Vertical gardening is a mainstay of the small-space garden. There are many ways to grow plants up instead of out, including a wide array of trellises, arbors, fences, and frames. One of the easiest ways to get both ornamental plants and vegetables to grow vertically is to make a simple climbing post. Here’s how to make one.
The Best Plants for Climbing Posts
There’s no limit on the plants you can use for your pole—just as long as they reach, climb, trail, or lean you can plant nearly anything your heart desires. Here’s a short list to get you’re creativity flowing:
Clematis (Clematis)
Pink jasmine (Jasminum polyanthum)
Honeysuckle (Lonicera spp.)
Sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus)
Nasturtium (Tropaecolum)
Pole or runner beans (Phaseolus vulgaris)
Peas (Pisum sativum)
Climbing roses (Rosa spp.)
Potato vine (Solanum jasminoides)
Plants that are true climbers such as clematis won’t need much help from the gardener, although you may want to tuck a stray tendril here-and-there into the chicken wire to offer direction. But plants such as climbing roses, which are actually leaners and don’t have tendrils to help them climb, will need some assistance in growing up the pole. Use twine or garden tape to secure these types of plants.
Temporary or Permanent?
The advantage to treating your climbing post as a temporary structure is that the garden area becomes flexible as far as a change in garden design, as well as if you’d like to take it down during the winter months after annual plants are spent. On the other hand, if you’d like to plant perennial plants such as climbing roses up the post, then making it as strong as it can be may be the wisest choice.
If you choose to make it a permanent fixture in the garden, after you dig the hole and place the post you’ll want to follow the cement manufacturer’s directions for adding the cement and letting it set up.
What You’ll Need
The price of your post will depend on which type of wood you choose such as redwood, cedar, or fir. Redwood will last the longest, because it naturally repels the critters that will destroy the wood (cedar, too). A 4″ × 4″ × 8′ will run about $20 and one made of fir will cost about $7. Chicken wire that’s 24″ tall in a 10′ roll is about $7, which is close to the length you'll need for this project. Otherwise, just purchase the shortest length available to you and you’ll have some left over.
Work gloves
Protective eyewear
Closed-toe shoes
4″ × 4″ × 8′ wood post , 6′-8′ tall (it can be taller or shorter)
Small roll of 24″ chicken wire
Wire cutters or all-purpose shears
Staple gun (or a hammer and flathead nails)
Spade shovel
Quick-drying cement (optional)
How to Put It Together
Unless your soil is rock-hard, one climbing post will take about a half hour to install. While it’s possible to build the climbing post by yourself, it’s faster and easier with a helper. Remember that your body should be protected even when constructing the easiest of projects. Use the gloves, goggles, and shoes that cover your feet entirely.
Pull your work gloves on. Unroll the chicken wire on the ground to the length of the post you’ll be using. If you have a helper, have them use their foot to hold down the beginning of the wire roll because it’ll want to roll back. If you’re doing this alone, you could bend the wire backwards to try to make it lie flat. Or place something at the beginning of the wire to hold it down for you.
Next, place the post lengthwise on top of the wire so that it’s in the very center of the wire piece. There should be equal amounts of wire on each side of the wood post.
Using the wire cutters or shears, cut the chicken wire to the same length as the post.
Wrap the post by pulling up one side of the wire and wrapping it around the post. Then roll the post over the wire until the wire ends.
Using the staple gun, secure the wire to the wood by placing a staple into it at 6 inch intervals. If you’ve made the wire a little longer than the post, you may have some wire stick out further than the post. If so, use this as the “top” of the post and wrap the wire over the end like a package and secure with a couple of staples.
Dig a hole about 2 feet deep at the place where you’d like the climbing post to sit in the yard or garden. Place the post into the center of the hole and have your helper hold it straight while you fill the hole back up with the soil that was dug out. Pack it as firmly as you can into place. For the best pole stability, try to disturb the area where you dug the hole as little as possible and plant your climbing plants about 4″-6″ away from the pole.
Climbing posts can be placed in the yard or garden as a single support, as a pair flanking an elegant garden entrance, or make several and place them in rows creating a bold walkway effect. Happy (vertical) gardening!
by Chris McLaughlin, author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Small-Space Gardening
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