Uses for Sticks in the Garden

Saving money is on everyone's mind nowadays. So how about saving some in the garden? Did you know that you can use those sticks that you have been throwing away or burning in the burn pile in your garden for things that you might spend money on? Things such as flower or plant stakes, trellises, gateway arches, arbors, wreaths or even furniture.

Flower or plant stakes are one use for sticks in the garden. To use sticks, choose sticks that are straight. After choosing the sticks, trim and dry them so that when they are pushed into the dirt in the garden, they will not break or bend. After they have been allowed to dry, push one end into the dirt as close to the flower or plant as you can get it without harming the plant. Now use string to attach the plant to the stake.

Other uses for sticks in the garden are trellises. As before, the sticks will need to be straight, dried and trimmed. For vegetable gardens a tepee trellis will be easy to make and very useful. Decide on a height for the tepee trellis then cut the sticks to this length. Now use a piece of wire or string to bind the top of the sticks together while the bottom of the sticks are angled out, creating a tepee design. Use several of these tepee trellises for peas, beans and other plants that are climbing vines. The tepee trellis can be used year after year, just store it after the growing season has ended. Other trellises can also be made using twigs and sticks such as the twiggy pea trellis that is made by tying wire between two larger sticks that are anchored into the ground on the row with the peas and twiggy branches that are hung upside down toward the growing peas so that they can climb up the twigs as they grow.

Arches are another use for sticks or twigs in the garden. This is easily accomplished in an area with existing fence posts. The homeowner will need to decide on a design and height of their archway then all they have to do is take sticks that will be long enough to create that design after they are attached to two fence posts to create the archway. The sticks can be attached to the existing fence posts with nails or screws.

These are just a few of the many projects that use sticks in the garden. The beautiful part of using sticks in the garden is that they make the project they are used for that much more natural looking and they are definitely cheaper than buying other materials for the project be it an arch or a trellis or even some other project you may have decided upon.