Hello my fellow organic gardeners, I have some interesting news to share.  As you might remember from my last garden post, my Sicilian zucchini plant was bent on total garden domination.  Luckily the good people at Martha Stewart’s Sirius radio show gave me some advice on how to deal with this situation. Their advice was to build teepee like structures out of bamboo to give the plant a structure to grow into.  I went to the local garden center and found a package of thin bamboo stakes that were only four feet tall. I decided to be industrious (and frugal) and purchase this large (and cheap) package of bamboo and just attach them together with some duct tape to get the proper height. What a mistake that was.  I built three teepees for my two zucchini plants that quickly started to bow under the weight of the plants. This was when I started doing some more research on my teepee options. 

I knew buying the proper bamboo would be quite costly so I figured I needed to think about it more before I delved headfirst and (potentially) wasted more money. While watching a gardening show, I noticed that they had an arbour with various squash and zucchini growing on it. That was when the idea hit me – I would build an arbour. I quickly realized I had some scrap wood from a previous project and could enlist the help of a very handy person. The design was simple – it was really just four posts with a box-like structure on the top that had polls going across for the plants to grow over. I set out to tackle my project and in an afternoon, my little arbour was born and taking care of business.  I am happy to report that the tentacles of the octopus-like zucchini plant have been tamed and now stick to their own area in the arbour. The nature of the structure allows for more polls to be attached to the open sides (if need be) and I fear if we get more rain I will be attaching more poles.

I do believe that had I purchased bamboo the proper height and thickness, Martha’s teepees would have worked but it would have been expensive. The bamboo I did purchase went to good use as they were perfect as the polls that run along the top of my arbour so nothing went to waste. Even though all my building materials may not be considered sustainable, I believe my project was as I wasted nothing and used what I had around the house rather than purchasing new.  I reused, repurposed and recycled so that’s sustainable in my book.

Since the arbour has been up the zucchini plants appear to be adjusting happily and I now have room to walk around the garden again. I do fear another challenge ahead as I believe there is evidence of a new coup in progress – the Brussel sprouts.  They appear to have grown beyond their borders and have completely engulfed the basil that was once their friendly neighbor. Who knew tending to my garden this year would require a degree in diplomacy?  I’m just hoping I won’t need a U.N. resolution by September. Stay tuned and (as always) happy organic gardening.