I got the garden all cleaned up in April of 2018 with great intensions for keeping it neat, but ... |
One way to bring order to the garden is to add visual structural elements. These add focal
points or visual anchors that rise above the clutter. In
past years I've used fallen limbs to create tripods to support beans,
cucumbers and tomatoes. Since these were not well anchored, they end up
falling over as the season wears on. This year I decided to build some
semi-permanent tripods that could be left standing for a couple of seasons and
could be easily repaired if and when the time comes.
Schematic for my garden trellis. Parts include 2x2 wooden legs, 3" diameter PVC pipe, 6" wood square, some 2.5" deck screws and a bag of coarse sand. |
I liked the idea of using tripods. They are easy to build
and structurally sound. Here is a schematic plan that I came up with for
my tripod trellises. I wanted to build it out of 2 by 2 cedar, but it was
not readily available in long lengths. Being somewhat impatient I got 2
by 8 pressure treated boards that I ripped into 3 1.75" wide pieces about
7.5' long. Before ripping into thirds, I cut off a 6" piece
(actually 6" x 7.5") to make the top support. I trimmed
this rectangular piece into a hexagon on the band saw and angled 3 of the faces
at 12° to match the angle of the tripod (see the diagram).
Completed intallation of tripod legs. Having the PVC sleeve above the soil level helps keep the sand clean. |
Rather than driving the trellis directly into the ground, where
constant contact with wet soil would accelerate rotting of the wood, I put in a
length of 3" PVC drain pipe that I would later fill with sand to make well
draining fill that would also hold the trellis firmly in place. (Note that the thinner schedule 40 PVC drain
pipe can be used rather than schedule 80, since you are just forming a soil
barrier.) To further improve the weatherability
I also painted the lower 2 feet of the wood with a water seal coating.
My biggest mistake last year was getting started too late in the
season, after the garden had started growing. To put in the PVC liners in the
established garden I used a trenching shovel (about 3" wide) to dig a
fairly narrow hole in at a roughly 12° angle and 16-18" deep. I then used the PVC tube itself to remove the
last bits of the soil and get a firm fit.
The other two liners were put in 31" away from the first to form an
equilateral triangle (see the diagram).
The top support is attached to the legs with 2.5" deck screws. These are easily removed if I needed to replace one of the legs. |
The completed trellis, with a spiral of twine, is ready to support these cucumbers. |
Even with this late start I was able to train the tomatoes and
cucumbers onto the trellises that I had built around them.
I tied some rubber balls to the blunt top ot the tripod using fishing line. The lightweight balls won't damage the plants if they fall off. |
Now I am again getting ready for a clean start in the garden.