Trellis time

The last few days have been quite hectic here. Although it's the school holidays now, our daughter's having a few sleep-overs at her Nan's house. So Dave and I have either been kicking back and relaxing, or most likely, pottering around the garden doing odd jobs. Like the make-over of an old garden bed.

Remember this photo from last summer? Back then, I planted some sunflower seeds along these raised beds, to help shelter the Western facing wall (funny you should mention them yesterday, Jacqui) but while the sunflowers helped a little with shading, they weren't planted thick enough.

So this year I decided to try something new. I've been growing some greens over winter in this bed, and a few things have already gone to seed. But I thought I'd try to grow some vines for better shade this summer - time to build a climbing support.

This trellis was very simple to make. I just used 4 x 6ft star pickets. Once hammered into place, I collected some relatively straight sapling trees which had been aged for a few months. If they aren't aged, they tend to be too flexible to hold their form. The span is about 2 metres between pickets, so the sapling wood is there to brace the support together.

I just used plain old wire to attach the wood to the pickets - then ran some old chicken wire across it too. I needed an extra pair of hands to help with the chicken wire, but everything else can be done by one person.

The garden arch between the two trellises, was a gift from my mum who didn't have a use for it any more. Plus the hanging gourds were free, as I grew them in my garden last summer. When the wind blows they twist and twirl.

All up it really only cost me around $30, and that was for the star pickets. The chicken wire had been following us around for years. It was exactly 4 metres in length, which is exactly what we needed.

I've planted some luffa seeds in the greenhouse, which haven't popped up yet. If they do, they should make quite good coverage for these 2 trellises - fingers crossed the seeds will germinate!