Seeking Support

In the past two days I've been focused on solving a problem without going to a store or placing an online order. It has to do with Molly's new garden beds that we finally finished building and filling this past weekend. Thanks go to next door neighbors, Tony and Steve, who stepped in after we broke our third drill bit on the thick, dense, aromatic cedar planks. (Shortcake with garden fresh strawberries was delivered to them the very next day.)

Our cucumbers and especially the melons need vertical support. I hemmed and hawed, looked in the basement and in the shed, thought about what we might have up at the school garden that we aren't using, and finally it dawned on me. We've had a "sentry arch" trellis in a box from Gardeners' Supply that's been sitting on our front porch for several months now. It was intended to replace an old, rotting wooden rose arbor that was blown over by high winds last fall. But since ordering the new trellis, our roses have been dug up and given away to clear space for these new raised beds. So we no longer have an immediate need for the trellis.

Ingenuity overtook me, and I came up with the configuration shown below, of which I am quite proud. We still need to secure the cucumber railing somehow, but the melon arch fits tightly against either side of the bed with enough tension to hold it firmly in place. A friend suggested hanging several lengths of twine for the melons to grab and climb. When melons begin to form, we will sling them with old hosiery and attach the ends to the top of the arch. Problem solved!