On Sunday afternoon, I stopped at a local Ace Hardware to pick up some additional staking supplies. I had visions of buying raw materials to create some sort of frame up which the two squash plants and cantaloupe plant and (ahem) cucumber plant could climb. A veritable backyard architect: that’s how I saw myself.
But once in the store, the stacks of ready-made frames and the wide variety of stake products sang their siren’s song. With luck, I could stake all the peppers and take care of getting the four newest plants up off the ground in just an hour or so, if only I bought into the road-more-traveled philosophy.
Along with frames for the various viney fruits and vegetables, I needed additional stakes for the peppers. We had a few more bamboo stakes at home, but they are much taller than the peppers really require. I looked at what Ace had to offer, and settled on four Sturdy Stakes, priced at $.99 apiece.
Sturdy Stakes. Of course.
Because, really, who wants Weakling Stakes? Or Maybe-We’ll-Last-The-Season Stakes? Or We-Will-Bend-Like-Willows Stakes?
It’s all about marketing, really.
on Jul 27th, 2006 at 8:20 am
And so much better than we-will-transfer-indelible-green-dye-to-your-hands green bamboo stakes. Can you tell which ones I bought?
on Jul 27th, 2006 at 6:29 pm
Steven, we have some of those same stakes. Luckily, so far, I haven’t seen any ink transfer, but yeah, these won’t run the risk of causing anything like that. The only place indelible green ink is good is on money.
on Jul 28th, 2006 at 7:02 pm
Will peppers grow in a pot? They are one of my sons favorite veggies…along with cauliflower(?). We have lots of rabbits and I think pots of things might be better…more manangable? A good book to point me in the way of containers for veggies?
Love, Cole
ps. You are so clever and funny. Weakling stakes…ha.
on Jul 28th, 2006 at 10:57 pm
Coles, I actually have most of my peppers in pots at this point — we moved them during Operation Transplant.
Thank you for the sweet comments!
:-) Genie
on Jul 29th, 2006 at 2:10 pm
Good to know…my son wants to make pickels next year as they are among his favorite foods. I might try a BIG platic pot semi-in the ground for the cukes. Our bunnies are very brave and persisitent. My hubby just started our compost pile/thingy. We are looking into native ground cover instead of grass…too toxic and too much of a pain to take care of it you want it to look nice. They had a nice display at one of our local city farmers markets today promoting all that native plant/composting/going green thing.
Yum…leeks…on of my BFF’s makes this dish with leeks, cream and chicken over egg noodles or rice. It is really simply, inhanced by some fresh sage. Yum. Leeks.
on Jul 30th, 2006 at 12:24 am
Cole, can you snag your BFF’s recipe? Because…um…hello? Delicious-sounding? I’d love to try it.
I hope the composting thing works for you guys. I keep thinking I ought to try it, but am still not quite there…next year, maybe? We’ll see how it goes…
Yum, by the way. If your son wants to make pickles, I say encourage that habit and turn it into a learning experience about all that’s involved. He’ll just appreciate his favorite food all the more!
on Aug 10th, 2006 at 5:37 am
[...] It took me a minute or two to work my way down the bed to notice, but when I saw it, I gasped. The heavy rain had toppled one of the eggplants. The baby purple eggplant near the top of the plant was slightly buried in the dirt, and the plant’s roots showing above the surface. Of course, this is the plant that I didn’t stake. [...]
on Aug 11th, 2006 at 7:06 am
[...] There are sturdy stakes, and then there are flimsy cages. As I said yesterday morning, there was a storm careening into town just as I managed to get my post loaded up, and it was a doozy. Winds up to 70 mph. Mad lightning. Crazed thunder. [...]
on Aug 20th, 2006 at 8:32 am
[...] Our San Marconi pepper plant has grown a single pepper over the course of the season so far. It was, no question, a model pepper, glossy and healthy and happy to just remain part of the garden. But there was just one. The pepper had nearly reached full size just before Steve left for Gabon, but I thought I’d hang onto it and see if it turned red by the time he got back. While he was gone, it began to blush, just a little bit. [...]
on Sep 22nd, 2006 at 10:54 pm
Please could you help me I was wondering how you can bend Bamboo Stakes with breaking them. I want to bend it in half to try and make a frame, for my tomatoes which i’m growing in a big pot instead of the ground. Can you help please
on Sep 23rd, 2006 at 6:02 am
I love these stakes. At the end of the year just hose them off and put away until spring. When the remnants of Ernesto blew through the other week my stake in a pot on my deck stood up to the winds. Unfortunately the climbing plant lost all it’s leaves. I am looking for the tomato cages that my neighbor has for growing potted tomatoes on his deck so next year I can do the same.
on Sep 24th, 2006 at 9:18 am
Margaret, unfortunately I don’t have any good tips for you. We just stuck two stakes into our pots, one in each side, and went from there. You can tie them up and train them up each stake.
Sue, that’s my clean-up plan with those things — so easy! Good luck finding the climbing cages. I’ve also seen some gorgeous ones that people have built out of wood, but that’s a little above my experience grade…