While Jesse and John finished hauling alpaca manure from Jesse's mom's farm to a compost bin here at Maya Creek, I was busy working in the garden again today. I've been trying to find a simple trellis design that's cheap and easy to clean up at the end of the season. I found a guy who used fence stakes and fencing wire and then weaved bamboo between the wires, which held the bamboo pieces in place.
We don't have bamboo, right now anyway, and I wanted to avoid getting out fencing wire and stretching taught and then taking it down next year. Instead, I put 3 fence stakes in and used 5 strands of sisal string. Then I wove different kinds of branches I had laying around or cut from places that needed it on the driveway. In between the branches I wove pieces of jerusalem artichoke stalk from last year, it kind of looks like bamboo but isn't as strong.
Since the branches reached well above the top string and the branches wanted to slide along the length of the string I put another string across the top wrapping it around each branch. That really seemed to give it a lot more stability. My plan is to leave the pea vines on when they die, then plant the pole beans, and once they're done I'll cut the strands and roll everything up, string, branches, and vines. Then I'll bury that in the bottom of a garden bed as a type of hugelkultur.
