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Trellis construction

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

Hello all.  This will be my third year gardening by the square foot
method. This year, I plan on building a trellis to try my hand at some
vertical growing.  As of now, I'm planning on a single four-square row for
the vertical stuff: 4 cucumber plants (in two squares), one melon plant
(probably Burpee's Bartlett hybrid), and one Jack-Be-Little pumpkin plant.
I'm looking for any advice from folks who have done some vertical growing.

I'm thinking I'll use 1/2" thick-walled electrical conduit, get it cut to
length and threaded, and use plumbing fittings for assembly as Mel
suggests.  But I'm not an electrician, so I'm wondering about the strength
of this conduit.  My trellis will be 6' tall (with 12-18" of conduit sunk
into the ground), and 5' wide.  Anyone think I'll have problems with
weight from my planned crop on the 5' horizontal span?  Of additional
concern is the wind here in St. Louis during tornado season, but you can't
do anything about that. :)

Mel talks about bending the crossbar so that you have shorter legs to
drive into the ground.  I was thinking of having two pieces for each leg:
a 4 or 4.5' piece and a 3' piece.  I'd drive the longer piece into the
ground until 3' remained, and use splices to attach the other 3' piece.
Then I'd use two elbows to attach the 5' crossbar.  Any comments on this,
or better ideas you've implemented?  I'm just trying to avoid driving
really long pieces, but I want to keep the structure as strong as
possible.

Thanks for any advice,
Steve DeLassus


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