Rita's Monthly Gardening Tips, June 2, 2014
The best time to plan for how you will support the growth of your tall or vine-producing vegetables is before you plant them. If your plants are still relatively small it may not be too late, but not ideal. If it is too late, you’ll get to see first-hand why creating structures to support plant growth is a good idea.
Vegetables that benefit from a structure to support their growth include:
Tomatoes
Pole beans
Cucumbers
Small winter squash
Peas
The benefits in creating these structures are:
More vegetables can be planted in less space
Decrease in fruit impacted by rot, pests, and disease
Easier harvest
More attractive garden
Common types of trellising structures:
Welded wire mesh
Strong netting
Multiple stakes in ground and wire/string run horizontally
Fencing secured along the middle of the bed
Poles formed into a teepee
How to decide which to use depends on how the plant grows:
Cucumbers, winter squash, and peas form tendrils that help the plant hold onto trellising material. Pole bean growth will wrap around poles.
Most tomato plants are indeterminate, which means they continue to grow and produce fruit throughout the season. They can grow over 6 feet tall. Some, like Romas, are determinate, which means they grow to be about 4 feet tall and produce all their fruit over a couple of weeks, then die. Both types benefit from structural support. Indeterminate tomato structures need to provide for their taller growth habit. Because tomatoes don’t have tips that curl around poles, the branches will need to be tied or woven through fencing or supported within a cage.
Creating structures:
If using a cage, don’t use mesh with holes smaller than 4 inches because it will be hard to get your hand and large fruit through it. The fencing should be 6 to 9 feet long and 5 to 6 feet high. Roll the wire into a circle and secure the edges. This will make a cage with about a 2 to 3-foot diameter. Plant your tomatoes, then place one cage around each tomato plant. Secure 6-foot-tall stakes around the cage by pounding them into the ground. This will help to prevent the cage from falling over. As the plant grows, push the vines back into the cage or prune off as needed.
The small, cone-shaped wire cages are not good for most plants that need trellising because of their small size. The plants mentioned above can grow to be over 6 feet tall.
Tomatoes can also be trained on a single stake with careful, frequent pruning. This works if you have a small garden and a lot of time. If you have several tomato plants in one area, a good support system Neuman & Neuman can be built by pounding tall stakes into the ground every 3 to 4 feet around the perimeter and running horizontal supporting twine between them at regular intervals, such as every 12 inches.
You could shape your fencing and staking material into a teepee or a tunnel or set up two rows, one on each side with the plants sandwiched in between, depending on how the plant grows. Make them sturdy enough to handle the weight of the plants and the force of the wind. Also, plan to ensure that the vertical structure doesn’t shade out the neighboring plants. Look for images on the Internet, books, or good examples in other people’s gardens for ideas on creating good trellising.
Be creative and have fun.
Happy Gardening!
