DIY Bean Trellis and June Garden Update
While I was in Oklahoma, Douglas decided to surprise me with a more permanent solution to the twine trellis I concocted last year. Here is a picture of the garden at its height last year.
He started by assembling his tools and materials. He used two 8 foot tall 2x4s (not pictured), eight 2.5 inch lag screws and washers and twine.
There are not many pictures of the process, since he was working on it alone. He drilled the holes and then screwed the 2x4s directly to the sides of the bed. He strung the line through a hole drilled at the top of the 2x4s. The most time consuming part of the project was to place all of the strings and separate the plants that had begun to grow in tangled knots. It is looking good and should be stronger than the structure I concocted last spring. The vines have already began to creep up the lines.
It is important to move the produce around from year to year, so that you are not planting the same fruit or vegetable in the same space year after year. That is why I had not done something like this before. However, Douglas assures me that he will be able to move it as I need.
The garden is looking good these days. Here is a series of the progress it has made. You can find the plan for the garden in this post.
The individual plants are looking good. I have visions of squash, tomatoes, eggplant and lavender dancing in my head.
The only one that is struggling is the basil plant. At least, the purple basil is looking good.
Some plants have seeded themselves. There are tomato plants everywhere. I gave three of them to my neighbor yesterday. He has shared plants with me as well. This little basil plant is also a volunteer from last year. Sunflowers have popped up in the most unlikely places, most likely seeded by the same squirrels that plundered my sunflowers last summer.
Our pots are also doing well. The herbs are thriving, and the strawberries are beginning to ripen.
We have had mixed success with our fruit trees and bushes this year. There are a lot of quince and raspberries.
On the other hand, our blueberries, cherries and goji berries are practically non-existent. We believe that our late spring frost did them in. Hopefully, they will return next year.
As with the other fruit, our grapes vines have not been equally successful. The purple grapevine is thriving, while the white grapevine struggles along. I will keep my fingers crossed that it will bounce back.
The plants in the front garden bed are thriving. Besides the small raspberry bush, I have the rosemary and lavender bushes in there.
This morning we ate the last of the rhubarb cooked in some scones. They were delicious. That one small plant provided us with enough rhubarb to make three batches of scones this year.
Things are progressing nicely. It is hard to believe that it was just over a month ago that we planted everything on Mother’s Day. I look forward to the other goodies that await us this summer.
I am linking up with Fishtail Cottage and Tootsie Time. Go there to see lots of beautiful gardens.
Happy Homemaking!
I am a teacher, traveler, artist, writer, homemaker and a whole lot more. In January 2009, I bought the Cape of Dreams. It was the second house that I had ever owned, but it was the first that I bought by myself. I now live in the house with my husband Douglas, our dog Kahlua, and Crème de Menthe, the cat. Because, what life is complete without a little Kahlua and Cream? I love arts and crafts of all kinds, and I refinish furniture as well. We are slowly redoing our entire house. You can read about my projects on my blog www.CapeofDreams.com
I’m envious! You garden looks good. We are so far behind on planting … our wet spring delayed things, and our vacation got in the way, too. We will finally plant the veggies this weekend. Eric is using a section of concrete reinforcement wire as a ladder for beans and peas. We’ve used the string method, but we’re hoping this is easier and stronger. I’ll write a post about our garden challenges soon!
It never really feels like summer until the garden is in. Let me know how your bean trellis works because we are always looking for a better system.
You have a wonderful garden!! I’m sure all the hard work is so rewarding when you get to enjoy eating what you plant.
Thanks so much for visiting.
Mary Alice
You are too sweet. It is true. Tonight we had the first of the lettuce, and it was delicious.
You really have a lot going on in your nice fruit and vegetable garden – looking good.
Thank you! I have a lot to learn, but the garden is much better this year than last.
Love when someone does work behind my back and surprises me with it. Yea, Douglas! Just this morning I noticed our cukes are growing so well they cracked the bamboo support in two. Especially like your herbs. Jo @ Let’s Face the Music
It was a wonderful surprise! I am going away this week as well. I wonder what else he will do.
Your garden is looking good, Jessica. We have a lot less blueberries this year than last as well. I attribute it to a harsh winter.
It was a hard winter. I am sad about the lack of blueberries and cherries. Last year we had so many, but I am hopeful that they will come back next year.
Hi Jessica, thanks for visiting my post. You haven’t seen hoyas? Oh they are scattered all over even in cold countries like the US and Europe, maybe just you are not much interested in them, hahaha! Many of the species though are endemic here with us in the tropics.
About your boxed vegetable garden with trellis, you don’t need to move the box every planting season, you just need to add more compost and mix in the original soil, and plant other sets of vegies, so it is technically called crop rotation. Planting more legumes in there will even improve the soil nutrients.
Thanks for your advice. I do not move the box every year, but I do rotate the vegetables. That is why the beans and peas will be in a different spot next year, and we will have to move the trellis. I do not know how I missed hoyas.
Your garden is lovely and delicious!
Thank you! We had lettuce the other night, and I hope that everything is as delicious as it was!