Rock-n-Zen Garden: Building Garden Trellises Part 2

2014 marks my first serious attempt at vegetable gardening. Living in Nova Scotia, Canada, a growing zone rated for 6b hardiness, we are well-suited for this endeavor. Living on the edge of an ocean and wilderness brings some extra challenges we had to consider with building our vegetable garden.

I figured by placing the 4' x 4' x 6" garden plots in our sunken yard out back of our house, it would be the most advantageous spot to grow a vegetable garden, with ambient warmth from the rock wall and home, also creating some kind of shelter from the ocean winds.

The deer will not bother with this garden spot because it means they would be walking into a pit, a potential trap...lest we hope! The deer have lots of clover and wild grasses growing all around to eat, and with the help of Ziggy, our 14-pound Silky terrier, who takes his job as security very seriously, keeps the critters cautious and running for the woods! Only the crow gang knows he is all bark and no bite!

Ziggy is our home security alert and wildlife patrol!

APRIL-June 2014

Wide window ledges and an old pop-up card table with passive solar were my in-house greenhouse. Ziggy is sleeping in his favorite spot, dreaming of catching the groundhog, who just moved into our rock garden walls in May.

I started a few seeds in April, but only the tomato seeds seemed to flourish the best in our windows.  I discovered that most seeds require a constant temperature of 70 degrees to sprout. Our windows can receive a lot of warmth and light, but we also experience excessive fog, rain, and cold days in between.

The heritage indeterminate tomato seeds, which were started in mid-April, grew like weeds. I ended up with 54 three-foot plants, as shown in the photo above. They seemed to thrive just fine in our windows! I was only able to transplant about 35 tomato plants, so I gave the rest to friends.

I found out that heritage indeterminate tomatoes are climbers, which require trellising, and we would need to design and build sturdy trellises. The bonus of heritage indeterminate tomatoes over determinate tomatoes is their nutritional value, which scores much higher than that of determinate bush tomatoes. They will produce abundantly throughout the growing season and continue to make until the frost kills them off. Determinate tomatoes are short and bushy, and can be grown in pots, but they produce their abundance all at once.

The heritage indeterminate tomato types I selected are: Bloody Butcher, San Marzano (Italy's top-flavored tomato), Candy Stripe cherry tomatoes, & Alaska.

I watched a YouTube video of Dave's Garden's method for making newspaper pots for seedlings. The paper pots worked great and will be used every year for my seedlings.

Pie plates and various other kitchen pans were the perfect size for my window ledges, and I filled them with the paper pots, watering the seedlings from the bottom, without disturbing the delicate seeds. The paper pots kept the plants moist, and when it came to planting, I peeled off some of the paper and lightly squeezed the root ball before placing it in the ground. You can leave some of the paper on for delicate plants, but ensure that there is no paper sticking out of the dirt, as it can wick away moisture and appear unappealing.

All my vegetable garden planning was based on a book called "Square Foot Gardening," which is easy to read and understand. For a beginner like me, it helped me get a grip on how to get started, and the least amount of effort was required to maintain this kind of gardening once it was set up. The above video demonstrates Mel Bartholomew's methods of square-foot gardening.

6 tomato trellis and 3 pea/pod trellis cost us

$60.00 including: 

Three bags of 7-inch nylon garden net, a roll of heavy jute, 27 feet of rebar, 12-10-foot lengths of electrical conduit pipe, 6 ferrule tube connectors, 12 1/2-inch U-brackets, and some cash to our electrician for bringing over his tube bender for the trellises' corners. 

Tomato Trellis and Bean/Pea Trellis
The first plants to go into the garden in June were jalapeno peppers, parsley, pumpkin, and tomatoes. I found some wood strapping to use as stakes in the recycling garbage for FREE at our building supply. Tomatoes and jalapeno peppers had to be staked right away, as our ocean winds will flatten everything in one PUFF. Still, we had to get the tomato trellises made FAST as a cyclone would soon hit Nova Scotia.

Supplies needed to make trellises: 
Tomato Trellis 5 feet high, 4 feet wide: 

Electrical conduit pipe (1/2-inch interior diameter), one ferrule tube connector for each trellis, 3/8-inch rebar cut to 2 feet for each post, and a hammer or mallet to drive the rebar hard into the ground. U Clips that can be used to wrap around the conduit pipe, 7-inch white nylon netting for a tomato trellis (one bag covers two - 4x5 feet trellises), and tying the trellis netting to the conduit pipe with fishing line, string, etc.  

Peas/Bean Trellis 3 feet high, 
sloped to a growing box:

2 feet of rebar posts, mallet or hammer, leftover conduit pipe from the tomato trellises measuring 3 feet, Drill to make 3 holes at the top end of the conduit pipe, a roll of heavy jute string, some coated wire to loop through the drilled holes, screwdriver, and 13 screws (approximately). I had some little planter pots and stuck them on top of the conduit pipe for decor.

Two tomato trellises, each measuring 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide, are set into the corner of the garden box, maximizing space and sunlight.

The corners of the tomato trellis are ZAP-strapped together for extra wind bracing. The best tomato trellis is a 7" white nylon netting that is easy to install. I found this netting type at Lee Valley Tools. Allows for airflow, doesn't block views, and you can reach your hands on both sides.

Example of a ferrule tube connector that joins both halves of the electrical conduit pipe in the center to form a 5-foot-tall x 4-foot-wide tomato trellis. The outside corners of the trellis were created with a pipe bender (borrow or rent one if possible, or use other types of joiners, which would require cutting the pipe into three parts instead of two). The book I referenced for making the tomato trellis is the Square Foot Gardening book, which also provides similar instructions. 

3/8 "Rebar is cut about 2 feet long, then pounded into the ground one foot deep. The electrical conduit pipe slides easily over the top and adds more sturdiness to the trellis. U Clips were screwed into the box corners to aid trellis support. 

Tomato Trellises: We cut 3/8-inch rebar to 2 feet in length, then pound it 1 foot deep with a mallet into each of the corners where the electrical conduit pipe will slide over the remaining 1 foot of rebar. This is to secure and steady the electrical conduit pipe trellis. We couldn't get every corner perfectly straight, but that's what we call organic! We then screwed on u-clips to hold the conduit pipe even firmer against the wood garden plot.

Tomato netting: I found the 7-inch, large, soft nylon trellis netting recommended in the Square Foot Gardening book at Lee Valley Tools. It works great, allowing you to reach all sides of your trellis through the large 7-inch netting. I tied the netting with a fishing line, or you could use any kind of string you have on hand.

Pea/Bean Trellis: After cutting the tomato trellis lengths from the electrical conduit pipe, there were 3 feet left over, so I thought to use them in some kind of sloping trellis that moves away from the garden box, which will expose the garden to more sunlight and create shade for Ziggy.

Drilled three holes for covered wire loops at the top of the conduit pipe.

We pounded in the 2-foot rebar into the spaces by the rocks and then slipped the 3-foot conduit pipe over top. It's not child-proof or large, goofy dog-proof, but it's fine for us. Use a drill to create three sets of holes in the pipes at the top end. I took some plastic-covered wire and threaded it through the holes, making loops to thread the heavy jute through.

Screws are screwed into the inside of the garden box.
Leave some of the head of the screw sticking out so it can loop the jute string.

Screw 13 screws, leaving some of the head sticking out, and screw them evenly along the inside of the garden box. Take the heavy jute and tie one end with a couple of knots to secure it around the first screw in the row. Start to string up the jute (will have to cut yardage of it so it can get through the wire loops),  thread the jute through one of the wire loops then bring the jute string back down to the garden box, catching the sequence of screws which are partially screwed into the wood on the INSIDE edge of the garden box. Run the jute each time into a different wire loop to help keep some separation of each jute string.  I run out of jute, tie another length together, and keep going till all the screws have been looped with jute, and then knot off. Watch your gauge of tightness when stringing up each strand; it takes some finesse, but it's worth the time.

I had a little clay pot and put it on top of the conduit pipe for decoration.

To finish, I cut off a separate piece of jute and created a wrap or gathering knot around the wire and loops of jute to achieve a tighter, finished look. I had some clay pots and put them on top for decoration.

Everything will grow up to the sun, so I have to tease the stems daily to wrap along the slanted trellis... It's working out fine!

The Bean/Pea trellis will create shady spots for Ziggy to nap under, while this sloped trellis will provide more light to the rest of my garden.

PLARN  (plastic yarn) is made from plastic shopping bags, and it was my original intention to knit and crochet something valuable for the house. I confessed to hating the feel of plastic in my hands to knit and would rather handle wool. It turns out that my PLARN rolls are super handy for wrapping and tying stuff outside in the garden. I found PLARN works great and is soft on the plants' thin skin.

There are various ways to make PLARN and unlimited uses for plastic yarn. I liked this video featuring Fayme Harper and used her method for making PLARN.

The tomato plant was bent over in the wind, so to save it, I used PLARN to wrap snugly around the bent area and then secured it to a stake, acting also as a splint. Sometimes the tomato would repair itself completely, and a few had to keep the wrap on permanently.

Use PLARN to wrap wind-bent stems, like a tension bandage; it works great. My plants continue to grow even though they were bent. Most people would discard the plant, but I find that a bit of attention, such as tightly wrapping the injured stem with a PLARN wrap, helps the plant thrive. I also used a splint or stake to prevent it from bending again.

Wind and sometimes pounding rain take a toll on plants, so I am happy to discover this trick works great for other plants too. I used it on a pumpkin plant and a bushy daisy plant, where one main branch nearly broke off in a downpour of rain.

Growing a garden does make one even more sensitive to Mother Nature and her whims. I had no idea how to grow from seed, and I can say it's both very exciting and disappointing at the same time... timing is everything, and the weather is king. Next year, I will have my own indoor growing light set up, allowing me to start the seedlings sooner than April.

In my next entry, 'Trash makes Treasures for Rock-n-Zen Gardens', I will share and show some of the free things I use to create a decorative and interesting garden... until then, swat some flies, catch some sun, and drink lots of water! Minaz