A SIMPLE AND PLEASING VEGETABLE SUPPORT 
FRANCES MARKHAM 
Fitting Any Location and Easily Made, This Solution of the Problem of Uplift Among 
the Vegetables Is Quickly Resolved Again into Its Elements When Its Work Is Done 
IF YOU live on a farm with a brush pasture or have a wood 
lot of your own, the question of poles for Beans and 
^ brush for Peas is easily settled. Also if you have a head 
gardener with assistants under him, and a model tool 
and storage house, elaborate trellises can be made, used and 
housed for the winter. But a great many of us do not have our 
garden needs supplied in either of these ways. We have our 
little gardens, and tend them ourselves. And if the weather is 
unusually wet and sultry and the Peas 
mildew or the Beans refuse to accept the 
supports we offer, we accept the situation 
and results with such philosophy as we 
may. It is to these home gardens that 
this simple solution, which we have found 
satisfactory, is offered. 
The trellis is made of Dahlia stakes six 
feet long, painted dark green — square ones 
preferably, though round ones may be 
used. Some are driven down into the 
ground two feet apart where the trellis is 
to be, and the others tied across them 
horizontally. Figure 3 shows a simple 
knot at the intersection which does not Figure 1 
slip. Use strong cord for these bracing 
knots; a cheap common string is all that is necessary 
for the vertical lines, however. In the autumn you 
can cut these bracing knots and the old vines and 
string will all pull off together, leaving only clear 
stakes to tie in bundles of twenty each, requiring 
little space in the cellar or garage. 
For Tomatoes. Calculate the number of stakes 
you will need according to the number of plants you 
are to have, setting the plants with their upright 
stakes two feet apart in the rows. Allow six inches 
on the end of each cross (horizontal) stake for lap- 
ping and 9 inches at the end for projection. As you 
set out your Tomatoes, drive a stake by each plant 
and tie it up, even if it is ever so small. This 
prevents its whipping in the wind or being beaten 
down by the rain. You will be surprised to see how 
much more quickly the plants become established Figure 2 
and begin to grow than when left loose. Too many people 
wait until a plant is large before they give it the help it 
needs. 
Tie on the first line of cross stakes twelve inches up from the 
ground to hold the upright stakes in line. The four lines of 
cross stakes needed for Tomatoes may all be tied on at first, or 
added as the plants grow. If you have twelve Tomato plants, 
make two rows, each row having six plants two feet apart. The 
cross stakes will lap at the middle and 
the total length of the row over all (in- 
cluding projection at ends) will be 1 1 
feet 6 inches. Keep the side shoots of 
the plants pinched out and allow only 
enough branches to grow to cover the 
trellis. Then the clusters of red fruit 
against the dark green leaves, with only 
slender green stakes showing through, 
will be as decorative as any of your 
flowers. 
For Beans. Plant the climbing Beans 
in a row, and drive a stake in at each 
end, two inches back of the row. Stretch 
strings between these stakes at top and 
bottom for guides in driving the other stakes in 
line. Along the ground lay the cross stakes, lapping 
the ends six inches. Drive an upright stake at 
each lap and another between. For Peas and Beans 
the first cross stakes should be six inches from the 
ground, and should be tied in place before the seeds 
come up. Figures 2 and 4 are at the start of Sieva 
Lima Beans; Figure 1 is the same trellis later in 
the summer. 
For Peas. Build as for Beans, except that only 
two rows of cross stakes are needed instead of 
three. 
Try Dahlia stake trellises this summer and see if 
you do not find that they make it easier to culti- 
vate close to the plants, and easier to pick the vege- 
tables. And there is no doubt that the garden 
itself will look prettier and more finished. 
Figure 3 — Method of tying the cross stakes securely, and 
the once-around hitch which anchors the supporting lines 
181 
Figure 4 — Here the Sieva Limas are getting the right 
start from the moment they come through the ground 
