Cheap gardening ideas?

[Carrie12345]

Anyone have tips for trellises, cages, stakes, poles, etc. on the cheap?

 

I tried some DIY stuff for my beans and cukes last year, but without much success. I already have to buy dirt (well, supplies for Mel's mix), fencing due to crazy deer and animals, and I do mostly heirloom seeds, so it's already a dent in the budget. I need vertical help that doesn't cost a fortune.

 

We do have chicken wire and a little bit of wire fencing lying around, if that helps. Our two current beds are about 2x10'.

[beaners]

Can you save money by buying deer netting for your fencing? It's the cheapest option we've come across for that.

 

What is your reason for choosing heirlooms? Most seeds marketed as heirlooms come with a price hike. If you're planning on saving seeds you can use any open pollinated variety. As long as it doesn't say hybrid, it is open pollinated. If you aren't planning on saving seeds and don't have any sentimental attachment to a certain variety, heirlooms may not be the best choice. Usually tomatoes are used to point out the superiority of heirlooms, but the fact is that I've found every type of seed fills a niche in my own garden. I have hybrids, rare heirlooms, common open pollinated types, and lots of weeds all on top of each other in my garden.

 

A structure for beans is going to depend on the variety. Some of mine will wind their way 20 feet into the air if I plant them too close to the one tree near my garden. Some of them will stay nicely contained on the cheap bamboo poles from the garden store. I'd probably use the chicken wire for the cucumbers before the beans. Beans wind around in a circle (youtube videos of it are awesome!) and get messy in a hurry if they can go sideways and up. I have had some success with sticking a t-post in the ground and running twine down to make teepees. I'd ask on freecycle for a few posts if you don't have any laying around.

[CalicoKat]

Anyone have tips for trellises, cages, stakes, poles, etc. on the cheap?

 

I tried some DIY stuff for my beans and cukes last year, but without much success. I already have to buy dirt (well, supplies for Mel's mix), fencing due to crazy deer and animals, and I do mostly heirloom seeds, so it's already a dent in the budget. I need vertical help that doesn't cost a fortune.

 

We do have chicken wire and a little bit of wire fencing lying around, if that helps. Our two current beds are about 2x10'.

 

Trellises, stakes & poles -- go into the woods and pick up sticks. Old ladders are good too. :D

http://thecraftygarden.wordpress.com/2008/11/04/to-do-board-and-stick-trellis/

That's what I do.

 

Wattle fencing might be fun to try.

 

I've used field stones for marking out my "raised beds."

 

Human pee is a good deer deterent. If you have boys let them "mark their territory" down by the garden. :D

Edited February 5, 2012 by CalicoKat

[Amy in NH]

Plant your pole beans in your corn rows; they will grow up the corn stalks and also provide nitrogen for the corn plants.

 

We cut down some saplings on our property which we tied together on top to make pea-teepees. We wrap the teepee with string ~8-10" apart. Cucumbers can be trained on them too.

Edited February 5, 2012 by Amy in NH

[Blueridge]

You might look for long wooden stakes (tomato stakes) that are sold in bundles. They make nifty bean trellises when 4-5 are tied together at the top like a teepee. Cheap tulle fabric makes a nice netting to drape over plants susceptible to deer and bird visitors. Larger rocks found on nature walks or inexpensive landscape timbers make pretty bed borders. Enjoy your garden!

[chepyl]

My husband does seed swapping. You can do if with purchased or saved seeds. He has doubled or tripled the variety we will have by sending people five seeds of each of 5 or so varieties and getting back different thinga from them.

 

Check Craigslist for free and cheap garden supplies.

[LostSurprise]

Cattle panels make good vertical climbers. They can be bent to make arches.

 

There's a book at the library (at least our library) about making garden items. You can make a lot of rustic arbors with branches and stuff, but it takes longer so I usually go with iron stakes (easy to set in the ground) and chicken wire.

[itsheresomewhere]

I use these green poles for temp fencing from home depot. They are steel and can be reused year after year. It cost about 20ish for the poles. The poles have little steel hooks on them for hooking fencing on them. I use cheap garden netting on them. I use this set up for beans, cukes, and some squash. I also plant plants in front to keep deer and pest away. So if they do get into the fence, they won't like the plants they reach.

[Carrie12345]

I knew I'd get some great ideas here! :)

 

We *have* to fence. Our deer population is out of control to the point that they'll do anything to eat anything. They ripped down the chicken wire on one side of our property, and have bent in our wire fencing to reach plants. They don't care about the urine of any species we've tried ;). They're ruthless.

[GoVanGogh]

I already have to buy dirt (well, supplies for Mel's mix)

I would cut expenses here. Not on the actual soil prep, but on Mel's mix. I think his square foot gardening mix contains a lot of expensive fillers - like peat moss and vermiculite. I would call around to garden centers and see if you can get some quality soil, in bulk if possible. Or call your county extension office and ask if they can recommend a local supplier of quality compost/soil.

 

I often use bamboo poles with chicken coop fencing stretched and tied to the poles for trellising. Here, you can buy large bamboo poles very inexpensively.

 

I know you said you doing mainly heirloom seeds. Love them. But I also like to use some of the "bush" varieties for beans and cukes. I get a lot of produce on not much space.

[laughing lioness]

Have you checked out pinterest? I have a "growing things" and a "Homesteading" board. Gleaning tons of ideas for our garden from there- actually got my dh looking at Pinterest with me -:001_smile:. He is loving the pvc greenhouse ideas. We have long winters and hard wind along with critters!

 

We've used old ladders, and metal fences (the old wrought iron ones) we got off of freecycle. I'm off freecycle now- too much spam.

 

I check craigslist about 1 time a week for materials and freebies along with the newstations web-site- they have a for sale board.

 

Also wondering about the Heirloom seeds. On a field trip for Lego League last spring we talked to an organic farmer and he said heirlooms produce less. We had some last year as an experiment and no-one could taste a significant diff between hierlooms and our other crops.

[alpidarkomama]

Our county has free compost available. We hired a dump truck driver to bring us two HUGE loads for $90. Do you have something like this? We'll do some amending, but it's far less than buying it all.