Old draft-summer 2013

I've used the concrete reinforcing mesh for tomato plants for years. A 150' roll is about $100.00. It is 5' tall, and I cut about 5 1/2' to make a tower 18" in diameter. I just bend line wires around to attach the ends. A roll gives me 27 towers. Some towers have been in use for 16 years, now. We frequently use a tall T-post between pairs of towers to anchor them sturdily. Sometimes I can just get away with anchoring them with 8" long U-pins, used for heavy weedblock. This year I needed to put up SOMETHING QUICK for pea trellising, and used many of the towers for peas. Then I needed to put some more varieties of peas in the ground, and then the beans and cucumbers, as well as the tomatoes. At this point, I have towers with as many as 3 different pea and/or bean varieties growing up the same tower, escaped peas on a tomato tower, and a tower of swiss chard seed stems, as well as one of Madras rat tail radish seed stems all confined to towers. I am only gardening for myself, and surplus for my daughter's household, so I do not need hundreds of feet of support at any one time, for any one crop. In the Maritime Northwest, I can't really justify more than 10 tomato plants, as they are SO marginal if not in a greenhouse. These towers give me lots of flexibility, particularly as I am gardening a 52' diameter Mandala bed. I plant a bit at a time, not a large area prepped and planted all at once. I have also used a piece of the wire to partly encircle one of the end alcoves, and am growing a mix of peas, beans, and sunflowers up that, making a hidden area for my granddaughters. Plus side of this-the pea and bean vines are anchoring the giant sunflowers to the wire, to prevent falling over. Other plus side-I have mobility and balance issues. This wire is sturdy enough to grab on to, if it is anchored to T-posts. Gotta be doing something right, when I hear "Nana, are these the peas we eat whole?" and "Nana, where is the best kale, today?"