Monday, June 21, 2010

Quick and Easy - long lasting Trellis

Cattle Panels are very versatile - sometimes called wire panels.  You can see here that I've transformed this almost 5x16 foot panel into two pea trellises.  I cut off the bottom wire after I cut it in half - so 8 foot sections.  The reason for that is to give me some nice little spikes to stab into the ground, giving the trellis some balance and stability - sort of like the bottom of a tomato cage.  I purchased these at our local farm store and they even price matched with Cal Ranch saving me gas money too since it's clear in the middle of town.  My husband and a nice young man threw it onto our trailer for us.  Then Tyler used a tie down to keep it in place.

Now the spinach on the right side of the peas can get some more sun.  Which reminds me, I need to pick some more spinach. Anyway, we borrowed my husband's grandpa's bolt cutters for this project.  This panel is heavy duty.

I just put them out today so you can see the peas are not quite sure what to do.

To help with that I added natural twine to help hold the peas to the trellis.  I used about 8 pieces for each trellis.  We also get a lot of wind so this should help with that as well.

Because these are galvanized we will not have to worry about rusting.  They should last many many years without too many problems.  Of course with every new thing I add to my garden there is a learning curve.  So if I feel like they are bending over I will cut another wire off the bottom so the spikes can go deeper into the ground.

1 comment:

Mindy Blake said...

Looks great. Your garden is amazing!