Newbie-wanna-be-food-gardener-bean-trellis-making Story

Newbie-wanna-be-gardener...that would be me...

So, today I continued with my garden. Previously I had planted some collard greens and broccoli in my front yard in place of the lamest section of my extremely lame lawn. I don't think I've worked this hard since...I don't even remember. Evidently, my yard consists of rocks, stones and pebbles concealed in a clever layer of dirt and a useless excuse for grass, further complicated by pinchy vines and pinchy junipers that stretch out over the tiny space allotted to me in the back. Right in the middle is a big, non--edible-fruit-bearing pear tree :( what's the point of that anyhow? Whoever thought of creating this hybrid needs a good talking to. Anyhow, it's been my friend for quite some time but does block the sun from prime gardening spots and that troubles me. Non-the-less, she'll stay.

About a month ago I started some beans, pole beans and some other kinds of beans, I don't remember which they were, but they were beans that I had never heard of before. I chose them because I felt adventurous I suppose. Many of them have grown quite nicely into the cutest seedlings and were ready to plant. What I didn't want to have to do was build a trellis, it was more because I didn't want to have to spend any more money as opposed to not wanting to do the work involved. I was thinking about it last night and working on visualizing a solution.

Serendipitously, and perhaps by good fortune, just today I was given a tip by a complete stranger, without my asking, on how to build a natural and beautiful looking trellis without having to buy a thing. I like that. It did require a lot of work, but hard work sometimes feels good especially if you have something to show for it.

So, the idea that was given to me is the point of the article and here we go.

To make a little more room in my tiny yard I had decided that it was time to prune my tree a little. Perfect timing it seems, because to make the bean trellis, I would need large and fractal-shaped branches that I could then stick in the ground in the middle of the garden. These branches would then serve as a jungle-gym for my little bean plants to play and grow on. So, there I was, sawing down branches, which, if you've never done it, is not easy especially for a twig-armed woman such as myself. I was pleased with the results though, so it was well worth the effort.

Now, that's all well and good but since the garden is on a significant slope, I also had to build a sort of retaining wall in order to keep the soil in. Luckily my whole property is inundated with rocks. Gotta look on the bright side of things. All I had to do was dig them up, (and oh my goodness is that a lot of work!) Even digging the holes for the tree limbs was exhausting because of all of the rocks that kept getting in the way of the shovel. I ended up having to do all the digging on hands and knees with a little tiny hand shovel and then pick the rocks, stones and pebbles out one by one and throw them in a bucket that I would then use to distribute them back onto the retaining wall.

After that was done, I had to pull out the wheel barrel that I assembled all by my little self yesterday (it wasn't easy, I can assure you, I have no idea how I did it, I just kept at it until I got it right, having had to take it apart several times to rearrange what I did wrong.) I filled the wheel barrel up with my soil collection and mixed it up with a sundry of credit card offers that I had saved and chopped up to make a confetti looking mulch. Then I proceeded to dump a whole lot of soil into the spaces around the branches before I concluded by planting my baby bean seedlings and some assorted flowers and a few zucchini plants. I had a little companion too, a gigantic honey bee, who kept scoping out the place. Ah, perfect. I hope it sticks around as the beans begin to flower. We'll see.

Needless to say, I am completely exhausted but non-the-less exhilarated at the possibility of perhaps actually having a mini food producing garden. I'd love to hear your gardening stories and tips too! Incidentally, I drank a small container of coconut water and it really perked me up while I was feeling a bit faint from it all.

It's really hard to distinguish the trellis from the background, which makes it fit right in with the landscape. The only things that stick out are the sticks wooden I got from my dad that I added in just as extra support. I'll probably tie some string between and among all of this at some point to create more places for the plants to latch onto, or I may pull out the ugly sticks altogether. I'm undecided at the moment.
Cheers!