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Vegetable Gardening

Creative Ways to Make Garden (Vining Plants) Work?

7 years ago

last modified: 7 years ago

Hey,

So.. I live in a zone 6b - first year gardening ever. I'm a complete newbie. Basically my entire backyard is just plain... super resilient crab grass (I mention this for a reason). Point is... I spent a couple of days tilling the soil, to remove weeds (and even longer convincing my mother to allow me to plant in her garden).

So I started a bunch of plants from seed in the beginning of May (indoors) - not thinking they would work, I also bought actual plants - funny thing is every plant I sowed from seed is better than the already established plants from store..... and well... I had no idea what I was getting myself into (I do NOT regret this... it's been so much fun! Even though I'm weeding daily). Point it... a lot of what I started from seeds - didn't have thorough instructions on how big the plants would be/far apart to plant them - but ultimately it's my fault for not looking them up.

My vining plants - watermelon + cantaloupe... are about to engulf the entire garden. I keep moving their vines to different location - but as you can see - I can either place them on the start of the weed bed or onto other plants (where it starts to hold onto them). I'm pretty much placing the vine branches next to each other at this point. Any creative ideas what I can do for them? They are growing at an enormous rate!! I was thinking a trellis - BUT pushing the plant upwards - wouldn't that cause stress on the plan especially when the fruit comes out (and it weighs a ton)? I'm trying to find a creative but cost-effective method and hoping someone here has some advice.

Right now I thought of a nice "arch" - but a short/wide one instead of a tall one (not sure where I'd find something like that).

Anyway any advice is appreciated!

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Comments (5)

Creativeguy_z6_CT
7 years ago
I grow all of my melons and pumpkins on a trellis with great success. I hang the fruits in a sling made from soft netting material or I have some small stools i rest them on if they're low enough. It might help to see a picture from further back for a bigger picture of your setup. Is that a picket fence in the background?
gumby_ct
7 years ago
I like to grow my vining plants up. I grow in beds so I make
uprights to hold things like tomatoes, cukes, spaghetti and acorn
squash, watermelon, and pumpkins. Of course if you are growing huge
pumpkins or trying to win some contest then that would not be advised.

Here
is a discussion with some pics showing you don't need to sling most
fruits. Of course if you feel the need then go for it. http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/3223975/how-high-do-you-build-your-trellis-for-pumpkins?n=25

I think this link describes how I make my trellis and use a string to hold the plant in place. http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2162142/vertical-support?n=12

HTH
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yolos - 8a Ga. Brooks
7 years ago
I think it might be difficult to trellis them now. If you put a trellis most anywhere right now it might block the sun on the other plants (I think I see a pepper growing back there). Next year, definitely use trellis. Here is a tromboncino squash trellised on a cattle panel. The longest one is now 48 inches long.

For now, just keep wrapping the vines where ever you can.
mystearica
Original Author
7 years ago
^That's gorgeous!!

Here's some samples as requested - I'm started to think... maybe I can just let the vines move on top of the weed bed.. that can work I think oO?
Creativeguy_z6_CT
7 years ago
I think the weed bed would be fine... though without a structure of some sort to attach to the vines will continue to roam where they please. You may need to continue to direct them where you want them. Also consider that the weeds will continue to grow and may become difficult to manage with the vines amongst them. Perhaps you could mulch them with plastic? I'd think you could still install a short trellis on the left side of your picture without blocking much sun... it'd mainly be only early/late sun due to the low angle of the sunlight, depending on the orientation of your garden. Cattle panels, as used by yolos above (and myself) are dirt cheap, and if you think of trellising wide instead of high you'll keep the hours of sunlight blocked to a minimum. Gumby's suggestion works as well... and if I understand it correctly, may allow you to create even less of a light barrier. Your garden looks nice for a first attempt... congratulations!

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