Have you jumped on the farm to table movement that’s happening? It’s totally hipster, and I am totally into it. Let’s ignore the fact that this is simply life for my family, not glamorous or cool, but I’ll take being on trend for the moment.
I love to garden…flowers, veggies, all.of.it. I really just LOVE being outside. Each year, I not only want to go to every single farmers market, but I want to bring my own little goodies and set up shop. Alas, I never do. Instead, I have decided to start sharing some of the tips and tricks I have learned along the way with you. Keep in mind, each and every year is trial and error. I am not an expert, not even close!
Many people find gardening to be intimidating, complicated, and expensive. It is actually pretty simple. You put a seed in the ground. You water the seed. You watch it grow. Pull a few weeds. Then, the best part, you enjoy the fruits of your labor. All you truly need is access to soil, water, and sunshine.
Planting, harvesting, and saving seeds is very convenient, and can save you serious amounts of cash on groceries (Dave Ramsey says YES!). It’s definitely more delicious, you will appreciate your food abundantly more, and you can rest easy knowing where your food is coming from. As far as gardening equipment and tools, there seems to be a gadget and gizmo for everything. But, we prefer to have as little as possible in the way of tools, and only use a few items when we are out in the garden.
Our summer garden is in full swing, and this past weekend we decided to build a trellis for our cucumbers and squash. Last year, we went all out and built a fancy trellis, with a slight incline…like I said earlier, trial and error. It didn’t work as well as we had hoped. This year, we kept it super simple. You’ll only need 3 things for this little project. From start to finish, it took all of 15 minutes to complete.
3 Step Vegetable Garden Trellis
Supplies:
- Posts: steel piping, fence posts, 2×4’s, or what ever you have on hand to serve as posts.
- Twine (we hold our tomatoes up with cattle panels; if you go this route, be sure to load up on zip ties…a Carriger household staple)
- Mallet (or something to drive your posts in to the ground)
How:
- Drive posts in to the ground.
- Tie twine on post, space evenly. Our twine is spaced about 6 inches apart.
- Gently place vines on twine.
Dusty’s Tips: Drive your stakes/posts at least 12 inches deep. Get your strings tight; not fiddle string tight, but tight.
Have you built a trellis? We want to see your summer garden pics! Be sure to tag the Fencerow on Instagram and Facebook, so we can check out your garden DIYs, too!!
My hope in sharing more of my gardening adventures is that you will be motivated to eat more locally sourced produce, see gardening with fresh new eyes, and maybe even take it a step further and plant something too!
So, you’re not a gardener yet, and the idea of planting all the things is overwhelming you? Start small. Start an herb garden on your window sill. Have one single raised bed. Plant a salsa garden (I’ll be sharing more about what I plant in mine, and my favorite salsa recipe)!
