Class 1: Gardening Basics
Class 2: Garden Planning & Design
Class 3: Indoor Seed Starting
Class 4: Planting & Transplanting
Class 5: Maintaining a Healthy Garden
Class 6: Troubleshooting

Before you begin planning on paper, head out to your garden, put on your 3-D glasses, and let your imagination run wild! Think trellises, fencing, teepees, arches, and arbors!

Left sprawling on the ground, one cucumber plant can take up 15 square feet or more. Grow your cukes on a trellis, and you can have 4 plants in that same amount of space. Crops stay cleaner because they are suspended off the soil surface, and vines receive better air circulation, reducing disease problems.

Peas climbing a string trellis.

Vining plants like peas, cucumbers, pole beans, and melons, as well as morning glories and scarlet runner beans, are good candidates for trellising. Many vegetables are available in "bush" types and "vining" types. Bush-types remain relatively small, so look for vining or climbing types -- read the plant descriptions carefully.

Note that heavy fruits like melons and large squash will need some extra support as they mature. Create a fabric sling around the fruit and tie it to the trellis. And don’t plan to trellis your giant pumpkins or watermelons!

Trellises and other vertical structures add interest, save space, improve crop quality, and reduce pest problems.

Class 2, Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

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