The spring garden is a demanding companion, like a headstrong puppy on a long leash. Lengthening days and warming weather bring on a tsunami of growth that threatens to swallow us whole. Before I get too tangled in the myriad details of the peak growing season and a rapidly expanding garden, I try to remember to insert some gentle controls. Garden structures furnish the landscape with arresting focal points as they corral growth and provide additional vertical growing space. Addressing emerging pests and disease early in the season puts you out in front of the battle. With any luck, you'll strike a healthy balance and reduce problems for the rest of the growing season.
Garden support structures can be crafted from a diverse array of materials, offering options that vary in complexity and formality.
Vertical gardening is essential for maximizing your growing space. By training vines on structures like teepees, trellises, and arbors, you can free up ground space for planting in dynamic and productive layers. These structures also help control, stake, and support fruiting plants that might otherwise collapse under their own weight or sprawl messily, such as cane berries, peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, and fava beans. Additionally, staking promotes good air circulation and allows sunlight to reach ripening fruit, which is particularly beneficial in damp and cloudy climates where crops like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants mature slowly and are prone to fungal diseases on wet foliage.
Vertical gardening features offer more than just practical support; they enhance garden design by adding visual interest and breaking up the ground plane where most planting occurs. Arbors and pergolas create focal points, while trellises, fencing, and walls define the space. An open-work fence around the garden not only provides additional vertical growing space but also keeps out low-treading animals like rabbits, cats, and dogs, although some critters will still enjoy any fruiting vines they can reach.
You can create various garden supports from everyday materials such as bamboo poles, canes, and wire fencing. A simple three-legged tripod is easy to construct (just lash poles together with twine or a few zip ties) and can be easily taken down and stored for the winter. Add a touch of elegance by using stylish materials for your garden structures.
Tips for Training Plants
Match the plant's growth habit to the appropriate garden structure. Pole beans, for instance, climb by twining around narrow supports; slim poles, open-wire fencing, and twine offer ideal support for their winding stems. Other vines, like peas, use their delicate tendrils to encircle anything they can, lifting the plants as if climbing a ladder. For these plants, provide ample support with a wire grid, netting, or traditional "pea-sticks" made from twiggy branches. Melons, cucumbers, pumpkins, and squash, which have tendrils but require tying to a sturdy framework, need strong support for their heavy vines and ripening fruit.
Position garden structures well before plants need them. Once the season is in full swing and growth accelerates, it's nearly impossible to place trellises and cages without damaging roots and fragile stems. Ensure your trellis is securely anchored to withstand windstorms and heavy rain, as well as the weight of mature plants. Nothing is more disappointing than seeing your pea fence topple just as you're ready to harvest, or watching your tomato plants, heavy with ripe fruit, fall from a flimsy wire cage.
Consider the height of the gardener when constructing garden structures. Trained and trellised plants should be easier on your back during harvest, offering ripe crops at a convenient picking height. However, be mindful of the mature size of the plants. For example, a bumper crop of pole beans on tall bamboo teepees may require a step ladder to harvest. Check seed packets and resources to anticipate the plants' mature size, or enlist the help of a tall assistant for harvesting.
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