Raising the stakes
Staking is an annoying but necessary part of gardening. A number of gardenworthy plants warrant it - both ornamental and culinary.
But buying new stakes to me is a waste. They’re expensive, kind of tacky and mostly made out of new timber, steel or synthetic material. It‘s a pointlessly intensive process, all for what – a straight stick or little patch of lattice or mesh that is sure to break at some point.
Over the years I’ve found some workarounds to new stakes (well, lazearounds & copouts to be fair). They are basically waste that would have been headed for the bin or fire anyway.
Success stories have included:
Prunings off deciduous fruit trees. These can be used solo or turned into triangular or quadrangular pyramids (or X-shaped structures) to support any climbing plant.
Climbing frame for snow peas, made of pear tree prunings
Prunings off Buddlejas that are way overdue for a cutback (caution – Buddleja prunings are very prone to striking - you may end up tying Buddleja shoots onto your Buddleja stakes)
Reo mesh offcuts - superb for supporting tomatoes and climbing beans in the summer. You can get them from a lot of building sites & Skip bins (after asking of course). Lean one against another at the top, forming an a frame.
Reo bars – the thinner ones.
Other junk from building sites, like interior window frame pieces – but make sure the material is untreated or otherwise not made of stuff that could leach into the soil w negative effect (eg copper).
Electrical pipe offcuts - same as above.
Bamboo. These aren’t common in southern gardens, which is just as well as they can be a noxious pest. But if you can find someone who is cutting down a stand get in quick – they make wonderful tomato stakes and are long-lasting.
Pallets made of untreated pine wood. Lately I’ve seen tons of these left for free on road sides. They are easy to take apart and with a bit of knowhow and maybe a power tool (circular saw) the planks can be turned into stakes.
Fallen branches. Mostly these aren’t straight enough or the right size, but sometimes you can get lucky. Poplar is a good example of a tree with long, narrow, straightish branches. Gum trees drop a lot of branches, especially following a dry spell. They are usually not very straight, but in the end does this matter when they are going to be covered in plants anyway? The semi straight ones – if you can get them long, not too old and decayed, and about 2 to 4 cm thick, you’re in business.
I’m not alone in this love of recycling scraps for stakes. Jane Edmanson for one (Gardening Australia) wrote an article 10 years ago talking up similar ideas as part of the grand pastime of foraging. Well worth a read.
Now the above are the more ‘normal’ options. If you want to get really out-there you can try the following:
Unwanted outdoor building materials: roof gutter lengths, roof gutter guard lengths, U-shape paving drain lengths, paving drain covers, fence posts, fence brackets, Cyclone fencing, random poles, clothes line pieces
Unwanted indoor furniture & materials: portable storage shelving pieces, wooden or wire chairs,
Unwanted household items: ironing boards, indoor laundry racks (the X-frame ones), baby pen pieces, fire protector grates, curtain rods, broom handles.
But I’ll stop there because I’m really heading into fringe territory. Which is not necessary because there are plenty of handy, free & quite normal options.
What are you doing to raise the stakes? Please put your suggestions in the Comments below.
