Reply #3: Thank you! [View All]

[LiberalEsto]

I've been doing a modified version of Square Foot Gardening for three years. The best thing I learned was trellising tomatoes, cucumbers and pole beans, using sections of clothesline tied to an upside down U made of metal electrical conduit pipe.

Here is info on making the trellises:
http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/sqfoot/2003115737000473.html

This keeps everything off the ground and makes things easy to pick. Vertical gardening is good for picking off suckers and unwanted bugs. I can plant more varieties of tomatoes when the plants are trained to climb up ropes.

I also tried trellising small watermelons the first year. It worked okay, but as soon as the melons got too heavy for the vine to hold them, I had to make slings for them with lengths of small-hole nylon netting (the stuff used to make ballet tutus - easily found at fabric stores.)

More info:
http://www.squarefootgardening.com/html/FAQ-Short-Starting-5-11.htm