Here's a recap of a system I'm trying out this year: Johnny's low-tunnel hoops with high-quality poly-cord strung along the tops of the hoops down the length of the bed, and hay twine hanging from the poly-cord around which our tomatoes are strung. I did a whole post on this, so that's all I'll mention.

From Peter Kok in Penticton BC: "This system is one I learned from Honest Food Farms in Cawston, BC for tomatoes. Metal posts are placed every 15 feet or so with a thick gauge wire running tightly along the top. The tomatoes are planted in double rows that are staggered and the wire should be running in the middle of the row. 5-6 foot bamboo stakes are placed behind every tomato and should be placed so that the tops of the stakes rise a few inches above the wire. Then gathering 3 of the stakes together (on either side of the wire) bind them with electrical tape to the wire. It takes a lot of tape to get them all snug but its worth it so your tomatoes have security. Then as the season progresses you can tie the plants to the bamboo stakes, slowly training them up the "tent" this creates and eventually tie them to the top wire."

Mike H. of portageperennials.wordpress.com sent me this one. "An 8' fence t-rail post driven about 2' into the ground. Bolt a 4' length of 1 x 2 strapping to the top hole. Then put another 4' length on top of the first piece at 90 degrees to it and screw it down from above. Brace each piece with a short piece angled down and bolted to another hole. It's a fairly permanent structure but that's not a problem since we rotate where we plant our tomatoes. We'll alternate each tower between tomatoes and nitrogen fixing runner beans."

Kate B is a community gardener in Montreal and sent this photo of her peas and cukes. The pea trellis speaks for itself; for the cukes she uses a bamboo accordion fence that was purchased at Home Depot for about $15.

Mike Simons of Vancouver, BC calls this his rickety pea trellis.

This one comes from Eden in Regina. " Bird mesh from Canadian Tire hung on finishing nails stuck in the wood on the front of my house."

Here's the system Kelowna, BC urban market gardener Curtis Stone uses for his cukes. "Just made out of 2x4's and netting. The cukes are trained and tied up. I get super dense plantings this way and less bending over."

This one was sent by my pal Jill Dalton from Northbrook Farm on Vancouver Island, BC. "First we pound rebar into the ground as stakes about 10 ft apart. Then we use wire or string to make one horizontal line all the way across the top and one horizontal line all the way across the bottom. Next we tie on vertical strings about 1.5 ft apart for the bean plants to climb up."

This one's from Bountifield Farm in Cawston, BC. It was built by farmer Eric Simons. He and his special friend Philippa started a market garden where an orchard was and left the old apple tree trellising in to use for their tomatoes. "I would have preferred planting the tomatoes right under the wire," says Eric, "but in order to lay down some black plastic using a tractor we had to be out from the trellis posts."

Thanks to Kristine of Blue Chicory Garden at bluechicory.ca for sending in this one. "It is a permanent structure. It is all cedar posts, each about 9 feet long and set into the ground about 1.5 feet deep. There are six rows, six uprights in each row about 10 feet apart, tied together in a grid across the top. Then we use binder twine or other thin rope to create a sort of netting. You could just use netting tied or stapled on too, I guess, but the rope system makes for more accessible spacing and easier replacement of broken strings. Along each row there are 3 horizontal strings: at the bottom (about 2" off the ground) and two farther up - so including the top cedar rails there are 4 horizontals more-or-less evenly spaced. Then the verticals are added about 4" apart - tied to the top rail, looped over the next two horizontals, and tied on to the bottom string. The trick is to keep the verticals taut enough to provide strong support, but not so tight as to create an arc in the bottom horizontal - if it bows up, it will be out-of-reach of the young plants. Tying the ropes is a bit time-consuming, but it's a zen kind of activity... and depending on your ropes can last several years before it needs repair.

Blue Chicory cont'd: "We grow peas, beans, cucumbers and tomatoes in this trellis. The peas and beans look after themselves. The cucumbers have to be encouraged once in a while; they tend to hold on for a bit, then flop. The tomatoes are more work since we have to wind the verticals around the new tomato growth every couple of weeks. It's important for any of the crops to wind the string around the plant, not try to twist the plant around the string - it's too easy to break off the growing tip! I prune the tomatoes to the main stem and the two lowest sucker stems, giving each its own vertical string."

This one comes from Dan at Wind and Sun Farm in Brookesville, Me. "I use concrete reinforcement wire for trellises. It comes in a 5' wide roll, and I cut a 5" piece and roll it back up into a tomato cage. I cut the bottom wire off so that the vertical wires stick into the soil. This works well in my greenhouse, but outside the wind will blow it over. I've had them for six years now and they're very durable. I use them to trellis both cukes and tomatoes. A 150' roll is $95, so that would make 15 trellis cages. So call it ~$6.50 per unit at current prices. Each cage can do one tomato or a couple of cukes. Either of these can climb higher. With cukes, I've sometimes put up a few cages on either side of a pathway, with the rows wide enough to crawl through between them, and then put a stock panel over the top laid flat. The cuke vines climb up and then run horizontally, but the fruits mostly hang down, which makes them straighter and cleaner. A few notes on assembly: this wire is heavy enough that cheap bolt cutters are required. Regular electrician's wire cutters won't do it. Wear gloves, puncture resistant clothing, and maybe face protection. Roll a bunch out and have something to weight down the end of the roll to keep it flat while you cut. When you cut the last wire the roll wants to roll back up, so be ready if it jumps. Count ten verticals and cut close to the wire, so that one end of the section has long wires and one has none at all sticking out. Bend the cut wires so that when you make it into a circle, some go outside and get bent in, and some go inside and get bent out. It holds together better that way."

This one came in anonymously. It seems to be set up for tomatoes. If this is your shot, write me to tell me your name!

The above one also came in anonymously, and too small to provide much detail. But it did have this caption: “Well, to date I have yet to find anything as versatile as “cattle panels” — I use them as dividers in small breeding stalls — as re-enforcement along fence lines that divide breeding bucks from does — I also use them as vineyard support trellis, lean them against a couple of T-posts across the back of my raised garden beds to get add’l sq-footage of growing space for cucumbers, squash, peas & beans AND the remnants can be used to make up hay racks for feed areas — I am using another remnant to make a hinged divider between 2 goat stalls so I can easily join or separate animals with one another — With 16′ length and 4′ height, and heavy gauge steel, you will need a good pair of bolt cutters, nylon zip ties & T-posts for most projects, and I cut 2″ lengths of strapping to use for brackets to screw into the oak-posts for the vineyard — :0″

If you want to send in more trellising photos I’ll add them to this page.  All photos can be sent to

editor@theruminant.ca