Woody, I love your peony cage. I have a large clump of old fashioned peonies in my front yard and I think your solution will be perfect. Thanks for the pics, it really helps. Also, I see from some of the comments that I may have misrepresented my DH somewhat. I was asking for suggestions not showing you a final plan for the trellis. DH will be happy to make a trellising system that will prevent my veggie bed from becoming a tangled mess. Also our choice of vegetables may change from year to year (and there is crop rotation to consider), I would like a design that can be modified easily if the need arises.Ideally we would like to have a framework trellis that is permanent but we could live with one that will last us a few seasons. Natal: Do the texas cages hold till the end of the growing season and do you use them only for tomatoes ? That might work as a temp solution. So more details : the plants are mostly heirloom tomatoes, butternut squash, and cucumber. one or two eggplants and a few hot peppers. The bed has two rows of veggies and a gravel path on one side and a tile path on other (hidden by straw) so I have access to both rows without walking under the trellis. I am short but not that short (or flexible :). The trellis needs to be at least 4 feet off the ground, 5 ft would be better(plus a foot buried in soil). Here are more options I found, tell me your thoughts. This is from GW using cattle fencing but it would require mixing copper posts and aluminium wire. One with just copper http://www.homeenvy.com/db/5/105.html Copper A frame Thanks Usha

Wow, Nicole, that bed is a work of art! Contest with your hubby?! No way LOL. You already won! :-) And good that you're putting those welders to such good use! CalamityJ, I have trouble believing there's anything that you can't do at your house from what I've seen of your talent :-) Thanks Karen, I agree with you about Nicole's bed being very high end. SusieRose, if you could ever find an attactive huge container on Freecycle, that would be the way to go with bamboo. There are so many interesting varieties, but it takes over if you don't plant it in its own "island". Really spreads and is hard to get rid of if you decide to dig it up. Trust me on this one! Ugh, I'll never plant it in a mixed garden again! Unless you've got an area just for bamboo, I'd go with a very large container. You might run an an in the Wanted section of Craigslist too maybe. Someone might have some to give you, or barter for a totem maybe :-) DD, my next marriage is gonna be to a carpenter LOL, but a welder with a rig might qualify LOL. Just kiddin' of course. Luckygal, you'll have to share pics with us when your hubby gets around to your welding wish list. I've known lots of northern hillbillies ..... western ones too! LOL When I first got to southern Calif I thought it would be all cool and groovy people, this was the '70's. The first person I saw when we reached the beach and got out of the car was some redneck with his ciggarette pack rolled up in his white tee shirt sleeve! LOL Of course he probably came from somewhere around here lol .... Stoney, I love your natural trellis! I bet it was fun to make! I'm not familiar with bittersweet vines either, but I love how your trellis looks. Vickie, I agree about the movement in Stoney's natural trellis too. So free flowing .... And Clarejoe .... I love the bean trellis you've made! How smart and it looks great too! Very good way to reuse an old two seater frame! I like how it looks "older" too. Adds character. Just for the record, it doesn't have to be a hillbilly trellis, y'all LOL. I love all the trellises. Just thought that one I rigged up on my deck in 2006 was a bit ummmmmm "freestyle" for my historic neighborhood. Maybe they think I'm into witchcraft too LOL (for the newbies, when we did the Junk Train and it came to my house, my son-in-law from Mexico originally, thought I was into some kind of witchcraft hahahahahah) Is that a wart on the end of my nose?! LOL ~tenderlee

The trellis I use - now in it's 7th season: 2 arches of (zinc galvanized) iron pipe 1 wooden beam approx 5 m (which is the max. length) 2 screws and nuts to fasten it on top of the arches 10 m stronger wire 20 hooks 2 wire fasteners 20 tent pegs cheap synth. clothes line (40 - 50 m for my size) 1.80 to 2 m above ground height (that I can harvest inside without too much trouble) 20 - 30 cm go in the soil (until the strengthening) 80 cm width beam has holes as has arch on it's top screw&nut will do it (connect the things) I have several holes in the beam that I can adjust to the variable length of my patches the beam is high enough that if it reaches out noone can bump his head on it there are small holes in the arches at the hight of the upper stiffener . I put the wire from one to the other arch and tighten with wire fastener. gives more rigidity and spreads the clothes lines out. gives easier access to the inside of the dark tunnel of beany goodness (for harvest) hook every 40 cm clothes line from hook to tent peg in ground. I have them a bit outside the arch baseline, approx. 1 m apart (remember arches are 80 cm) here's a picture from another year: Fitz

dcarch, Thanks for posting that diagram of your 'suspension bridge' tomato support system. We already have the poles in the ground and DH will rig the 'suspension' for 2010. Finally we have a tomato support that will work AND give air circulation to the plants. BTW we grow in EarthBox and will set the EB's right down the middle of the suspension supports - I can see it now.......... Thanks!! natal, Thanks for that photo of your garden. I have wanted DH to put more of my garden in the front yard and after he saw your photo he said "We can do that - easy" We are off to get the fencing in a few days. We downloaded your photo for reference. Thanks!! DL