How Do You Support Vegetable Plants?

Oh dear.

Just scoped out the scrap wood pile in the barn. I now have my eye on some of the 2x6s in there. Rip them (that sounds soo nice) lengthwise and I should have the basics for a mater-aider.

Well, I had an idea overnight, but now I see grownut's going to use something square/rectangular.
Now, if you were planning to use PVC or bamboo, I was thinking that you could sink a piece of pipe or PVC at each end of the garden, just a bit bigger in diameter than the PVC or bamboo you would be using for your uprights, and then set the uprights into that. In the Fall, when harvest is done, you just lift your uprights out and store them. Cap the pipe left in the ground to keep out leaves and such, and next Spring it's all ready to use again!

That would be feasible for many different staking applications. Particularily in a no till garden area. Good thought!

Has anyone here staked tomatoes by the Florida weave system?

The problem with anything sort of permanent like that, Potagere, is that it limits your rotation of crops. Neat idea, though!

Leslie

Potagere that is what I'll do. It won't limit my crop rotation in the least because I'm solely using BocaBob's 5 gallon grow bags for my maters, 50 of them. By cracky (I am not in real good health) I won't ever grow in the ground again. It would also work for Earth Box users!

This would be very feasible for me, thanks for continuing to think of it and tweaking it! Podster did you see my thread on the no-till, no weeding cow pea garden? It is here somewheres, very interesting.

Actually, after thinking it over a little more Greenhouse_Gal, it could easily be used in a different area each year for crop rotation, unless you cement the larger pvc's into the ground? Dig this....if you don't want to hammer too deep and risk weakening or splitting the pipe, use post hole diggers and make your end holes. Sink larger pvc deep and fill holes till the pipe is stable. Slide in your smaller pipe "Y", made by 3 thinner pieces of pvc and a "Y" joint. You now have 2 standing "y"'s, on on each end. Lay pipe across and your done. Next year, pull up your main posts, store them all (easy to do and won't take up much space. Next year pull out the post hole diggers again.

It would be sturdy and permanent for the summer, moveable next year. Of course, with respect to Jim and all that have helped me, my concept is from a carpentry dumb woman just trying to figure this out, LOL!


This message was edited Feb 19, 2009 6:12 AM

Was that the thread where the Louisiana gal planted her peas in the lawn? If so, I found that fascinating.

Good staking ideas everyone... I'm afraid I just love the looks and natural use of bamboos tho and will try to utilize those for this growing season.

Yes podster, it was a Louisianna guy....I was fascinated too! Couldn't believe there was a gardener out ther lazier than me when it comes to tilling, digging, and weeding, LOL!

I certainly understand your love of the natural bamboo....It is definitely more pleasing to the eye than PVC....I just wanted to try and figure out an easy alternative that would keep me from having to harvest bamboo myself from the local bamboo forest. (Hubby and I don't have a pickup and it would all have to be jammed into my car to carry home, strip and cut.) I did this last summer for tree stakes, so I know that for me, it was alot of work just getting the stuff here. (hubby works 15 hours a day, night shift, and sleeps during the day so he can't help me)

I also was wondering how well the ties or plant tendrils will cling to the pvc?

podster, the idea behind the "clothesline" is that at intervals along the top, you tie very long pieces of twine to the pvc. Then as you plants grow you clip them or tie them to the twine, keeping the twine taut. The ties themselves should cling well enough to the pvc, wrapped and tied in a knot.

I don't think the "permanent post holes" would limit rotation at all. In fact, since I do all my gardening in raised beds and rotate everything, there are certainly years where beans follow tomatoes or cucumbers or some variation on that. The "permanent post holes" would be handy to support the support systems for any one of those. In years that the plot had corn or onions or some such, you just would not use it.
I'm really lazy, and I was thinking that, if you did this once, you would not have to "reconstruct" or dig new holes every year.
But then, it's one of those ideas that came to me overnight, and may not be practical in all cases.

Good points, Potagere! I'm lazy, too, which is why I like to spend all this time thinking of easier ways to do things instead of getting my garden ready!!!

Leslie

Well, even though my map says I'm in Zone 7b, we're up on the slopes of the Jura here, with kind of a montagne micro-climate (I notice that our garden flowers, shrubs, etc are always a week or 2 slower than the neighbours just down the hill in the village), so I'm not really at the point of "getting the gardem ready" except on paper, anyway! Went out today to cut off some of the unsightly lavendar stalks that did not get harvested last Fall, and I could only take about 10 minutes of the raw, damp cold Northern wind before retreating to the kitchen for another cup of tea! I figure : well, 10 minutes a day is better than none, and it's a start, right?

10 minutes a day at this time of year can really get you a head start good job