Concrete reinforcement wire from Home Depot is like $7.50 for a 4x7' piece, and has 6" squares, so it would be easy to reach through if you can't reach both sides of the trellis to harvest. I used regular 2x4" fencing wire last year and the cukes climbed it well, but a couple got too fat and got stuck in the trellis. This year I tied my own trellis out of jute twine, and it is supported by a frame with electrical conduit for the uprights and a piece of 2x4 across the top. I painted the conduit flat black, and stained the 2x4 and made diagonal cuts at the ends, which made it much more attractive than most wire trellises, if you're concerned about that sort of thing. The whole thing cost me about $6 to make.

Here's some 'anchoring' info, truli ... & also the link attached shows the process of doing the Door arbor...you can see the anchor (kind of) in the 2nd pic down when you click on the link. DH attached some metal strips to back edge and we pounded them in the ground...still quite "unsturdy" because sitting on concrete rectangular pcs...so he also anchored it in the front...not cemented in yet...if it doesn't seem like this is holding good enough, we will dig & cement metal in the ground. IT HAS HELD UP FOR 3 YRS NOW SO THAT ANCHORING WORKED! ;-) & good luck door hunting cmn1! Jeanne S. Here is a link that might be useful: Door Arbor Complete (jeannespines)

Hi High, As long as you put the peony hoopÂor whateverÂout early so the foliage & stems can grow to fit it, IÂm sure it would work. Pinching the mums a couple times would also help to keep them a little bit shorter. I never got around to pinching mine this year, so they got taller than they have in the past, and what I did, starting as soon as I realized how tall they were going to get, was to tie lightweight twine (string!) around the plants several times as they grew taller to keep the outside stems from flopping over. It works really well as long as the plant is flopping pretty much equally in all directions since the weight from each side counteracts the weight from the opposite side. When I have something that flops toward one side, I still tie twine all the way around the plant, but with 2 or 3 stakes on the side it needs to be pulled towardÂif that makes sense! Whatever you decide to do with mums, you need to start doing it when theyÂre still small and flexible. By late summer, the stems are getting woody and brittle. I donÂt use a hoop or other metal because I donÂt like the way it looks most of the summer while the plant is growing into it. And luckily I was able to get a large cone of green twine when my brother quit selling poinsettias and didnÂt need it anymore, so it really blends in and is virtually invisible. David, if you want more of the one purple mum, the easiest way to do it would be to dig it up VERY early next spring and divide the new growth off of the outside of the plant, making as many new ones as you wantÂand throw away the old, woody center. Ideally mums should have this done to them (no, I donÂt!) every couple years. (My parents used to grow mums commercially when I was a kid!) Skybird P.S. You need to take some of those flowers up to your crowÂs nest, High!

You need to plant the corn first and let get about 2' tall before you plant the beans to give the corn a chance to grow tall enough before the beans start running. The squash also will help (??!!) keep the raccoons out of the corn...so I understand...we'll see this summer as we plan to plant the 3 together, too. It is called a 3-sisters garden when the corn, beans and squash are planted together. Make sure you have a tall corn, so the stalk will be strong enough to hold the beans. A sweet corn stalk will not be strong enough or tall enough for the beans. I wouldn't want to try to pick beans that had run up okra...they would be too hard to pick, the okra would be hard to find, and the okra leaves make me break out as it is. The sunflowers...you would have to have the giant...mammoth kind for them to be tall enough...I don't know if they would be strong enough or not.