Deirdre's Garden Diary: Tee Pee Trellis

:: Tee Pee Trellis ::

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:: 04.09.08 ::

UPDATE:

This is the most popular page of my Garden Diary...there are a lot of you searching for help on building a trellis! So I thought it was time I made an update for future visitors.

The trellis I built three years ago, is still standing today. The bamboo poles have shifted out of line a bit, they aren't perfectly straight anymore and some of them have small splits or cracks at the bottom, but nothing that would cause me to want or need to replace them.

I did have to replace the cotton string that went around it since the vines that have grown on the trellis have torn and stretched the original string, but that's a small repair and other than that it's holding up just fine.

The trellis has lasted through some very windy wet weather so I think after this amount of time we can officially call this project a success. In fact I am still as much in love with my trellis today as I was when it first went up. It gives the garden a lot of charm especially on a snowy day.

I hope you find what you are looking for here on this page. Good luck making your own trellis...I have a comments thread at the top of my homepage, let me know how your trellis hunting - experiences - making are going. Happy gardening everyone!
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:: 05.05.05 ::

I wanted to plant some beans and cucumbers but I needed something tall that the vines could trail on, so I decided to build a trellis from scrap bamboo sticks.

I saw a picture of a trellis on an old Wills Cigarette Card from 1923 and it reminded me of similar types of trellis supports I had seen in the past. I thought it looked cool and I didn't have any extra money to buy anything fancy, so I decided to try to make it from what I had around the house. I didn't have to spend any money at all...so it was the perfect option!

Front and Back of Card, c. 1923

I tried to find more specific instructions on how to build something like this...but I couldn't really find anything. However, I did find this site with some interesting images of how other gardeners have staked their plants.

So without any specific instructions, just a little three inch card with an image, I set out to build this trellis just by looking at the illustration and from the basic info that was on the back of the card. It wasn't really that hard. The only bad part was my tendency towards procrastination in making decisions each step of the way. I was afraid I was going to do something wrong, but then I just said to heck with it and started putting it together. This was completely experimental and time will tell how sturdy this thing turns out to be (crossing fingers it doesn't collapse). I will keep this site updated as the trellis goes through the growing cycle. We will see how long it stands, a few months or a few years.

So here is how I put mine together...see what you think, learn from my mistakes, then use your own creativity to build one that is right for you without spending any money!

Step One: MATERIALS

I didn't have many long tree limbs to use, as seen above in the card illustration, but my mom has a lot of bamboo growing behind her property so I decided to try and use that instead...which I think is probably better since bamboo will probably last longer and be more sturdy than tree limbs would have been. My mom has been cutting back the bamboo and collecting some of the larger sticks for a while. I asked if I could have some of them and she gave me a large bunch of dried ones that were completely weathered and ready to be used. I'm sure you could also use ones that have been fresh cut and are green. I was just lazy and took the ones she had already cut. Getting them in the car to take back to my house was not easy since most of the sticks were over eight feet long.

Once home, I inspected the sticks and began to notice that some of the bamboo was better than others, so I sorted through them selecting the best ones without any splits or cracks. Next I paired them up by length, tossing aside the ones that were too short or too long. I stored all the extras sticks to use later on something else.

Step Two: PICK A GOOD SPOT
Now I had to finally decide where I was going to put the trellis. Looking over the South side of the house where I get most of my sun, I settled on a spot and cleared the grass, weeds, dead leaves and running vines from the area so that it was mostly bare dirt. Next I laid the bamboo out in the space to get a feel for how tall they were and how long I wanted to make my trellis.

Step Three: MARK YOUR TERRITORY

Next I laid down two of the poles/sticks parallel to each other to mark the width and length of the area where I would build the trellis. I didn't do any fancy measuring. I never have the patience for that! I just eyed it until it looked about right, trying to get it as straight as possible and an even width all the way down the length of the space.

I took a hoe and worked the dirt loose in the middle of this spot. I had to pull out a lot of ground roots and runners under the dirt. I even had to dig up an old tree stump! Leave it to me to pick the one spot where there is a hidden tree stump that has to be dug up and cut out of the ground!

Once all the debris was removed from under the dirt about five or six inches deep, I began building two side mounds by dividing the dirt in the middle and pulling it from the center to make a little hill on each side. This formed a trench in the middle.

Next, I laid all the sticks that I wanted to use in pairs out along the length of the trench. I spaced them out on the ground to see how far apart they might need to be and to determine how many pairs I would need total to make the trellis the length I wanted. This helped me get a feel for the spacing. This was a little tricky since I didn't want to bother with exact measurements. I just spaced them by looking...about a foot apart, and ended up using nine pairs total. You could do more or less.

Step Four: GET IT UP!
Once everything was arranged on the ground it was time to tie the poles together. I had one extra large bamboo cane that would go across the top and keep the trellis level and give weight to the sticks to keep them from moving around. The hard part of making this came as I was trying to get the large bamboo pole that went across the top to sit level on the sticks. This is a lot easier to do with two people, so find a helper if you can...don't be stubborn like me and do it anyway because you can't wait for someone to show up to help.
LOL ...That's why I don't have pictures of this part, my hands were full in holding all the sticks!

I started pairing the side sticks together by putting up the third set of poles in from each end pair. So that means, with a total of nine rows I started by first putting sets #3 and #7 into the gound. This allowed me to get the top bamboo bar level across both sets before adding the other sticks.

To put the sticks in the ground I just pushed them in at an angle towards each other. I pushed them as far down into the ground as I could get it. I didn't worry whether or not the tops were exactly equal in length. I just let them taper off naturally without cutting them to make them all exactly the same. I didn't dig any extra holes either. The ground was already soft wehre I had worked it so they went in pretty easy.

Once I got the first two set of poles firmly in the ground I tied them together with cotton string so they wouldn't move around. Later I went back over them with the thick root vine runners that I had pulled up from under the ground. This gave it a natural look and really made it sturdy. I just kind of wove them around in a playful manner crisscrossing them and tying knots here and there. I had to stand on a ladder to reach the top where the sticks were tied, but I'm really short!

Once I had sets #3 and #7 secure in the ground and tied together to the pole that went across the top, I repeated the process by adding sets #4 and #6 moving inward. I then put up sets #2 and #8 toward the outside. I put the middle set #5 up next and finished with the outer sets #1 and #9. When you first start tying the poles together around the top stick that crosses them, the structure feels a little wobbly, I was worried at this point that it was moving around too much, but as you add more sets of sticks, and tie everything together, it becomes more stable and is less likely to sway back and forth.

I had to step back away from it a lot and make sure that the sets were the same distance apart or that they were stuck in the ground at the same angle. There were a couple of times I had to re-adjust them after having tied them up…frustrating, but not a major disaster, and probably a lot easier with a helper. Again, mine aren't spaced perfect, but they were close enough for me!

The next thing I did was weave cotton string around the sticks/poles so that the plant vines would have some extra support in the middle spaces between the poles when they started to grow (see image above). This also helped bind the poles together even tighter so that they didn't shift. I just tied them in a kind of basket weave going in and out from one pole to the next wrapping the string around each one as I went down the row pulling it tight and working my way from the top to the bottom.

Step Five: MULCH AND PLANT

The next day I went back over the dirt and defined the center trench again, pulling the dirt back into two nice mounds that went around the poles. I packed the dirt down hard to help further secure the poles in the ground. I also added compost and fertilizer to the mounds of dirt on each side of the trellis.

I took some old boards and placed them along the sides to mark a boundary between the growing area where I would put the plants and the walkway around the trellis (see below); The dirt is raised slightly higher but not flush with the top of the board. This lets me run water for the plants along the outside edge and also in the center where the main trench will collect water.

To finish I took the water hose and soaked the dirt really good. Once the ground was wet, I layered double sheets of newspaper in the center of the trellis. I overlapped the seams of the paper bringing them up just past the bamboo sticks. I probably put down about five layers total. Once all the paper was down I filled the center trench with straw. This acts as mulch and will keep weeds from growing in the center area. It also holds in moisture to keep the dirt from drying out. Later it can be dug out and added to the compost or fresh mulch can be added on top.

Finally came the time to set out the cucumbers and peas! When the plants begin to grow I will also mulch around the bottom of the plants to keep them moist.

I am very happy with my new trellis especisally since it didn't cost me anything to build!

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