Let's see your cucmber trellis

[gixxerific]

I'm going to build some cuke trellis's this year just looking for ideas.

[applestar]

They seem to do better with something skinny to hold onto, like string or wire.

[SP8]

[gixxerific]

They seem to do better with something skinny to hold onto, like string or wire.

Than maybe I shouldn't have bought all that wood. Oh well I have a basic plan. They will be used for something, last year I just used an unfolded tomato cage. It had to be supported on the ends with stakes that broke under the weight, than I broke out some copper pipe for supports.

I guess I could wire in between a greater spaced lattice.

[tedln]

I think you have seen mine. It works for me because the cukes are easy to harvest. It also allows me to grow cool weather crops like lettuce in the shade under the cukes. Total investment, about $32.00. The hog wire fencing I used for the actual trellis material was free because someone threw it out. It is a standard 4' X 8' bed using the landscape timbers. The cost of the timbers may have gone up this year, but you can use any kind of cheap lumber to build it.



Ted

[gixxerific]

Ted yes I have seen yours, and i like it.

I have a ton of 2x4's at the house plus I work contruction so I have acces to tons of scrap wood. That is where most of the wood I got for these from. I only spent maybe 15$ on furring strips which i was going to use for the laterals.

Is that just 2x4's with wire stretched between them? That would work just fine I assume.


I already have some ripped down cedar 2x4's that are now about 2x2's that I was going to use for the top support and vertical supports than the furring strips for laterals. I suppose as I said above I could stretch some wire over the grid for more grabbing points. But I overspent my garden funds month's ago so we will see how things play out.

Thanks everyone.

[tedln]

Yes Dono, I put 8', two by fours top and bottom on both sides and hung the fencing between them. I also took some wire cutters and cut some good sized holes in the fencing so I can reach through to harvest the cukes.

Ted

[gixxerific]

Yes Dono, I put 8', two by fours top and bottom on both sides and hung the fencing between them. I also took some wire cutters and cut some good sized holes in the fencing so I can reach through to harvest the cukes.

Ted

If you don't mind how about some meaurements. I was wondering how high it is the top bar where the uprights intersect and how wide do you have the bottom.

I cut the wood from work at 8 ft. but I was planning on doing 4 ft sections since I don't think I will leave them out permanantely. I also want to somehow hinge the top so they will colappse for storage easier. ANything can change I don't make plans usually just get an idea and start building.

thanks Ted, i do like your design, I also plan on doing shade worthy crops under the trellis which it looks like you did.

[tedln]

Dono,

I try to do everything as easy and simple as possible. That usually means as little cutting and measuring as possible. It's a little cold and snowy right now to go outside for measurements. All the timbers were 8' long. I cut three of them with a chainsaw to 4' to form the ends. By overlapping the ends, I believe the inside length of the beds is 90" and the inside width is 45". The lag screws I used to bolt the uprights together are 6' above ground level. The 2" X 4" s were left at 8' long. The fencing material (trellis) is 4' tall, but is placed against the crossovers at the top leaving about 9" of space at the bottom between the bottom of the trellis and the top of the bed. That really isn't much trellis space for fast growing cucumbers, but when they reach the top, they either continue climbing the crossovers or start growing down the other side.

You could do all of it with 2" X 4"s by stacking them on edge. Old concrete forms in 2" X 6" or 2" X 8" would be better. You can usually find those around constructions sites because by the time concrete is poured (with the exception of the foundation or slab), most of the framing is finished inside the structure. Since they have cement stuck to them, carpenters don't want to use them for finish work.

Ted

[GardenJester]

I don't know if anyone tried this. I read that you can turn one of those conical tomato cages upside down, staple the ring to the ground with weed fabric staple, and tie the legs together with or without a stabilizing stake thru the center. It would function as trellis for vine plants like cucumbers and squashes. Have anyone used this method? how did it work out for you?

[tedln]

I don't know if anyone tried this. I read that you can turn one of those conical tomato cages upside down, staple the ring to the ground with weed fabric staple, and tie the legs together with or without a stabilizing stake thru the center. It would function as trellis for vine plants like cucumbers and squashes. Have anyone used this method? how did it work out for you?

I've used them for cucumber trellis, but a single cage is normally not tall enough. I would stick one into the soil normally, then invert another on top of the first. When you wire the rings together, it doubles the height of the cage/trellis. Since they are so tall, you need to either tie them to something or drive some stakes into the ground and tie them to the stakes. If you don't, the wind will blow them over.

Ted

[GardenJester]

how high are the cages you use? I have a lot of them 4ft(after stuck in the ground) tall ones, were those the kind you used?

[tedln]

how high are the cages you use? I have a lot of them 4ft(after stuck in the ground) tall ones, were those the kind you used?

It has been a few years since I used them, but I don't think they were that tall when the legs were stuck in the ground. I think they make them in a couple of sizes and I probably was using the smaller size. I typically used them in 15 gallon containers growing tomatoes inside the cages with cucumbers growing up the cages on the outside. I typically would wire the second or third ring to the edge of the containers in four positions around the containers. With fifteen gallons of moist soil in the containers, the wind couldn't blow them over.

Ted

[gixxerific]

Thanks ted I was think roughly 5-6 ft height and a 4' spread. Never fear on the lumber. I am a bricklayer so I can get wood. I just finished the exterior walls of my basement with free wood from a big job (2.5 mill$ house) they were going to put it all in a dumpster because they had nails in them. I just pull the nails and I had several hundred dollars of free wood. SCORE! I still have a bunch left.

Garden jester in a pinch last year I used a square tomato cage that you could get at Lowe's I just unfolded it so that it was in a straight line. It was 4 foot high and not tall enough I will tell you that.

[tedln]

I will also grow some heirloom tomatoes this year in an eight foot bed. My plans are to drive three T posts (see the steel fence posts in my cucumber trellis photo with white tops) in line, into the ground. I will stretch good tough string between the posts and space the lines of string about ten inches apart from bottom to top. The posts have little notches which will keep the string from slipping down. I don't plan on weaving the string like the "Florida weave" or anything else. I think I can simply weave the plants into the string as they grow. It should work well as a tomato trellis. Something like that would also work as a cucumber trellis. The posts are sold in different lengths.


Ted

[applestar]

Sounds like a plan I noticed those white tops -- what are they? Did you posts come with those or are they separate element that you put on top?

[tedln]

Its' just white paint. They paint the tops white to make the posts more visible when they are used to build barbed wire fences to keep cattle in. You simply don't run through them as easily on a tractor or something. The nice thinng about T posts is the fact that when you want to change your garden around, they are fairly easy to pull and move.

Ted

[gixxerific]

I already have concrete wire for tom cages though I might mix it up a bit. i did however use t-post for my rabbit fence.

I normally leave a few tom's on the ground, normally because I run out of trellis type material, this year I will not do that. They never do well on the ground.

[garden5]

You can use chicken wire for the cukes, also. It's funny when one of them decides to grow in one of holes and gets a crimp in it (can be kind of hard to get out, though).

[tedln]

Yes, The cukes that get squeezed in the middle in a fence or something are the ones the dog gets first. He seems to think they all taste the same so he doesn't mind.

Ted

[gixxerific]

oops double post

[elementfiftyfour]

I use reeds from near the lake to create a fence.

[tedln]

I use reeds from near the lake to create a fence.

That isn't fair! You can grow anything in Metairie. Why isn't your garden growing? I usually planted mine in February in order to get a head start on the early heat. When I lived near Metairie, I always had an early spring garden, watched it die from the heat in July; and replanted in mid to late August for a fall garden. I did all that while watching the television to see if I should run from a hurricane.

You need to eat some boudin, soft shell crab, cajun gumbo, and hot boiled crawfish for me. Then you can come back and tell me how good it was.

I almost forgot to mention eating some red beans and rice with Louisiana hot sauce in it. YUM

Ted

[gixxerific]

Ummmmm Cajun.

Oh and did somenon say hot sauce. I can take whatever you got and might not be abel to take what i got. I'm talking the SMALL little dot is too much kind of HOT sauce.

[tedln]

Ummmmm Cajun.

Oh and did somenon say hot sauce. I can take whatever you got and might not be abel to take what i got. I'm talking the SMALL little dot is too much kind of HOT sauce.

Dono,

I know it's off topic, but it is your topic so I will let you get on to me. I love hot sauce. I sometimes fill a teaspoon with Tabasco and eat it just to get a fix. I saw some Bhut Jalokia sauce advertised in a magazine yesterday. I don't have the guts to try it. I understand it is so hot they bottle it in glass. It will melt a plastic bottle. Just kidding.!

Ted

[gixxerific]

Your good ted I can drink tobasco that is some weak stuff. I normally get the little bottles of super hot stuff some of which you have to be 18 and sign a waiver to purchase, cause they aren't messing around when they say they are HOT. I have thought about the bhut pepper that thing is supposed to be crazy on the scovile scale.

There is a sauce store locally that has a room of hot to extremely super hot stuff mainly hot sauces but they have mustards, ketchups, bar-b-q suaces etc. they also sell regular sauces but I go there for the hot stuff. They come in small bottles and start about $7 but they last a long time because they only take a drop to get you sweating.

[elementfiftyfour]

I use reeds from near the lake to create a fence.

That isn't fair! You can grow anything in Metairie. Why isn't your garden growing? I usually planted mine in February in order to get a head start on the early heat. When I lived near Metairie, I always had an early spring garden, watched it die from the heat in July; and replanted in mid to late August for a fall garden. I did all that while watching the television to see if I should run from a hurricane.

You need to eat some boudin, soft shell crab, cajun gumbo, and hot boiled crawfish for me. Then you can come back and tell me how good it was.

I almost forgot to mention eating some red beans and rice with Louisiana hot sauce in it. YUM

Ted

That picture was taken about a month ago but my peas are climbing up there already and the green beans in the front row are about 8" tall now. As for the rest of the garden it has been SO DAMN cold down here compared to a regular year. I'm not complaining and all because i know it has been cold everywhere but jeesh, if I wanted cold weather I would have stayed in NE Ohio. Anyhow, I just planted my tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers and zucchini yesterday afternoon. The peppers got put in the ground a couple weeks ago because I'm doing them in pots this year. The past couple years I had tried them in the garden boxes but they got blocked out by the larger plants and barely produced any goodness.

As for the fooding, I have been eating my share. Mardi Gras probably packed on 5 lbs extra for me and then we just had the St. Patrick's and Italian parades. It is definitely time for me to cut back and burn off some calories working in the garden.

[tedln]

Hey xenon,

Just got my seed in the ground today. It's warming fast here in North Texas since last weekends snow.

I really do miss good Cajun food cooked in a Cajun home. These restaurants that advertise authentic Cajun food just don't cut it. Ask one of the managers if he has tasso or boudin and all you get is a blank stare.

Have you eaten at "Mothers" downtown?
Ted

[Joyfirst]

I don't have a picture yet, but I just cut the legs of two standard wooden trellisses and put them leaning to each other as an A(and tied them to each other and a fence for strength), and I will plant cucumbers from both sides and put in kale and lettuce seeds underneath for the shade.

[Chris_in_Wine_Country]

Here's mine, I just finished it--made from a hollowed out wine shipping box and an old beat up trellis that I repainted.

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[tedln]

Hi Chris,

I like the bed and the trellis. Since you are in Napa, you should have easy access to the wine shipping crates.

Ted

[Chris_in_Wine_Country]

Yeah, I have an idea for a cottage industry that involves buying them from the vineyards, modifying them slightly for aesthetic, and reselling them as planters (nobody steal my idea).

You can hardly swing a dead cat around here without finding repurposed wine oriented knick-knacks, so why not?

[tedln]

Okay, I haven't swung any dead cats lately, but I will keep that in mind if I do. I may even keep it in mind if I don't swing any dead cats. (love it)

Ted