Very good, ribbit! I wish I could see it better...the pics won't enlarge. Oh well....Sounds like you've tested it out pretty good, though. I can't wait to see your vegetables grown vertically...You're gonna love it!

EG

I used half inch plumbing pipe. I put rebar in the ground, slipped the pipe over it and latched it to the box with two brackets on each side. I stacked two three foot pipes for the sides, used elbows and then had a guy at the hardware store cut and rethread a ten foot pipe so it would fit the length I needed.

I had fun, especially at the store gathering my materials. I was first in electrical and the man there was so happy to help, but he didn't have elbows so he took me to plumbing. While I was there talking to both of them, they called people from other departments over to hear what I was doing. I had to draw up the trellis and explain the SFG process for one man who I later saw buying boards and trellis material for himself.

It was a good time all around.

That is so cool. I need to figure out how to make my trellis. I believe I will need three of them. Wait make that four.
I was planning to use some of my left over tree branches then netting or some of my twine. I'm worried about strength though. I love the rebar suggestion. That sounds much sturdier and could be pounded quite far down in my muck. If I buy plumbing pipes I don't think I can afford the lumber I need for the bed though. I need to think on this. What would you think of using the metal gardening stakes for light fencing and such?

ribbit - that sounds good! I often have similar conversations with workers at Lowes, especially while looking for something to use for one of my crazy contraptions. You should have see the guys face, when I was buying stuff for the propagation chamber...he probably thought I was a crackhead, or something.Ha!
Anyway, i'm so glad that you have a trellis now! You're gonna love it, and will want to build more! Hee Hee

EG

Naw EG, he just thought you were buying the grow lights for something ilicit. My folks had to make that joke last night when we were talking light systems. /sigh

Flood, have you tried Craigslist and Freecycle for left over lumber? A bowed or used 2x4 or two could make a sturdy trellis. Recycled decking or siding boards could be made into sides of raised beds. Get creative. It may take some more work, but you can do this on the real cheap.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure

The problem there is my husband. He doesn't like building cheap. He wants the best so it can last. I tried to talk him into two by fours for the raised bed and he didn't like it. He does have some two by 8's that he said I could use for my center path though. I think there is at least 12 feet of that in all and I only want 8 for the path. It only leaves me a few feet for other things but I will think of something.
Maybe with enough pics of your gardens he will convert and let me buy normal wood for the bed. It would be cheaper than gardening lumber I think.

Here's a question for you all. How high should a Trellis be? Does it depend on the veg.?

I'll tell you all how to get a really big, sturdy trellis. One that is big enough and tall enough for anything you might want to grow.

First you buy two puppies. Then you spend $200 on a 7'x13' chain link kennel to keep said puppies safe. Then you spoil said puppies so they will NOT use said kennel. Move said kennel to corner of vegetable garden, remove 1 1/2 sides for access to existing gardens and use remainder for trellises.

That's all ya have to do!

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

floodthelast - If you or hubby can reach it, I would go with an 8 ft. tall trellis. Really....My tallest ones are 6 and a half foot, and I ended up making some of the vines run sideways, once they reached the top. Of course, it depends on variety of plant, but my melons, cucumbers, and beans were really confined last year. I'm actually even thinking of constructing some removable trellis extensions, to get the extra height needed at times. The melons themselves, ran about 12 feet....

EG

I second Sinfonian's suggestion. I built my raised beds from used deck lumber. Most are made from redwood I got free from people on Craigslist. I expect it to last for several years, but if a board goes bad, it should be pretty easy to replace. If I had to purchase lumber, I would not have been able to get redwood, or build as many boxes as I did.

I have 3 more small beds waiting to go in as soon as I move 3 little lilac bushes. I have built my garden nearly for free.

I used the rebar so that I could slip the ugly bugger off in the winter when I'm not using it and store it in the basement. It's sturdy enough to support two monkey hanging children, so I suppose a few cucumbers won't be too much of a problem, but it is only five feet high. The pipes came in three foot segments so I connected two and my boards are 12 inches deep so only five feet of trellised space remains.

I put additional boxes on top of my two little boxes today to make them 16 inches and filled them and the two 3x9 boxes. I didn't know I could hurt in so many places. My fingernails hurt...what's up with that!? I have enough peat and verm. to fill the last one but I'll be counting on the HS from my girlfriend at work....I don't know if it will be aged enough by the time I get it, but I don't have much of a choice.

Ribbit, I'm happy to see you calling it HS instead of HM. We calls it the way we sees it (or smells it), don't we? LOL

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

You can dress it up however you like, but it is what it is.

:)

My poor seedlings that I've started are sooo incredibly leggy. I'm most likely going to pull them out and start again. I don't have a light set up and it's still too cool out some of the days to put them outside, but I've got to think of something or I've wasted time and money. Do you think I could put them outside for the day time and just bring them in at night? Would that work to help keep them from being so leggy?

My favorite trellis is made of 16 foot cattle panel. I have two lengthwise. One cut in half vertically and placed upright making it 8 feet high and about that wide. Then I have one that is bent into a rather gothic shaped arch which is plenty tall to walk through. I just drive t-post in to hold them where I want them and they are stiff enough to stand on their on and hold whatever I plant on them.

Well I have just received surprise permission to use whatever lumber I want. I have two 2x6's that should be at least four foot long so there are my ends. I will need to buy the sides. How long does linseed oil make them last? I have a particularly soggy back yard.
{{gwi:358258}}

It's one of the reason I'm doing raised beds.

I will also be making some trellis with sticks because I have a few strong ones that reach five or six feet. I will have to buy something for the others though, thanks for the suggestions.

Wow, flood...that's a lot of water. You might want to have EG show you how he put drainage pipe under his raised bed to get rid of the excess.

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

Thanks granny I might do that. That pic was taken this last summer after a very bad flood. I will say that my new drainage ditch worked beautifully and the water drained away in just a day. The problem is that it happens in the spring too although not usually so badly. That's why I have to go to raised beds. I added ten bags of soil to that corner last spring to raise it up a bit. I usually have to put in plants that can grow underwater for awhile. This year will be better.
PS
I looked at PVC pipe last night and it seemed very wobbly. Is it the rebar that helps it stay put?

It was mentioned above that you will be using your ingenius trellises for cukes - will you need to support them as you would say a larger melon?

Shouldn't need to. I don't think they're heavy enough to need support. That, and if things go as they did last year, I won't get any cukes at all so it won't matter one way or the other! :)

floodthelast, with PVC, I'd not only use rebar but anchor it to the boxes with u shaped brackets.

Ribbit, you mentioned on another thread that you tied two lengths of 5x8 trellis netting together to get it long enough.

Your frame is much sturdier than the one I rigged up last year, especially if your top bar held your kids, so you may not have a sag problem later on like I did. I had to reinforce my top pole about once every 5 feet to combat sag and sway. Again, your frame might not need it, but I'd be very tempted to add one more vertical support in the very middle of the bed.

I didn't have a top bar on mine and despite pole beans, tomatoes, peas and cukes all hanging off it, I didn't see much in the way of sag. At least it didn't bother my plants. Of course I just used 2x4s bolted to my beds with netting attached to the uprights. Simple and cheap, hehe.

Wonderpets, I had thought of that too, which is why I hung the kids on it to test it out. It's only 9 ft in length so I only had to tie on another foot of the second net to make it long enough. Honestly, I had planned to use electrical conduit and put a support every 3 feet, but they didn't have T connectors for that which is why I went with the plumbing pipe for the extra strength and thickness in the hopes it won't sag. 16 feet long (Two 8 foot nets) would have been long enough to absolutely require center supports, but hopefully I can get away with it for only 9 ft. I suppose only time will tell.

Aah, I didn't know just how long your setup was. I had tied an 8 foot length to a 5 foot length, which led to the sag issue. Plus some of my uprights weren't as strong as I'd hoped.

Man, I wish it were March already!

It's a trick Ribbit! The first year you get no cucumbers. So, the second year you plant twice as many. Then you have cucumber salad for breakfast every day, pickles for lunch, and cucumber lasagna for dinner. The custodian at work tells you that you can't leave any more bags of rotting veggies in the kitchen so that others can share your bounty and neighbors run when they see you coming.
GNOMES!!!

At least then I may feel vindicated for spending the money I've spent! And to think, I haven't even filled my largest bed yet.....

These iron tripod plant trellis are great for indoor or outdoors. Great for Tomato and other climbing plants.
You can fit them into a potted plant or stick them into the ground. See link below:

Here is a link that might be useful: Tripod Plant Trellis