stable vegetable trellis for windy garden

15 years ago

I've been on a small farm in upstate NY, slightly east of Lake Ontario, for 8 years. Before that I gardened in southern Maine.

Our land in ME was fairly sheltered, and we grew pole beans on tipis, tomatoes and peas on trellises. I tried that on our Upstate garden, which is on top of a hill in an area that gets heavy wind off the lake. The tipis and trellises blew down. We tried hanging trellis wire from a beam supported by a series of heavy-framed 5-6' equilateral triangles; they blew down and smashed.

I've been keeping everything low for the last couple of years, but I miss Sugarsnap peas and Northeaster pole beans. I wonder if anyone has figured out how to trellis in a windy area. I've heard of making arches out of concrete reinforcing grid wire. Would this be windproof? Would it be stable if made into arches large enough to support 5-6' plants? Any other ideas?

Thanks for taking time to read this. Happy seed ordering.

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Comments (2)

Carol_from_ny
15 years ago
Lake Ontario has a nasty habit of sending off some really hard winds. Perhaps instead of trying to fight the winds could you change the location of your peas and pole beans to someplace that is better sheltered?
If not you are going to have to really anchor anything you put into the ground pretty good so those winds don't turn it into a weapon of destruction.
My DD went to school up in Oswego so I know how strong those winds can be. They can rip doors off of buildings!
I'd be concerned that even if you do get something into the ground that will stay that the wind would burn the leaves or damage the crop so bad your efforts would be in vain.
Could you maybe grow them along the side of the house Potage style?
hilomark
15 years ago
Here is a source for some pretty heavy-duty and long-lasting welded-wire supports from Lafayette, NY. The company is called Garden Trellises Inc., and I have been very happy with the supports I bought from them at a garden show years ago.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Trellises Inc.
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