie didnt like it right from the start, so she wont miss this clever and functional (Jakes adjectives), but tacky and less-functional-than-Jake-implies (Katies words), work of art. |
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| The two-tiered tomato lines didnt do well, mainly because our tomatoes were so stout and bushy this year that they never got tall enough to add cross-pieces like we planned. But even if they had, well probably try to fashion some other design next year. |
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| Similarly, the big tomato trellis was too tall for the stubby little romas. But it would have done better with our Mr. Stripey tomato, which tendrilled out of control and encroached on the peppers and eggplants. Well probably use this trellis again, but be more careful to only plant indeterminate varieties on it. Well also position the plants on the outside next time. |
Whats your favorite trellis design?
