Low Cost DIY plant trellis

As promised, this year I want to post DIY’s and low cost/budget gardening ideas. I’ll start with this DIY trellis system that is affordable, easy to put together, easy to put away, and doesn’t require you to drill holes (easpically good for those living in rentals).
What is a trellis? It’s a structure that supports vining  plants and is great way to garden vertically. This is especially useful for people with small gardens, those who garden on a balcony, and anyone who wants to make the best use of their space. Plants that will grow up the trellis are plenty. Tomatoes (indeterminate ones, more on this in this post indeterminate vs determinate), beans (the runner/climbing/pole ones), peas (agin the climbing ones), gourds, flowers like nasturtiums (did you know they’re edible too?), cucumbers, Malabar spinach, some squashes and others. Trellises come in many shapes and sizes, and are made of different materials. Sadly, specialty trellises can be expensive, while gardening doesn’t have to. I believe everyone should be able to garden and I also believe gardening should be affordable. Plus, I love DIY’s and this is another hobby of mine.
The trellis I’m showing you today is not my idea per se. I saw a similar set up in one of my books (though that one was unstable) and it hit me. I was like: why didn’t I think of this before. I had the perfect “trellis to be” right there in my home. And it’s a cheap one but good quality one. The trellis to be is nothing but an inexpensive clothes rack from Ikea. Yes, a clothes rack. It’s a Mulig clothes rack for 29 aed.

To make this trellis you’ll need Mulig clothes rack from Ikea, a gardening net (I happen to have a couple from Daiso) or a twine or strong rope of some sorts.

https://m.ikea.com/ae/en/catalog/products/art/60179434/

Assemble the clothes rack as directed and attach the gardening net. If you don’t have one then use strong twine or a rope and use that instead. You can wrap the twine vertically and then horizontally, creating a net (I’ll post a tutorial if I have the time InshaAllah). That’s it, you made a trellis. Your new trellis is 99cm wide and 151cm high.

Please not that the maximum weight this particular trellis will bear is 20kg. If you use another rack the maximum load may be different. Plan what you will grow up the trellis accorsingly. For example, some squashes can weigh a lot, so don’t grow too many up one trellis. Another tip is to put this trellis against the wall or push it into the soil, so that it doesn’t tip/blow over with the wind. 

I hope you like today’s post. If you did, please comment below. If you have other ideas please share.

Happy Gardening

Yana

How to protect seedlings from birds

This may be a little late but still useful as there’s still time to sow seeds. Every year I encounter a big problem when I sow seeds: the birds eat my seedlings. It’s annoying as planting seeds is the hardest part of gardening, it takes the longest time. The only way that works for me is the physical barrier of some sorts. I tried sticking sticks into the ground around the seedlings before but the bigger birds would push these away. This year I’m using three types of protection: the shading net, the bird netting, and bottles. Yes, plastic bottles.  How do you protect your garden from birds?